The Message, February 22, 2026: "The Temptation is Real," Matthew 4:1-11

Author: Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
February 27, 2026

 

“The Temptation is Real”
A Message by Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
Matthew 4:1-11

            The Judean wilderness. A place called Jeshimon (jeh-shy-mon) in Hebrew which means “the desolation” or “barren waste.” It is a region south of Jerusalem, between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, or the Salt Sea. It is approximately thirty-five miles long and about ten to twelve miles wide. And as you can likely tell from the photograph on the screens, it is not a lovely place to visit.

            During my study tour of Israel, we spent one day in that region, and it was the most uncomfortable day of the trip ... and we were travelling in an air-conditioned tour bus! It also happened to be the day that I forgot my wide-brimmed hat in the hotel room. It was brutal. I spent the day searching for one shady spot after another so that I could hide from the sun. But at the end of the day, my sun-burned self climbed back on the bus and headed back to the hotel. (After a quick dip in the saltiest body of water on the planet.)

            Jesus spent forty days and forty nights there fasting. I had two bottles of frozen water in my backpack … and I was miserable. Our scripture lesson tells us that he was famished. I can only imagine. I could not get back on that bus fast enough!

            This is a familiar passage of scripture. My guess is that you have either read it or heard it numerous times. It is the traditional passage that we read on the first Sunday in Lent. If you were with us last Sunday, you might recall that one of the things that I said to the children during our Children’s Message is that … surprisingly enough … I do not know EVERYTHING about Jesus. I am still learning. I am still gaining new insights.

            Something incredibly obvious occurred to me yesterday as I was shoveling the paths in the yard for my super spoiled dogs. Nowhere in the Gospels do we read the passage in which Jesus tells the disciples about what happened in this wilderness experience. We know that he must have told them at some point, because he was the only person there. (It seems unlikely that the Devil kept a journal. “Dear Diary … today I tested Jesus in the wilderness. Big fail … but planted some seeds of doubt.)

            Remember, that this occurred immediately after his baptism, so Jesus had not yet called the disciples. Jesus had to be the one that shared this experience with them at some point after he called them.

            Let me pause for a moment … all of you parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, school teachers or Sunday school teachers have likely had the opportunity to have a conversation with a four or five year old child. And you likely know that young children live in a special land called, “But … why?”

            “Honey, Mommy has to go to work. I can’t build a snow fort with you.”
            “But why?”
            “Because that is my job.”
            “But … why?”
            “Well, to earn money to but clothes for you and food for you.”
            “But … why?”
            “Well … because we have to pay for things. They are not free …”
            ‘Yeah … but why?”
            All of those ‘whys’ get to the existential heart of the question.

            Anyway, in our journeys with Jesus and the disciples, we have seen how difficult it was for the disciples to figure out just who and what Jesus was … and is. They had never met or experienced anything or anyone like him … because there is not anyone or anything like him! So, can you imagine what it must have been like when Jesus shared this story with them?!

            “Right after I emerged from the waters of baptism, the very same Spirit that descended upon me in a bodily form like a dove … led me into the wilderness … into the Desolation.”

            “But … why?”

            “Well, the Desolation is a very barren place. No one ever goes there. So, I would definitely be alone there.”

            “But … why, Jesus? Why did you go there?”

            “Well … I went there so that I could be tested … by the Tempter … the Adversary … the Devil.”

            “Okay …WHY were YOU being tested???!!!”

            And that, my friends, is the $64,000 question! No doubt, this has been a question that has been the topic of Bible studies for generations. I can understand why I might need to be tested … or why you might need to be tested … but why would Jesus need to be tested? Why would Jesus have to submit to that experience?

            The scholars and commentators seem to fall into two different camps.

            Let me first say that the word that we typically translate as “temptation” is more accurately translated from the original Greek to be “tested.” The difference is important.

            The first school of scholarship details how the tests that Jesus endured paralleled the tests or the trials that the ancient Hebrews endured in their own sojourn in the wilderness during the Exodus.

            The first test – turning stones into bread.

            During their prolonged journey through the desert, the people became hungry. They were grumbling and complaining. They told Moses that they would rather go back to Egypt and live as Pharoah’s slaves than die of hunger searching for the Promised Land.

