Why Would He Do That?

In Today's gospel we hear the words of the devil trying to tempt  Jesus into following him and to serve him. But Jesus being much smarter puts the devil in his place and makes him so mad that he leaves. I'm going to focus on the one in Matthew. Matthew 4:1-11 to be exact.

1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³ The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

 ⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

 ⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ⁶ “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

   “‘He will command his angels concerning you,
   and they will lift you up in their hands,
   so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

 ⁷ Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do 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 splendor. ⁹ “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

 ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Get away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’

 ¹¹ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Lets break this down shall we?

1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

This one verse opens and describes what is about to happen. It unfolds the beginning of Gods Plan. "He was led by the spirit" The spirit is the Love of God and the Son. So it was Gods will to see If he could withstand the devil him self.  We Need to remember that the Lord wasn't on his free will it was indeed the spirit that led him. Jesus was full of the spirit because he was just baptized and saw his father. We can also get Led by the spirit to get tested to see if we are strong enough and have enough Faith in God.

² After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

So Jesus is already teaching us about lent here. " Forty days and forty nights"  What do we do in Lent when we give up something? We Fast from that item.  But know we get into the concept that he was in the wilderness (any Dead Spot, No Life) For Forty days. Now it was most likely NOT FORTY DAYS. It really just resembles a long period of time. And well then of course of he was hungry after fasting for forty days. But not to starve him self, but to grow a deeper connection with God! Moses Had done the same thing while getting the ten commandants. 

This is Deut 9 : 9,18

"When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablet of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord had made with you, I stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and had no water."

Little down it says:

" Then once again I fell prostrate before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I ate no Bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the Lords sight and so provoking him to anger."

Fasting ( For Jews) was a resemblance of sorrow for his/her sins. And in Moses case he did it to God for the sins of the people. People were doing everything exactly what he had told them not to. Worshiping there own gold calf and doing other things. In this Case Jesus was doing it for the people; To reflect on his life and to reflect on the lives of those who are there and had gone before him.

3The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

The tempter was smart. Testing Jesus to Eat and break his connection. The Devil Knew how hungry he was And so he tested away. Hes trying to trick Jesus in Many ways with this one Temptation. As I said in the first line it is to break the connection of prayer and fasting of God and himself Jesus. He Also tempted with this to come and join the devil. To feed him and not God.

 ⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

 Jesus is strictly telling us that we must live on the Word of God. And to live by the example of the Word. Not to live on bread that fill you up for a while, but words of life; his bread that will fill you up forever if you believe.  God does not use worthless and hurtful words, but the Words of God are sweeter than honey and stronger than Gold.

⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ⁶ “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:“‘He will command his angels concerning you,  and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 

 And So the devil being the devil is trying not to test Jesus in breaking his fasting, but is testing God!  The devil takes him to the tallest temple in Jerusalem and tells him to throw him self down. Well there is two things wrong with that. A) Only a crazy person like the devil would do that and B) You could not do worst in testing God. But The devil really wanting Gods only Son to follow him will do anything to get him on his side.... but never really works.

⁷ Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’

 Jesus Proving the devil wrong with his own words of bringing the words that are written up. Do you think the devil will stop there? No. Because he will do everything he can to make sure that He breaks the chain of that forty days.  But we see here that the devil has broken one of the laws. But then we also see that the devil couldn't care less.

 ⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ⁹ “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

The Devil now taking Jesus to the highest mountain, trying to show him all the kingdoms that he him self owns. God (Jesus) did not care for the World anyways, because it is full of evil and dis-heart. That is why Jesus came in the first place his to fix all this evil. Like Jesus said  " All the things of this world will not last ; But my word will last forever"  Jesus Know thinking the devil is crazy for telling him to bow down to him, comes with a firm attack back.

¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “ Get away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only!’

Jesus now bringing back the of what is written against the devil again. Jesus now filled with the spirit Shoos the devil away.Jesus didn't speak him self, he let God work with in him and let these answers spill out. Jesus not wanting any more tells him to turn back to God and to serve HIM ONLY. After the devil hears this he gives up and goes because he sees that God is strongly planted with in Jesus.  We Hear this line mostly to the Israelite's when they worship there own gods. They Must turn to God. And that is why I believe God send Moses to  them. To make them turn to God before they reach the Holy Land. The place of milk and honey.