Temptation #1
I'm finally back, I've been on vacation for the last 2 weeks and it was a great experience but I'm glad that I'm back home and back to work.
The first recorded temptation that we have is when Satan comes to Jesus and says "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." This is the only one of the temptations that I understood because he was hungry, so of course it made sense that he would be tempted to eat. But I always thought that Jesus was tempted to break his fast, but apparently that was not the case. Is the temptation to break a fast real? I'll tell you that for me it is, but maybe for the Savior it wasn't, especially at this time. In "The Temptations of Christ" Elder Howard W. Hunter tells us "Satan was not simply tempting Jesus to eat. Had he suggested, 'Go down out of this wilderness and obtain food from the bread maker,' there would have been no temptation because undoubtedly Jesus inteded to eat at the close of his fast. Satan's temptation was to have him eat in a spectacular way- using his divine powers for selfish purposes." Looking at this situation it seems that Jesus making bread out of stones didn't have to be a bad thing, it could have allowed him to stay in the wilderness longer, helped him feel better, all types of things. But was there another way for Jesus to get food other than to have His Father miraculously provide it for him? Yes, he could have hunted food, he could have gone into town and bought food, he could have done many things. It's like the saying, "God helps those who help themselves." God grants us miracles all the time, gives us information, teaches us all the time, but He expects us to do all we can to help ourselves at the same time. If Jesus had just turned the stones into bread just because he was hungry without doing all that he needed to do to help himself that would have been using his abilities carelessly and would show a lack of respect to his calling, power, and priesthood. But JTC tells us more, "Hungry as Jesus was, there was a temptation in Satan's words even greater than that embodied in the suggestion that He provide food for HIs famishing body- the temptation to put to proof the possible doubt implied in the tempter's 'If.' The Eternal Father had proclaimed Jesus as His Son; the devil tried to make the Son doubt that divine relationship. Why not prove the Father's interest in His Son at this moment of dire necessity? ... To have yielded would have been to manifest positive doubt of the Father's acknowledgement." This reminds me of an early Joseph Smith. Remember when the three witnesses had finally seen the gold plates? Remember how relieved Joseph Smith felt afterward because someone else could support what he had been saying all along? Did Joseph Smith believe that he really had seen Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and was translating the Book of Mormon by the power of God and was called by God as a prophet to restored the gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth? Did he believe all that? Yes, he did believe all that, but there was so much resistance coming from the outside that when it came time for others to see, touch, and handle the plates, and see and angel, he rejoiced in the fact that there was now another source of confirmation. It's kind of like knowing that you're not crazy, but if you're the only one that knows it, it's kind of nice to have someone confirm it. Also if we look at the Savior's experience, He was born with the blinders on just like us, he didn't remember the pre-mortal life, he didn't have instant an infallible knowledge of who he was and what his mission in this life was, he had to come to that knowledge piece by piece through faith just like the rest of us. As far as I know, he hadn't performed other miracles yet, so in an early ministry it would be quite tempting to perform a miracle just to "confirm" what you already believed to be true. Really, at this point, he'd had his whole life of study and spiritual growth and development, he had his baptism experience, and he'd had John the Baptist's testimony of his divinity and mission, but it is possible to excuse that away. Looking back at it from our perspective, yes of course Jesus was the Christ, look at all the miracles he performed and the atonement, but as of this moment in His life, those things hadn't happened yet. His faith and understanding of his mission and divinity probably grew stronger with each miracle that he performed for others, but this wouldn't have been a miracle for others, just for him. JTC continues, "The superior power that Jesus possessed had not been given to Him for personal gratification, but for service to others. He was to experience all the trials of mortality; another man, as hungry as He, could not have provided for himself by a miracle; and though by miracle such a one might be fed, the miraculous supply would have to be given, not provided by himself. It was a necessary result of our Lord's dual nature, comprising the attributes of both God and man, that He should endure and suffer as a mortal while possessing at all times the ability to invoke the power of His own Godhood by which all bodily needs could be supplied of overcome."
