Read Luke 4:1-13 with your family.

The scripture today talks about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness after his baptism, and having to deal with “Satan” or “the Devil”. Those are scary words and sadly the church has made them scary throughout history. But the original Hebrews did not think of a scary figure dressed in red and carrying a pitchfork – that was something artists created centuries later.

The Hebrews understood a character not called “Satan” by name, but “ha satan” as a description. This character was the tempter. That little voice that tells us to make poor decisions, that it doesn’t matter if we lie or steal. We know it is wrong but we really want to do it anyway – that is Temptation, ha satan.

In our story Jesus is tempted by that little voice in three ways: have everything you want, have all the power you want, and live forever. Jesus knew that he had a job to do and that job was not going to be popular. This was Jesus opportunity to work out his biggest fears and temptations, so he could feel strong enough to do the job of God in human form living on earth.