With Jesus In The Wilderness: Episode 2 – Angels!

An Accessible Journey With Jesus In The Wilderness

Episode 2 – Angels! (The second temptation of Jesus)

Outline:
An accessible video and text bible study series journeying with Jesus through the three times he was tempted by the devil. Travelling together we will stop from time to time to explore key moments and understand what they are saying to us. This series will be accessible for everyone, including people of all ages with additional needs.

Watch:
Find a comfortable spot to watch the video. The video for this second episode is here (it’s part four of a separate Lent series): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA9LN6QFzHg

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, as we think about when you were tempted in the wilderness, help us to understand all that you want to show us as we journey with you. Help us to learn from you through what you said and what you did. Help us to be like you and to share the Good News about you with people that we meet. In your own name we pray, Amen!

Jesus is tempted:
In the last session, we thought about how Jesus went out into the desert for 40 days. The devil tempted Jesus three times and last time we looked at the first of those temptations when the devil tried to persuade Jesus to turn stones into bread. In this session, we are going to learn about the second time that Jesus was tempted while he was in the desert. This time the devil said that God would save Jesus if he fell from the top of the temple, by sending angels to protect him.

Q. What do you imagine when you think about angels? Do you have a picture in your head of what you think angels look like?

Jesus had been in the desert for a long time, 40 days and 40 nights. He hadn’t eaten anything during that time so was probably feeling a little bit weak.

Q. Do you feel a little bit weak sometimes? Do you think that during those times you might be more likely to be tempted to do something that you know you shouldn’t do?

Jesus and his temptations:
As we go through Jesus’ three temptations together in this three-part series we will journey with Jesus, looking at what he said and did that can help us to understand his three temptations better. We’ve already looked at the first time Jesus was tempted in the desert by the devil, in the session called ‘Bread!’, and in the session after this one, called ‘Kingdom!’ (see links at the bottom of this session), we’ll look at the third and final time that the devil tried to tempt Jesus.

Today, we will look at the second time that Jesus was tempted by the devil. The part of the Bible we’re going to read from is Matthew chapter 4 verses 5-7, and the version below is taken from the Accessible Edition New Testament (NIrV):

‘Then the devil took Jesus to the holy city. He had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. It is written, “‘The Lord will command his angels to take good care of you. They will lift you up in their hands. Then you won’t trip over a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written, ‘Do not test the Lord your God.’”

Matthew Ch4 v5-7 (NIrV Accessible Edition). The verse that the devil quoted was from Psalm 91 v 11-12 and what Jesus said is from Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 16

What does this mean:
The devil was trying to stop Jesus before Jesus’ ministry on earth had really got going and so as Jesus was in the desert the devil tempted him three times. The devil failed the first time and Jesus had quoted from the Bible to tell the devil that he relied on God’s word.

So the devil tried a different trick, he tried to tempt Jesus by using the Bible. He took Jesus to the top of the temple in Jerusalem, which was ever so high, and said that if Jesus threw himself off, he wouldn’t die because the angels would rescue him. The devil even tried quoting a Bible verse to see if that worked.

Jesus had been in the desert for 40 days and had fasted during that time. That means that he hadn’t had anything to eat and he must have been feeling a bit weak. But Jesus still saw through the devil’s words and knew that the devil was tempting him to see if God would save him if he fell, by sending the angels to protect him. Jesus knew that at the end of his time on earth he would have to die to save us all, and he wasn’t going to let any wrong thoughts of angels being sent to rescue him get in the way of his mission.

Q. The devil took Jesus to the top of the temple of Jerusalem, that was very high up. What’s the tallest building you’ve been in? We you scared because it was so high? Did you look down?

Jesus defeated this temptation from the devil by telling him not to put God to the test, using a verse from Deuteronomy which is in the Old Testament.

Q. How well do you know your Bible? Do you have favourite verses that you use if you are feeling tempted? If you don’t know any, ask someone you trust to help you to find some.

After Jesus resisted the devil’s second temptation to throw himself off the temple of Jerusalem, the devil didn’t give up, he tried again once more! We’ll look at how he tried again to tempt Jesus, and how Jesus resisted this final temptation, in the next session in this series, ‘Kingdom!’.

But what we have learned again from this part of the story is that the devil can keep tempting us to do wrong things too, and we must always be on our guard and ready to resist him. Like Jesus, we must always be ready to tell the devil that we trust in God, and in what God says in the Bible. We’ll learn more about how Jesus did that next time.

Activity: Temptations word search
In the Bible story we read today the devil once again tried to tempt Jesus, but once again Jesus resists. This is the second of three times that the devil tries to tempt Jesus. We thought about the first time in the previous session in this series, ‘Bread!’ and we’ll look at the final time in the next session, ‘Kingdom!’

Why not have a go at this wordsearch that uses words to do with the times that Jesus was tempted. Some of the words are a bit different to the ones we’ve read as they are from a different version of the Bible, but most of them are the same so you should be able to remember them from the story so far.

Some of the words are from the next session, so let’s see if you recognise them then! And don’t forget that with word searches, sometimes the words go backwards or diagonally!

Prayer:
“Lord Jesus, as we learn about how you were tempted by the devil, it reminds us of times when we’ve been tempted to do wrong things too. You showed us that if we trust in God and in his word, the Bible, and ask for his help, we can resist temptation too.

As we think about how you were tempted to put God to the test, we pray that we wouldn’t put God to the test either, but that instead we would live like you did, honouring God and pleasing him.

In your name, Amen!”

See you next time, when we’ll be looking at another way that Jesus overcame the devil’s temptations. The next session is called ‘Kingdom!’

Arranged by Mark Arnold, Additional Needs Ministry Director at Urban Saints. Email: marnold@urbansaints.org

All text © Mark Arnold / The Additional Needs Blogfather. Images © unknown , except the word search © Sermons 4 Kids , Inc.

See also:
With Jesus In The Wilderness: Episode 1 – Bread!
https://theadditionalneedsblogfather.com/2023/03/21/jesus-in-the-wilderness-bread/

With Jesus In The Wilderness: Episode 3 – Kingdom!
https://theadditionalneedsblogfather.com/2023/03/22/jesus-in-the-wilderness-kingdom/

Accessible Jesus: Modelling Inclusion
https://theadditionalneedsblogfather.com/2017/10/06/accessible-jesus-modelling-inclusion/