"And the Spirit immediately drove [Jesus] out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him." (Mark 1:12-13)
Through very extensive study this week I have discovered that another word for "tempted" in this passage is "tested."
Tempted has a connotation of sin. Tested has a connotation of doing battle, or being purified or galvanized or clarified. Again, I think that the scholars who include "being tested" along with "being tempted" in this passgage are onto something.
I can see how and why God may have wanted to test Jesus. He was about ready to embark upon a great piece of work, and that was to bring us back to God, to give his life on the cross for us, to show us the way of faithfulness. In order to proceed on his work God needed to know and Jesus himself needed to know if he could pass the test of Satan, the test of whether he was going to serve another Master other than God, the test of whether his mission was going to be for himself or for us and for God.
We all get tested. I know that many of you are facing real and challenging tests right now. Why don’t you think about calling on Jesus to help you face into and pass your tests? He knows all "testings" that we face—that is one of the reasons why he came to this earth. And if you fail, as we all have done and as we all will continue to do, then throw yourselves onto his mercy. Don’t make excuses for your failures. Don’t blame anyone else. It is not worthy of you. But do, again, trust in his mercy. It was imperative that Jesus pass this first test for many reasons. One of which was that in passing this test and ultimately in facing his final test, the cross, his forgiveness is real for you and for me.
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