The Temptations of Jesus  (Luke chp 4)

Straight after Jesus' baptism in the River Jordan (by John the Baptist) he was led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, and fasted for forty days.  Whilst in the wilderness, he was tempted by the devil:

Firstly, the devil encouraged him to turn stones into bread in order to satisfy his hunger, but Jesus replied that scripture said man did not live on bread alone.

Secondly, the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and promised Jesus power and authority over them in return for worshiping him, but Christ replied that scripture said that one must worship the Lord God, and serve only him.

Thirdly, the devil tried to persuade Jesus to throw himself off the highest pinnacle of the temple so that angels would come to his rescue (as it said in scripture), but Jesus replied that one must not tempt God.



Themes

• Wilderness, fasting and temptation - Jesus is preparing himself for his task in the world (maybe contemplating how best to go about it) by spending time on his own in the wilderness fasting, praying to God and focusing his mind.
• Hunger - bread can satisfy human hunger, but Jesus came to relieve more than mere human cravings.  You need more than simply bread in order to survive - what about the spiritual side of life?
  
• Power - Jesus knows that he already has power over all, so has no need to give in to the devil, no matter how tempting this might seem.
• Scripture - Jesus refers to the Old Testament scripture in his responses to back himself up.
• Temple - to throw himself off this and survive would have been an impressive feat, and one which Jesus would have been capable of.  But he was not going to submit to the devil and prove this.  Later on, the temple in Jerusalem was huge: the platform on which it was built was the size of twenty football pitches, and the height upwards from its foundations was around fifty metres.  It took forty years to build, and at the end of this time, 38,000 workers were made redundant.  It also had ten bronze-clad gates, each of which required twenty men in order to move it.  It was a massive and magnificent building.
• Jesus did not give in - he could have submitted at any time, and survived the temptations, but he didn't - knowing that he had such an important role ahead of him, and that his life must be dictated by God, not the devil.
  

Contemporary Issues

• Temptation in the world, and in school.
  
• Is it right to boast or show off if you have great skills in a particular area?

Revision