This image is from Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups by Ned Bustard. The image was created by Matthew L. Clark.

Matthew 4:1-4
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. 2 For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.
3 During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”
4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,
‘People do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Dear God, I might or might not have noticed this before, but this morning what strikes me about this passage is the fact that the Spirit appears to Jesus in the form of a dove at his baptism, and then it is the Spirit that leads him into the wilderness to be tempted. You didn’t shield him from temptation. You actually led him into it so that he could learn and be stronger.

That’s one of the hardest things to understand as a parent. Where is the line between protecting our child and getting in the way of the lessons they need to learn for later in life? And it changes with every age. There are the early stages when they reach for an electrical outlet and we physically prevent it because they cannot understand. Then there is the phase where we warn them with words, but sometimes they disobey us and get hurt anyway. And then there are the times when they are adults that we offer them our love, but we also offer them tough love and truth (not that tough love isn’t appropriate during the earlier parts as well).

In the spirit of looking at the art that Ned Bustard put with these Bible stories in Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-ups, I want to spend some time with the artist who did a piece about this picture and see what he/she noticed that I might have missed or interpreted differently. In this case, Matthew L. Clark did this piece called “Temptation.”

So what do I notice in this piece?

• Jesus looks pretty haggard. I’m not sure that I’ve ever thought about what he would look like after being in the wilderness for 40 days with no food, but I suppose he wouldn’t have looked like the pretty pictures of him I saw in Sunday school. This is a good point by the artist.
• This image focuses only on the first temptation. The first words at the top are not explicitly said by Satan, but they carry that feeling of self pity that we all get from time to time. Self pity is the root of a lot of sin. “I have the right.” “I deserve better.” “How dare you?!?” In this case, Clark is suggesting that part of Jesus’ temptation is the idea that he might be questioning what all of this is for. “Why did the Spirit lead me out here for 40 days to do this?” “Is this suffering necessary?”
• The words “Stones” and “Bread” set the stage for the temptation Clark is addressing. It’s hunger, but he is also suggesting in the first one that it’s also about doubting you and doubting the Spirit.
• I couldn’t tell what the image is at the top of the top speech bubble. In the description, it is apparently batwings. It is to indicate that this is not scripture. Clark says he took the line from Boromir in The Fellowship of the Ring.
• I wondered what Satan is wearing in the picture. Is he a king? Again, thankfully, Clark gives us an explanation. He has Satan appearing to tempt Jesus as a Jewish holy man. Someone whom he should trust. How many times have I been led astray by those I trusted? How many times have I led others astray who trusted me

Finally, here is what Clark has to say about his piece:

I think an important thing not to overlook here is the fact that this was a real temptation. Jesus had to really be tempted if this episode was to have any significant meaning. As such, I tried to show him emaciated and weak. At least physically weak. I have no idea if forty days of fasting leaves one spiritually weakened or strengthened. But I assume it would be immediately weakening or Satan would not have chosen that time to act.”

Father, I will face temptations today. Help me to recognize them when they come. Help me to renounce self pity and embrace the work you have given me to do today. Guide my heart into the channel of your will for me regardless of its benefits or costs to me. And help me to know how to parent my grown children. Help me to not do anything that will get in the way of what you are trying to do in their lives. Love them richly. Love my wife as well and help me to know how you need me to love her. Again, do all of this for your glory, your plan, and so that your will and kingdom will come to earth.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen