Tested Love (Luke 4:1-13)

In a few messages this year I have explored the point of view that the heart of the Christian message is Jesus’ new command to his disciples: to love one another the way that he has loved us (John 13:34). St Paul tells us that the only thing that counts in the Christian life is faith showing itself though love (Galatians 5:6b). The goal and purpose of the Christian life is to learn to trust in God’s love for us in Jesus and to extend that same love to others. When the Bible is read from this perspective, it teaches us about God’s love for us in Jesus, trusting in his love, and what that Christ-like love looks like in our lives and our relationships with each other. During this season of Lent, I will be exploring the theme ‘The Way of Christ-Like Love’ and how the readings each week can help us learn about following Jesus by learning to live in faith and love, trusting God’s love for us and showing that love to others.

In this week’s Gospel reading, Luke 4:1-13, we can see Jesus trusting his heavenly Father in faith. In the three temptations he faced, Jesus trusted his Father’s love to provide him with his physical needs, to do what was good and right rather than what was easy, and to look after him when he needed it.

After not eating for forty days, Jesus would have been starving for something to eat. When the devil suggested that he use his divine power to turn a stone into bread, Jesus relied on God’s word as the source of his life rather than wanting to fill his stomach. When the devil offered Jesus an easy way to power and glory, Jesus trusted the path his heavenly Father had for him instead and did what was right and good rather than what was easy. When the devil told Jesus to test his Father by jumping off the highest point of the Jerusalem temple, Jesus trusted his heavenly Father instead of testing him. Jesus showed this faith by going the way of the cross, rather than doing something reckless to try to get God to prove himself.

All the devil’s temptations went against the life of faith and love by asking Jesus to trust in something other than his Father and to do what was good for himself rather than others. However, Jesus was able to do what we can’t by trusting in his heavenly Father perfectly and choosing the path that was good for us out of his self-giving love for us.

By trusting our heavenly Father and overcoming the temptations the devil threw his way, Jesus fulfilled the way of love that he teaches his disciples. Jesus trusted God and loved others the way God wants us to. His resistance to the devil’s temptations shows us his love for us. He resisted the temptation to turn the stone into bread because he was putting our physical needs ahead of his own. He rejected the devil’s offer of worldly power and glory because he knew that the only way to save us was by going to the cross. Jesus did not test his Father by jumping off the highest point of the temple but instead trusted his Father by giving his life for us on the cross. Everything Jesus did in overcoming the devil’s temptations he did because of his perfect love for us.

We can find God’s love for us in Jesus in this story because when we face testing times in our lives, we are never alone. The author of the Book of Hebrews tells us that because Jesus was tempted, he knows what it is like to be tested, he joins us in our testing times, and he can help us when we are tested (Hebrews 2:18, 4:15). Jesus’ temptations show God’s love for us as he experienced human testing and temptations, joining us in our struggles with temptation, and overcoming the devil’s temptations through perfect faith. Jesus’ victory over the devil’s temptations shows us that his love for us is greater and stronger that all the temptations we might face, and that even if we might fail or fall short, we can trust Jesus who has overcome the power of the devil, done for us what we can’t do for ourselves, and given us the victory through faith in him.

As we continue to learn to love one another in the way Jesus loved us, this story can help us trust Jesus and love the people around us. We can all be tested the way that Jesus was tested. We might not be able to turn rocks into bread, but we can be tempted to rely on things other than God and use the abilities, gifts and blessings God has given us for our own comfort or benefit instead of to help, serve or bless others. The devil might not offer us all power and authority over the world, but we can be tempted to choose what is easy or comfortable over what is right and good. I hope the devil will never ask us to jump off from a high place, but there can be times when we are tempted to do things that are unnecessarily risky, dangerous or foolish. In all of these situations and in anything else that can happen in life, Jesus shows us that when we trust in God’s goodness revealed to us in Bible, when we follow in the way of faith and love that Jesus teaches us, and when we are learning to love others in the way that Jesus loved us, God will provide for us, protect us, and rescue us from everything that might hurt us or lead us away from him.

That doesn’t mean that everything will be easy for us. Trusting our heavenly Father and following in the way of self-giving love led Jesus to the cross and cost him his life. Following in the way of faith and love that we learn from Jesus might also cost us in some ways. However, trusting his Father and loving the people around him brought Jesus through the cross to the resurrection and new life. In the same way, following the way of faith and love which Jesus lived and taught, trusting God and loving others in Christ-like ways will bring us through our own trials and suffering into the eternal life that God has won for us in Jesus. In the short term, we might wonder if God will do what he promises. In the longer term, however, God will bring us through our trials and suffering into the full and abundant life he promises us in John 10:10.

As we prepare to walk with Jesus to the cross and empty grave this Lent season, I invite you to explore more how we can find God’s love for us through Jesus in his word, to trust his love for us, and to show that love to the people around us. Each Wednesday until holy Week we will be holding an informal service at Gnadenfrei at 10am and study in the St Peter’s Chat Room at 7.30pm. Each of these will give us the opportunity to explore what it looks like to walk in the way of Christ-like love in our lives by trusting God’s love for us in Jesus and loving the people in our lives in the same way. You are very welcome to come along to either of these. Because as we grow in trusting God’s love for us in Jesus and loving others in the same way, Jesus helps us to overcome the temptations we face and to share his life and love with others.

More to think about or discuss:

• Can you identify with one or more of the temptations Jesus faced in Luke 4:1-13? What temptations might you face to lead you away from following Jesus in faith and love?
• What does the story of Jesus’ temptations say to you about what it means to trust God and/or love others?
• How might this story help you when you face testing times in your own life?