The First Sunday in Lent (A), March 9, 2014 - Matthew 4:1-11

When the Spirit drove Jesus to have his retreat,

It was hardly a route that you'd call Easy Street,
For the things that he saw when he got there were spare,
Such as no food in sight for a forty day prayer!
Then Old Satan arrived with a tempting repast:
"Turn these stones into bread - or have you been miscast?"
Deuteronomy, then, was what Jesus recalled,
When the writer tells Israel their daily haul
Of the manna was given so they'd always know,
(And not only in places and times long ago)
That it's not just by bread that we find we're restored,
But by every word from the mouth of the Lord;
Next, the devil took Jesus way up to the top
Of the temple, where there, it's as if they talked shop!
Yes, the devil quotes scripture, in this case, a Psalm,
To which Jesus responds, with a certain aplomb,
- Deuteronomy still on his mind - that a test
Of the Lord surely misses the point that we're blessed
By the places we've been with the Lord as our guide,
Giving all that we need, since by love, God provides!
Then the tempter took Jesus to see from up high
All the kingdoms below, and then added his lie
About having it all, if for him, he'd declare;
But again, Deuteronomy calls us to swear
Our allegiance to God, and the Lord only serve,
Since for freedom, by grace, have our lives been preserved;
Now the devil was bested, and angels arrived
And they waited on he whom our spirits revive;
Thus we see here in Jesus the road that he took,
Which he did on his own, but he did by the book.

Scott L. Barton
(Written with Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) also in mind, born 3/2/1904, who often wrote in rhyming anapestic tetrameter. Think Yertle the Turtle, tempted to get way up high!)

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted
by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he
was famished. The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of
God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he answered,
"It is written,
'One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. '"
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the
pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God,
throw yourself down; for it is written,
'He will command his angels concerning you,'
and 'On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"
Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your
God to the test.'" Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and
he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and
worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is
written,
'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.