and he was in the desert for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.(1:13)
The second temptation Jesus got from Satan was a request like this: “The devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 'If you are the Son of God,' he said, 'throw yourself down. For it is written "He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift your up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone'"(Mt. 4:5,6) If Jesus fell down from the top of the temple, what could it happen? Since Jesus did not learn how to support his body in the sky, he might hurt himself a lot or kill him just like us if he fell down from the high point. What is the reason that Satan used to ask such a silly question that everybody already knew the answer.
This question indicates what kind of attention human beings might have. That attention could mean the human nature in which people want to get special treatment from others. People sometimes show their anticipation of being so exceptional, even though anybody could be killed or hurt if they fall down from the highest point, or they hide that kind of anticipation deep down in their unconsiousness. As an example, there is almost zero possibility to win the lottery, but people imagine they could be lucky enough to get the winning ticket, so they used to buy them again and again. Maybe this kind of a speculative spirit might keep up their lives these days.
Especially to us Christians it seems to be very prevalent that God provide with special guidance for us. Of course this kind of thinking is not totally wrong. But despite all the other people are struggling in the hard conditions, if they think it could never happen to them, it must be symptoms of a mental disease. Christians always ask so much to God. Even there are some special early morning prayer meetings or all night prayer meetings for the high school seniors' college entrance prep test. How could church, which is an eschalogical community waiting for a new heaven and earth, pray for this kind of nonsense? If they are faithful Christians, they should pray for neighbors' children, who are under hard conditions, to get good scores for the test. Christian way of life should yield the better position in this world to the people of the world.
Jesus answered to Satan like this. “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”(Mt. 4:7) Yes. The thought to get a special treatment is an act like putting God to the test. The idea that only Christians must receive blessings does not give glory to God, but hide His glory. You'd better not to put God in embarassment. Let us not ask God, who gives the sunlight and rain to everybody in the world, to give the sunlight and rain only to ourselves. Let us not ask only Christians' business being prospeous. It is impossible, and also it is to put God into a test.
And then what could be the reason to believe in Jesus some people could ask. Faith could be already an event itself. ‘'Faith' means a cosmological event of salvation, so it does not need anything else. Think about it. Resurrection of life which happened to Jesus is guaranteed to us, so whatelse do we need? . Nothing else. The things you might get in this world are just small fragments. With clinging into this kind of small fragments, if you lose the foundation of faith or make an object of relativity, it could mean you put God into a test.
Lord, we don't want to test your love, but want to live with a dignity whatever happens. Amen.
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