In this chapter, Jesus spends forty days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. First the devil offers him food, which Jesus declines saying "man cannot live by bread alone". This happens to be one of my favorite Bible quotations because although my material needs are consistently met, I still ache for meaning. I feel that I cannot truly live unless I nurture my relationship with the divine.
Next, the devil offers Jesus "all the kingdoms of the inhabited Earth". Jesus doesn't take him up on this offer either, not surprisingly, especially when you remember that he tells his disciplines not to bring a spare shirt with them when they travel around (Luke 9:3). Jesus didn't seem to be a fan of material goods. [on a side note, when I googled "Bible Verse Jesus Shirt" to get a reference for Luke 9:3, I did not get any useful hits. Most of the search results were along the lines of "Put a Bible Verse on a Shirt for only $12.95!". I used to have a shirt that said "Slide Jesus Some Skin" with a picture of an outstretched hand attached to a robe-clad arm. This was back in the days when "Jesus is my homeboy" shirts were really popular. Ah, the plethora of Christian merchandise].
In the third temptation, the devil quotes scripture. He is quoting Psalm 91:11. He basically tells Jesus that he should jump from the temple because scripture says that the angels will catch him. Jesus answers with another quotation from scripture "do not put the lord your God to the test". It is really striking to me though to notice the Bible being quoted as a literal interpretation to attempt to incite someone to do something incredibly stupid. Striking but strangely familiar...
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