you power over all the nations; and their wealth will be yours; for power and wealth have been delivered to me; and I give them to whom
I wish. All this will be yours, provided you worship me.” But Jesus replied, “Scripture says: You shall worship the Lord your God and serve
him alone.” Then the devil took him up to Jerusalem, and set him on the highest wall of the temple; and he said, “If you are God’s Son, throw
yourself down from here; for it is written: God will order his angels to take care of you; and again: They will hold you in their hands, lest
you hurt your foot on the stones.” But Jesus replied, “It is written: You shall not challenge the Lord your God.” When the devil had exhausted
every way of tempting Jesus, he left him, to return another time.
Reflection:
All three temptations of Jesus are predicated on conditional
clause: “If you are the Son of God” (temptations 1 & 3), “provided you
worship me” (temptation 2). Jesus resists such temptations, because, in
his heart, there is no “if” clause with regards God. For Jesus, the Father-
Son relationship he has with God is not a hypothesis to be tested and
proven; it is an experiential truth he has lived eternally. His life is so
one with God that there is no space for worshipping someone else,
even when the Father is seemingly absent or silent. When the devil,
quite ingeniously, tempts Jesus with words from the Scriptures,
Jesus does not budge: You do not put conditions on God; you simply
live God.
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