Luke 4:5-8
Find a place and time free of distractions for the next 7-10 minutes. Take a moment to settle into your surroundings and then begin to recognize your breath. As you breathe in, call on the name of Jesus and become aware of his presence with you. As you breathe out, open your mind and heart to receive whatever Jesus has for you today.
As we continue exploring Jesus’ temptations, read Luke 4:5-8.
The temptations Jesus is facing come from an external source, but when fallen people are tempted it is often because of some faulty desire or misguided internal drive. For a broken person, the temptation toward the acquisition of power and authority can be irresistible.
Power in and of itself is not evil. Humans were created to rule with God in God’s way and under God’s authority. But when humans attempted to be like God outside the authority of God, the drive for power became distorted. Part of the curse of evil involves people desiring to take dominion over each other rather than working together, in partnership with God, to have dominion over nature.
Jesus is the only unbroken, unfallen human, and his understanding of power and authority is untainted.
Take a moment to examine your own desires for power and authority. You may not have an overt desire to rule over other people, but you probably have times when you wish others would do as you say. Just sit with this for a moment and see if Jesus has anything to say to you about it.
Read Luke 4:5-8 again.
The suggestion in this temptation is that Jesus could successfully accomplish the ultimate end of his mission and bypass the painful part. But this easy route would be outside the plans of God, and Jesus knows this because he knows the Scriptures and what they say about the Messiah.
Jesus will ultimately rule over the kingdoms of the world, and when he does the entire world will be freed from the curse of evil that was ushered in by human rebellion. But in order to break the curse, someone without sin must assume the sins of humanity. If he were to worship anyone or anything other than God, Jesus would be putting himself under the curse and would be unworthy to break the grip of evil.
Jesus came to deal with the painful and deadly consequences of human rebellion, and he knows that this will involve suffering on behalf of all the people of the earth.
For the last minutes of this time of reflection, contemplate your willingness to follow Jesus even when the way is not easy.
What might Jesus be saying to you today through his own experience of temptation?
What will you do about that?
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