We read in Matthew 4:1-2, Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. In these verses, Jesus was tried. Did he love God1 with all his heart, soul, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5)? Jesus’ responses2 come from a section of the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6-8) that begins with the well-known saying, the Shema Yisrael (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) commanding our love for God. The Greek word for tempted also means being tested. Jesus’ love for God was being tested after a preparatory time of fasting. Would he pass the test?
1Brown, Fitzmyer & Murphy. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Prentice Hall. 1990. 638.
2R. T. France. The New International Commentary of the New Testament. The Gospel of Matthew. Wm. B. Eerdmans. 2007. 124-136.
No comments:
Post a Comment