NOTES: 1] LK was not a Jew, nor a follower of Jesus in his lifetime, nor part of the apostolic band. He is dependent upon MK & others for the basics of the Jesus story. 2] Jesus' testing is strongly connected with DEUT 8. 3] In v.1, compare LK's 'Jesus .... was led by the Spirit' with MK's 'the Spirit drove him out....'. 4] In the originals, 'tempting' & 'testing' are the same word. Some think 'tempting' gives a negative 'spin', & 'testing' a more positive one. 5] 40 days means a long time (a month?).
6] Some prefer to understand the devil as a force within ourselves (our 'other face') rather than some external force.

WARMING UP: How seriously do we take the whole business of temptation?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Afterthoughts from, follow-up to last week’s Group, or since?

EXPLORING GOSPEL:

1-2        Are we ever conscious of being so 'filled by the Spirit' that it literally directs where we go, what we do? (Not just once upon a time, but right now.) How can we be sure that it is God's Spirit & not some other 'spirit' doing the directing (The 'Your Honour, God told me to do it', kind of thing'!) Have we ever experienced some 'Jordan' way out there somewhere, only to find the Spirit leading us, throwing us, out still further?
Have we ever been so totally deprived of life's basics over such a long time as Jesus was? Has any such deprivation, long or short, had a good or bad effect on our spirituality, or, would it be likely to?

3-4        How did 'bread' come to be used as a term for 'money'? What's the connection? Are there things we try to turn into 'bread' of one kind or another today? Do we take bread, food, as seriously as we ought to? How do we feel about those  cultures in which it's regarded as a sin to waste bread? If this test is about getting Jesus to get the populace on side by feeding them, can we think of similar testings we / the church are tempted by today? How are we facing the test, coming out of it?

5-8       Do we ever test / tempt others by offering kudos that are not ours to give, really to increase our own kudos? Who's really being tested / tempted? How much does power test / tempt us, corrupt us, derail us, all that kind of thing? What about the church? Are we ever guilty of worshipping anyone / anything other than God? What is worship?

9-13    What seems to be at the heart of this particular testing / tempting? Is such gimmickry part of our own bag of tricks, in our own life, or the life of our church? Are we sure of our answer? How far do we expect God to protect us? Even from our own silliness? Given that Christians were once encouraged to quote  Scripture as part of their armoury against 'the devil', have we brought ourselves undone to some extent by not persisting in that practice? If it was good enough for Jesus, why not us?

14-15  How do we define 'being filled with the Holy Spirit' - for ourselves / in the case of others / or is there no difference? In our street, out & about in town or countryside, what 'report of us is spread'? Is that fair or unfair? Do these three testings / temptings: playing to popular appeal, seeking power that's not rightly ours, using gimmickry to further our own ends cover the whole gamut, or can we add other kinds from our own experience? Why would Jesus be targeted by these particular ones? If someone wanted to target us, what would / should they aim at? How are we to deflect, turn such targeting around?