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Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for forty days being put to the test by the devil. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. Then the devil said to him, “If you are Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf.” But Jesus replied, “Scripture says,
Human beings live not on bread alone.
Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and said to him, “I will give you all this power and their splendour, for it has been handed over to me, for me to give it to anyone I choose. Do homage, then, to me, and it shall all be yours.” But Jesus answered him, “Scripture says:
You must do homage to the Lord your God, him alone you must serve.
Then he led him to Jerusalem and set him on the parapet of the Temple. “If you are Son of God,” he said to him, “Throw yourself down from here, for scripture says:
He has given his angels orders about you, to guard you
and again:
They will carry you in their arms in case you trip over a stone.
But Jesus answered him, “Scripture says:
Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
The devil has one last test for Jesus, one last attempt to derail the coming Kingdom of God. ‘Jump from the highest point in Jerusalem, the pinnacle of the cult of Yahweh, and force God’s hand to save you!’ The devil takes Jesus to the holiest place in the Holy City, the Sanctum Sanctorum, and quotes scripture - Psalm 91- to persuade Jesus to make the apparent “leap of faith”. Jesus resists, and one last time quotes Deuteronomy as his reason:
Do not put Yahweh your God to the test as you did at Massah.
Last Modified: 5.26.03