St. Luke 4: 1 – 13

June 23, 2022

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:

10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:

11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

I am a child of the 50s – television and movies have always been a big deal in my life. Fortunately, for me and others like me, we had some of the best ‘Jesus movies’ Hollywood ever produced. To this day, I cannot read these verses without seeing in my mind’s eye, this scene from the 1965 movie The Greatest Story Ever Told.

It is done so subtly – notice, Satan speaks to Jesus quietly, intimately – whoever the director was (I think it was it George Stevens) knew his Bible; or perhaps the writers did. The quiet voice of the enemy that whispers evil in our ears to bring sadness, doubt, worry, fear. Jesus walks away. He wins. And we win because of Jesus. Because Jesus overcame the world, we Christians are overcomers. We do not have to give place to the whispers of sadness, doubt, worry, or fear from the enemy. He has no hold on us – we rid ourselves of those troublesome things with the flick of our hands. It has no place in our lives. Because Jesus lives – we live, in Him.

Amen.

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