Jesus vs. the Desert

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6)

4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. Matthew (4:1-11)

As I was reading through the beatitudes in Matthew, I read the one about hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Even though is referring to always wanting to do what’s right, I couldn’t help but think about Jesus being tempted in the desert. Before Jesus went into his ministry he spent 40 days and nights fasting in the desert. I have read this verse hundreds of times, but I never really thought about it until now.

Have you ever fasted? If you have it was probably only for a day, or there may be a very select few that have fasted for a week. Why do we fast? When ever we feel the pain for food or drink, we overcome that need with thoughts of God, helping us to realized that without him, we are nothing. Can you imagine fasting for 40 days and nights? That part of the story is easy to comprehend, what what about the other things that are not so obvious.

In the desert, it gets very hot during the day, and very cold at night. Imagine spending the entire day walking around the desert sweating from heat exhaustion to death and dying of thirst. The sand is getting between your sandals, and you are probably getting blisters in your toes. Lets not forget about the sandstorms that can happen in the desert, that can easily be deadly. Than it night, you try to sleep, but where do you sleep? Maybe you make a little pile of sand for a pillow to lay your head on. I don’t know for sure, but I am guessing that Jesus didn’t carry around a blanket, and in the dessert it can get to freezing temperatures at night. On top of all this, there are lots of wild animals, and other dangerous things in the dessert, poisonous snakes, bandits, coyotes, etc.

So we have made it through one day, and we haven’t had anything to eat or drink yet. After about 3 days, you start to become fatigued, and you aren’t seeing straight, as you are walking through yet another sandstorm. After about a week, you can’t even feel your feet because the are covered in blisters, and you are so thirsty and hungry that you could just die. If you fall, or trip, who is going to help you up. You might just as well stay there.

Ok so 1 week down and 5 to go. Do you see my point? Imagine going through this day after day after day for almost 6 weeks. But, there was hope for Jesus, because God was there to help him, not physically, but mentally. Everything that Jesus had learned in scripture, he had to occupy his mind form the daily elements of the pain and suffering. But the story doesn’t end here.

Ok, so we are 40 days and nights into this thing, we are so hungry and thirsty, and fatigued, and we have probably lost weight, that we can’t even walk straight, and we probably don’t know which way is up, and we are probably starting to go a little crazy (remember what happened to out friend John the Baptist). And now who decides to show up, when you are at the lowest weakest point of your entire life? Satan.

He tells Jesus to turn some stones into bread, surly you could do that easily. I have to doubt that Jesus probably considered this. But, in the long run he knew better, 4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Again, Satan to Jesus to a high place and said jump, God will not let you fall, you were not meant to end your life here, you are meant to die in a different way. Again, if you think about it, at this point, to Jesus, falling to his death probably didn’t sound like such a bad idea, he just wanted it to be over, remember, Jesus was 100% human. But again, Jesus new better. 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again, the Satan to Jesus to the top of a mountain and told Jesus that if he bowed down and worshiped him, that he would give Jesus everything that he seen. 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. One other thought! Jesus very well could have been tempted more by Satan, and it just wasn’t recorded in scripture.

Lets stop there for a moment. Satan has the authority to give Jesus everything he seen? God is the God of the Heavens and the earth, he is the creator of the Heavens and the earth, but the kingdom of Heaven is Gods kingdom. Earth belongs to Satan. So yes, Satan did have the authority to give Jesus anything he wanted to on earth. Jesus also new than if he was patient, one day Satan would be cast in to the lake of sulfur and than Jesus was reign on earth for 1000 years. Good things come to those who wait.

There is one last part of the story that we don’t want to leave out, and that is verse 11. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. After all this suffering for 40 days and nights, he was able to defeat Satan. Yes, finally Jesus could eat right? Wrong! It says that the angles ministered to Jesus. So after all was said and done, Jesus sat with the angles to listen to their teachings, no coffee, of bagels, but the word of God.

Wow. What a story. What kind of things in your life have you suffered? Remember that Jesus suffered death on the cross so we don’t have to, he loves us that much.