At
that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desertto be tempted by the devil.
He fasted for forty days and forty nights,
and afterwards he was hungry.
The tempter approached and said to him,
"If you are the Son of God,
command that these stones become loaves of bread."
He said in reply,
"It is written:
One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God."
Then the devil took him to the holy city,
and made him stand on the parapet of the temple,
and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.
For it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you
and with their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone."
Jesus answered him,
"Again it is written,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test."
Matthew
4:1-11
At the foot of the Cross, the crowd would taunt Jesus, demanding that he call upon God to save him from crucifixion. Satan did the same thing at the start of his ministry, demanding that he call upon God to save him from a fall from the temple pinnacle.
Christianity
has been flummoxed for centuries by the problem of evil. Why would God allow us to suffer? This story indicates that seeing God as a
cosmic security force or good luck charm is the worst, most venal temptation and draws us
away from understanding the true nature of our relationship to God.