The first recorded temptation that we have is when Satan comes to Jesus and says "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." This is the only one of the temptations that I understood because he was hungry, so of course it made sense that he would be tempted to eat. But I always thought that Jesus was tempted to break his fast, but apparently that was not the case. Is the temptation to break a fast real? I'll tell you that for me it is, but maybe for the Savior it wasn't, especially at this time. In "The Temptations of Christ" Elder Howard W. Hunter tells us "Satan was not simply tempting Jesus to eat. Had he suggested, 'Go down out of this wilderness and obtain food from the bread maker,' there would have been no temptation because undoubtedly Jesus inteded to eat at the close of his fast. Satan's temptation was to have him eat in a spectacular way- using his divine powers for selfish purposes." Looking at this situation it seems that Jesus making bread out of stones didn't have to be a bad thing, it could have allowed him to stay in the wilderness longer, helped him feel better, all types of things. But was there another way for Jesus to get food other than to have His Father miraculously provide it for him? Yes, he could have hunted food, he could have gone into town and bought food, he could have done many things. It's like the saying, "God helps those who help themselves." God grants us miracles all the time, gives us information, teaches us all the time, but He expects us to do all we can to help ourselves at the same time. If Jesus had just turned the stones into bread just because he was hungry without doing all that he needed to do to help himself that would have been using his abilities carelessly and would show a lack of respect to his calling, power, and priesthood. But JTC tells us more, "Hungry as Jesus was, there was a temptation in Satan's words even greater than that embodied in the suggestion that He provide food for HIs famishing body- the temptation to put to proof the possible doubt implied in the tempter's 'If.' The Eternal Father had proclaimed Jesus as His Son; the devil tried to make the Son doubt that divine relationship. Why not prove the Father's interest in His Son at this moment of dire necessity? ... To have yielded would have been to manifest positive doubt of the Father's acknowledgement." This reminds me of an early Joseph Smith. Remember when the three witnesses had finally seen the gold plates? Remember how relieved Joseph Smith felt afterward because someone else could support what he had been saying all along? Did Joseph Smith believe that he really had seen Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and was translating the Book of Mormon by the power of God and was called by God as a prophet to restored the gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth? Did he believe all that? Yes, he did believe all that, but there was so much resistance coming from the outside that when it came time for others to see, touch, and handle the plates, and see and angel, he rejoiced in the fact that there was now another source of confirmation. It's kind of like knowing that you're not crazy, but if you're the only one that knows it, it's kind of nice to have someone confirm it. Also if we look at the Savior's experience, He was born with the blinders on just like us, he didn't remember the pre-mortal life, he didn't have instant an infallible knowledge of who he was and what his mission in this life was, he had to come to that knowledge piece by piece through faith just like the rest of us. As far as I know, he hadn't performed other miracles yet, so in an early ministry it would be quite tempting to perform a miracle just to "confirm" what you already believed to be true. Really, at this point, he'd had his whole life of study and spiritual growth and development, he had his baptism experience, and he'd had John the Baptist's testimony of his divinity and mission, but it is possible to excuse that away. Looking back at it from our perspective, yes of course Jesus was the Christ, look at all the miracles he performed and the atonement, but as of this moment in His life, those things hadn't happened yet. His faith and understanding of his mission and divinity probably grew stronger with each miracle that he performed for others, but this wouldn't have been a miracle for others, just for him. JTC continues, "The superior power that Jesus possessed had not been given to Him for personal gratification, but for service to others. He was to experience all the trials of mortality; another man, as hungry as He, could not have provided for himself by a miracle; and though by miracle such a one might be fed, the miraculous supply would have to be given, not provided by himself. It was a necessary result of our Lord's dual nature, comprising the attributes of both God and man, that He should endure and suffer as a mortal while possessing at all times the ability to invoke the power of His own Godhood by which all bodily needs could be supplied of overcome."
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