Jesus–Sifted By Temptation

Jesus made his way to the Jordan River on that day before he began his ministry knowing that his ministry would begin soon. He went to the place that his cousin, John the Baptist, was baptizing in order to be baptized himself. When Jesus came up out of the water, Matthew tells us that “the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him, and behold a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’” That set the stage for the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

Before he began his ministry, though, Jesus went to spend time in the lonely desolation of the desert. There he fasted for forty days and forty nights, bringing himself to the limits of human endurance. There at his weakest human point, Jesus was tempted by Satan. These temptations proved to be the final proving ground before he began his ministry.

Matthew and Luke’s gospels record three temptations that Jesus faced there in the Judean wilderness:

He was tempted to satisfy his hunger through supernatural means. Just turn these stones into bread. How satisfying that would have been as his strength slowly ebbed from his body. His easy it would have been for the one who had created everything by his word.

He was taken to Jerusalem, to the pinnacle of the temple and tempted to throw himself down, allowing God to rescue him. It was an act so close to what God had sent him to do, so close to the signs and wonders he would perform in the years ahead.

He was taken to the top of a high mountain. From there he could see all the kingdoms of the world in his mind’s eye and was offered rule over all those kingdoms if he would just worship his tempter. What an easy path it would have been to solve all the world’s problems with no pain or suffering.

Jesus, with a word from God, turned back all three temptations. He would not satisfy himself or create a following through a grand spectacle or compromise with the enemy.

These temptations prepared Jesus for his ministry and for the temptations to come throughout his ministry and finally in those last hours before he went to the cross. There is no one who has been tempted like he was. God sifted him through temptation just as he does us. By examining his temptations, we receive hope for facing our temptations because he “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).