The testing of God's Son

Read Matthew 4:1-2

.

Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell us that immediately after his baptism, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tested (Mk.1:12; Lk.4:1). This emphasises that what took place was entirely at God’s initiative, not the devil’s, and so it was a test rather than simply a temptation. In fact test (rather than tempt) is the most usual translation of this Greek word (e.g. Jn.6:6; 2 Cor.13:5).

.

The devil is also known as Satan (Mk.1:13; Job 1:6-12, Zech.3:1-2). The word means adversary or accuser. He is a real and powerful rival to God, whose authority is threatened by Jesus inaugurating the coming of God’s kingdom (Mt.12:25-28; Mt.13:19,39). So his intention is to persuade Jesus to do wrong – to tempt him – but his hostility is put to use by God in the testing of his Son.

.

A wilderness is an inhospitable and dangerous place (“wild animals” Mk.1:13). The forty days recalls the forty years that the Israelites were in the wilderness (Deut.8:2; Ps.95:10) and this is the context for each of the three tests which will follow. Where Israel had failed, “now the true Son of God, at the outset of his mission, faces the same tests in the wilderness and succeeds” (R.T.France).