Reading 3
Forty days in the wilderness
The reading
Matthew 4:1-11
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you.’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’”
Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory. He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and served him.
The companions
Psalm 91:11-16 (selected)
For he will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, so that you won’t dash your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and cobra. Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high, because he has known my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him. I will satisfy him with long life, and show him my salvation.
Deuteronomy 8:2-3
You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. He humbled you, and allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know; that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the LORD’s mouth.
The note
Notice what the tempter does in the second offer. He quotes scripture. Psalm 91, accurately, the same psalm printed below as a companion.
Having the text is not the safeguard here. Both parties in this argument know it by heart.
Each offer is a real good reached by a wrong road. Bread, for a man who has not eaten in forty days. Public proof that God will catch him. Authority over every kingdom on earth, handed over now, without the cross.
None of it is nonsense. That is the difficulty.
Jesus answers three times with something already written, and each answer moves the question off the offer and onto who is being served. Not, is this true. What is this for.
Anyone who has watched a system return a confident, well-sourced, completely wrong answer knows this shape. A correct citation is not the same thing as truth, and the difference is not in the citation.
This week
Watch this week for the citation that checks out and still proves nothing. It turns up in reports, in arguments, in generated summaries, in the link somebody drops to end a discussion. When you catch one, stop and ask the second question: not is this source real, but what is it being used to do.
Write down one example with the date. It is the fastest instrument you have for telling a real argument from a well-dressed one.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (public domain). The divine name is rendered “the LORD” in the Deuteronomy reading.
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