Matthew 4:11
‘Then the devil left him.’
The storm raged, the sea crashed, and all night long the gale blew. In the morning, the sun came out and the wind abated. The sea was still rough, but all that remained of the force of the night’s activity was seaweed on the road and some spray flying over the sea wall to keep the road wet. That could be a description of any number of winter days over the years at one of my favourite places in Devon. When we spent childhood summer holidays at Hope Cove, I had no idea how frightening, but yet exhilarating, the winter can be.
Over the past three weeks I have reflected on some of the thoughts that came to me as I re-read the Temptations of Jesus this year. Like a winter storm that blows itself out as the depression passes, so the pressure is over. The devil went away. How did that leave Jesus feeling? Washed out and battered by the effort of resistance to the evil power? Was he empty, as though an anti-climax had come, or exhilarated by the sense of having struggled but prevailed?
Many of us will be able to relate to how it feels to be on the right side of something physically and mentally demanding. Jesus, fasting, will have been low on bodily resources, but spiritually his strength was seemingly limitless… or was it? We cannot know how near he was to the end of his tether when the opponent walked away.
Sometimes we look back, with hindsight, at a trying time and realise how nearly we failed but had just enough resolve not to. That was how Jesus got ready for his ministry among us, and it is how he would end it as he was tested to breaking point at Calvary.
A Prayer
Strengthening God, thank you for all the times you give me the resolve to stand firm when every part of me says “give up”. Thank you for energy — not limitless, but adequate — and for faith that copes with what comes. God, thank you for being with me as you were with Jesus. Amen.