“temptation attacks us where our identity and mission as the children of God intersect”
“The temptations attempted to distort Jesus’ identity and pull him off mission.”
Temptations
1) turn stone into bread – attempt to get Jesus to use his power for selfish ends
2) throw self from atop temple – attempt to force God to rescue Jesus from a reckless choice
3) worship satan for riches – wrong means (worship satan) to a right end (all the kindoms of the earth under Jesus)?
Quotes Jesus used to refute satan: Deuteronomy 8:3, 6:13, 6:16 — from the period of wandering the wilderness following the exodus when Isrealites gretly tempted and “chose to fail often”.
“Jesus, however, read Scripture and learned the right lesson from Israel’s wrong example. He succeeded where they failed by leaning wholeheartedly on the wisdom of God the Father. The question is: Do we know what God has said, and do we heed his words?”