Pop Quiz

Matthew 4:1-11 continued
There are a handful of things about Jesus encounter with "the tempter" in the wilderness that I think are pretty cool...
1. "After He had deliberately gone without food for forty days and forty nights He was hungry..." I love this... It's one of those verses that make me laugh. It's such a simple and "no duh" kind of statement. I think it's there purely to show us that He was indeed human with real feelings, needs, and emotions.
2. Jesus uses good ol' fashion Old Testament scripture to battle His tempter. "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17
3. The second test is the one I'm drawn to the most... He was tempted to fling Himself down from the top of the pinnacle of the temple in order for God to send angels to protect Him. The Devil was tempting Him to put on a spectacle so that we would believe in Jesus and His miraculous power. This is definitely one I would've failed.
There are those of us who are never satisfied. We stop at nothing to accumulate and attain more. It's true with material things, addictions, feelings, danger, thrills, etc. We convince ourselves that "if we only had this ONE thing that we would be forever satisfied and would NEVER want anything else..." But as soon as we attain that one thing, or reach that one level, the view seems to be a bit better on top and there's even MORE stuff we find that we want.
If Jesus would've performed this one spectacle, the people would've been temporarily amazed and satisfied that He was indeed Christ... but it wouldn't be long until they expected more. To retain His power and mystique, Jesus would have to produce even greater and greater sensations. Mankind has proven that throughout history.
I think it's only getting worse and worse with us over time. Look how many centuries it took for us to invent the automobile and airplane. We have sped up the production of "sensations" faster than ever... within the same century as the airplane, we put people into space. Look at the iPhone... take that thing back in time 10 years and you would be accused of being some kind of witch... but today we're already anticipating the next bigger (or in Apple's case, smaller) and better thing. Problem is, the things they are creating now, things that are blowing our minds will be next years obsolete. Funny how the folks at Apple seem to have figured this out a long time ago. They certainly know how my mind works and how I'm always wanting the newest gadget.
Jesus knew that a "Gospel founded on sensation-mongering is foredoomed to failure."