Conversation Points for Matthew 4:1-11

Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?

Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• We always read the baptism of Jesus on Baptism of Our Lord Sunday at the beginning of Epiphany, and then the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness on the first Sunday of Lent, but the stories actually happen back-to-back. After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, the “Spirit of God descend[ed] like a dove and alight[ed] on him” (3:16). 4:1 continues, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”
• While this is the only place direct conflict with Satan is described, this is a portrayal of the central conflict of the whole Gospel, a clash of kingdoms between the kingdom of God and the kingdom represented here by Satan. In other places, it plays out in Jesus’ conflicts with Herod, the high priests, and the scribes. The word here translated as “tempt” is translated other places as “test” and is used only of the Jewish leaders. As Jesus did here, he responded to them with scripture.
• Jesus came from Galilee to be baptized and was led by the Spirit to be tempted as a show of his obedience. Jesus’ facing down Satan was part of God’s plan, not a play by the devil.
• The writer of Matthew used the terms “devil,” “Satan,” “the evil one,” and “ruler of demons” interchangeably as a personification of the power of evil.
• Jesus was in the wilderness 40 days and 40 nights, a detail meant to clue the reader in to yet another similarity of Moses and the Israelites in exile for 40 years.
• The word translated “if” in verse 3, “If you are the Son of God…” may be better translated as “since.” The question is not if Jesus is the Son of God, but what it means that Jesus is the Son of God. What are the expectations of a Messiah? The things the devil is offering, material wealth, armies of angels, worldly power, were all things expected of a Messiah who was supposed to come and run out Rome.
• The first temptation is for Jesus to turn stones into loaves of bread. Since Jesus would have only needed one loaf, the temptation is not just about Jesus fulfilling his own need, but creating food for all human need. Jesus certainly cares about humanity’s need for bread, and in fact throughout the Gospel cares for the hungry and needy in many ways. But here, Jesus spoke of a deeper hunger than simply bread.
• The “high mountain” in verse 8 strengthens the allusion to Moses. The temptation for Jesus to rule the kingdoms of the world is to assume the role held by the Emperor. The devil tempts Jesus to accept the status quo of the world instead of the potential of the kingdom of God.
• Jesus responded to each of the devil’s challenges with scripture. The devil also quotes scripture.

Works Sourced:
Boring, M. Eugene. “The Gospel of Matthew.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.