Home

Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, and then he wanted to spend time alone.  He went into the desert and stayed there for forty days and nights.  During this time, he fasted.  In the traditions of that time, fasting probably meant he ate and drank nothing from sunrise to sunset, and didn't eat or drink very much after dark, either.

While he was there, the devil came to tempt him.  He mad fun of Jesus and asked why Jesus didn't just turn stones into bread if he was hungry.  Jesus replied and quoted a verse from the Old Testament, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

Since that didn't work, the devil thought he would try again.  He took Jesus up on a mountaintop so he could see all the countries in the whole world.  The devil told Jesus that the devil had been given the power to put whoever he wanted in charge of each of them, and that he would give Jesus whichever ones he wanted. All Jesus had to do was pledge his allegiance to the devil!

Jesus knew that was a big fat lie.  He quoted the Bible again, saying "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only will you serve."

That hadn't worked either, so the devil thought he would try something even sneakier.  The devil quoted one of the Psalms!  "for He shall give His angels charge over you in all your ways...."

That didn't work, either.  Jesus replied "You shall not tempt the Lord your God."

The devil had tried to trick Jesus when he was at his weakest.  He'd given it his best shot, but it hadn't work, so the devil left, promising to try again later.  He never had another chance!

After the devil left, angels came and helped Jesus.

During the forty days of Lent, we think about the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert and how he triumphed over the devil who tried to tempt him.