            In Deuteronomy 8:2-3 we read: “Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

            The People of God … God’s Chosen Ones … grumbled in their wilderness experience and displayed their faithlessness, rather than their faithFULness. Jesus on the other hand, drew strength from his faith. Jesus’ faith in God, Jesus’ faith that God Would provide enabled him to pass where others had failed.

            The Second Test – Do not put your Lord to the test.

            Again, from Deuteronomy 6:16 we read: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.” 

            The people grumbled this time because they were thirsty. They questioned Moses. They wanted proof that God was really with them. They claimed that God was not living up to God’s part of the covenant. And in doing so, the people demonstrated that THEY were the ones who were not worthy of being in a covenantal relationship. (Exodus 17:1-7)

            Where the Children of Israel failed, Jesus once again passed. Jesus would not manipulate or coerce God into performing some act of power in order to prove God’s Presence, or God’s faithfulness. Honoring God and trusting God does not mean asking God to PROVE it.

            And the third test – Idolatry.

            “The Lord your God you shall fear, him you shall serve, and by his name alone you shall swear.  Do not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who are all around you.” (Deuteronomy 6:13-14)

            Despite receiving this clear instruction, the Children of Israel … God’s Chosen People … repeatedly played the “harlot.” They repeatedly fell away from Yahweh and worshipped other gods. Throughout their history, they worshipped the gods of conquering kingdoms, or the gods of manipulative kings or queens. Their love for Yahweh God seemed to be as fleeting as the morning fog that disappeared with the rising sun.

            And of course, we know that Jesus again did not fail where the others did. Jesus would not compromise. Jesus would not bow down to the Adversary. Even though the power offered to Jesus by the Tempter could have been used for good purposes, Jesus would not kneel down and worship one who was not God.

            This school of scholarly thought is not incorrect. Jesus did stand strong in the face of the tests and trials of the Hebrew people. He was faithful where their faith failed. His experience did display that the testing was not intended to make Jesus sin but rather enabled him to conquer sin. The testing was not intended to make him bad but rather showed his goodness. It was not intended to make him weak but rather made him stronger. And, of course, the lesson for all of those who follow Jesus was that that is the case for us as well. Testing can also make us stronger. Testing can also make us better, and better able to endure the times of trial.

            Now, the other school of scholarly thought also makes an excellent point.

            Throughout history, God has lifted up prophets, and judges, and kings to teach and lead the people. But God had never sent God’s own Son. God had never sent the firstborn of Creation. God sent Jesus, Love Incarnate … Love in the Flesh … human flesh. We enter into the question zone again.

            Was Jesus to be fully divine AND fully human? If the answer to that question is “yes,” then the greatest temptation for the human Jesus might be to embrace the fully divine part of himself. Jesus could be tested … tempted … to use his divinity to make sure that he did not suffer like humans do. He did not NEED to go hungry like humans do. He did not NEED to thirst like humans do. He did not NEED to grow angry or heartbroken the way that humans do. He did not NEED to die … the way that humans do.

            “Go ahead, Jesus, turn one of those stones over there into a nice, warm loaf of bread. Go ahead and eat. It is okay. There is no one here. No one is looking. Go ahead, Jesus … eat.”

            Jesus came to fulfill the Way of God. Jesus came to complete God’s Vision for the world. He came to lead us to the Promised Land. He came to set us free from the chains and prisons of this world. He came to shine God’s bright, pure Light into the darkest corners.

            During this Lenten Season, a season of contemplation, a season of self-exploration, a season of penitence, we are invited to join Jesus on this journey once again. We are invited to consider those chains that bind us.

            We are invited to consider those barriers that we have erected … or others have erected … that separate us from God.

            We are invited to consider those practices, or behaviors, or attitudes that tempt us to be less than what or who God intends us to be.

            In the first two tests, The Adversary began by saying, “If you really ARE the Son of God … do this.” “If you truly ARE the Son of God … then do this.”

            Friends … you ARE the beloved Children of God. We ARE God’s Children. As we sojourn in this season of Lent, may we consider what that means for us.
            Amen.

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