Jesus tested I. (Matt 4:1-4)

Sometimes hardship comes to us for no apparent reason. Jesus acted faithfully, got baptised and was affirmed publicly in our last reading, but now He is in the wilderness, hungry and tempted by the devil (Matt 4:1). God, the Father, seems to be nowhere. Yet, we must not miss how v.1 starts. It was God’s Spirit that led Him into the wilderness. In other words, God put Him there and while Satan was allowed to act, this was not outside God’s sovereignty. As we live with the current situation, we hear daily reports of people infected by COVID-19, people in hospital, we worry about loved ones or our own health, about the economic uncertainty and our livelihoods. These are our tangible realities. Yet, for all its invisibility, God’s sovereignty is no less real.

Moreover, Jesus comes into our existence sharing our wilderness experience of need, even physical hunger, and the temptation to look out for number one. Jesus also re-lives Israel’s wilderness wanderings; the forty days (Matt 4:2) being symbolic of Israel’s forty years. Deuteronomy 8:2 tells us that God was testing Israel in the wilderness to see what was in their hearts, if they would obey Him. The content of that obedience was not so much adherence to a set of laws, however, but trust in the Lord. The failure of Israel was that they did not believe that God could and would provide for them in their need (e.g. Num 20:3-5; 21:5). Jesus now faces the same challenge.

Moreover, as God’s Son, He is in a position of power with direct access to the Father. Will He exploit that special relationship to get His legitimate needs met? On the contrary, Jesus chooses to trust the Father and His timing. He is willing to be dependent rather than use His power and ‘connections’ to satisfy His hunger. Such dependence does not come easily to us in the independent West. I know of several elderly people who still go out grocery shopping despite having children who could help but the parents feel awkward in asking. I get it. I would feel the same. We don’t want to burden others or feel dependent, so I am challenged that Jesus, who could have provided for Himself, was willing to trust the care of His Father.

Jesus justifies His refusal to provide for Himself by citing Deut 8:3. The statement comes in the chapter summing up the lessons Israel was to learn in the wilderness: to depend on God rather than be self-sufficient. The verse in this context is not a distinction between material and spiritual nourishment (bread versus God’s Word), but a contrast between the means by which we get our needs met. In a settled land situation, people sow seed and then harvest the crops and make bread for themselves. It looks like they are providing for themselves purely out of their own strength. To be sure, we need to work and be responsible, but our lives are not sustained by our efforts alone (not by bread alone). In the wilderness, Israel had no resources and it was very clear that they could not be self-sufficient. God gave them manna, which they had to collect each day (Exod 16:16). They could not hoard it (Exod 16:19-20), but if they obeyed God’s instruction (lived by His Word), they would have enough every day, and no one would go hungry (Exod 16:17-18). God was teaching Israel about their utter dependence on Him, so that when normal life resumed in the land, they would remember (Deut 8:11-14). The ability to provide for themselves in the land would mask their dependence and tempt them to attribute their wealth to their efforts (Deut 8:17), but they must never forget that they are sustained by the Lord’s care.

At this time, we experience something of our dependence and the precariousness of life. Jesus knows what it feels like because He has been there. Yet, He also had immense confidence that the Father was going to come through for Him and provide in His timing what is needed. Indeed, when the test was over, angels ministered to Him (Matt 4:11). Let us be encouraged that we have a God who sees our need. He is a God we can trust.