Today, I am reading and commenting on  Luke 4-5.

Years ago I came across a commentary on Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness which said that they represented shortcuts to bringing about social change, ways in which Jesus could change the world without going through the suffering which awaited Him.  The problem with these shortcuts is that they do not work.  In rejecting each of those “shortcuts” Jesus explained part of why they don’t work.   First, Satan offered Jesus the solution of changing things by meeting people’s material needs.  By changing stones to bread, Jesus could feed the world and no one would need to be hungry anymore.  Jesus’ answered that temptation by telling Satan that the problems of this world were more than a lack of food.  So, next Satan offered Jesus political power over the whole earth, all He had to do was worship Satan.  Jesus answered that temptation by telling Satan that his price was too high.  In order to acquire that much political power one must give up being a servant of God, one must give up one’s integrity.  An author I love had one of their characters say, “It does no good to obtain your heart’s desire if the price you pay is your heart.” (that is a paraphrase).  Finally, Satan offered Jesus the option of forcing God to prove Himself.  Jesus answered that temptation by telling Satan that God is not magic which we control.  Ultimately, Jesus’ answer to Satan’s temptation was that there are no shortcuts to the Kingdom of Heaven.  Many of the problems in our society result from people falling for one of these three temptations.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.