I used to spend a lot of time asking ‘What does this Bible passage really mean?’ I meant, what did it mean to the first people who heard it—what did the author intend? However, I have realised that actually, the early readers of the Bible texts didn’t do this. Even within the Bible itself, we see the New Testament characters taking Old Testament texts and using them in a new way. In the spirit of this, I considered the text in the book of Matthew, chapter 4, when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.

We read of three different temptations of Jesus, and as I thought about them, I applied them to my own life. I wonder if your own reflection will be the same? I think it’s okay to put them into a different context, and to apply them to ourselves because just before this, Jesus had been baptised—which was a sign of repentance. Matthew tells us that he did this, not because he needed to repent, but to ‘fulfil all righteousness.’ In other words, he was doing what everyone else needed to do—I think to show that he was coming alongside people—we are meant to watch his example and copy it. So what were the temptations all about?

The first temptation was to turn stones into bread. He hadn’t eaten for over a month, he would be starving! But Jesus said it was more important to live ‘by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ For me, this means that physical things may seem overwhelmingly worrying, but I need to focus more on spiritual things than the physical. Between you and me, I am not at all sure that I am clever enough or brave enough to do this PhD research—but I needn’t worry overly much about that, I should mainly worry about whether I am where I think God wants me. I need to live each day as if it was my last one—to live it well, thinking more about God than all the worrying things.

The second temptation was for Jesus to throw himself off the temple steeple, because the angels would save him. Jesus replied that it’s wrong to put God to the test. For me, this means that there are things which I should take responsibility for. I have a couple of health niggles, and I want to pray and ask God to sort them and then just ignore them. But that is not what I should be doing, God is not a genie in a lamp. I need to take responsibility, and to take myself to a doctor. (I really hate going to the doctor, it’s so much hassle to get an appointment, and then so unpleasant being examined, and it all takes ages.)

Finally, Jesus was tempted to accept the world from Satan, if only he would worship him. Jesus told him to get lost! Only God should be worshipped. For me, this means that I must not be distracted by the theology I am learning and lose sight of God. There are some very clever, very convincing theologians, who have written all kinds of fascinating papers showing that much of the Bible is historically inaccurate, and full of bias and error. I need to consider their arguments, and sometimes they are correct—but I must not lose sight of who God is, I must not be tempted to turn my faith into religious theory.

I wonder how you will apply the three temptations to your own situation? I guess the main thing is that it is good to pause, to reflect, to consider what might stop us becoming the people who we are meant to be. What might stop us from walking with God? Sometimes we need to take stock, see where we are in danger of going wrong, and get back on track.

Thank you for reading. Have a good week.

Take care.

Love, Anne x