Monday 12th January
Read Matthew 4:1-4
“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting for forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’
4 Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’ (NIVUK)
Matthew has been telling us Jesus’ story and shaping it like the story of Israel and Moses. After passing through the waters on the way out of Egypt Israel spent forty years wandering in the wilderness guided by the pillar and cloud of Yahweh.
They faced numerous trials and tests in that time. Exodus and Numbers are shaped around them. Those tests all asked the simple question: would they put their trust in God? They passed some and failed others, Moses included.
Jesus faced a similar series of tests in the wilderness before He began His ministry. After identifying with the people in baptism, ‘to fulfill all righteousness’, it is no surprise that the Spirit would lead Him into the wilderness to face the same tests they faced. As we will see this week, they are the same tests we face also, each day in the wilderness, as we make choices to trust God.
