Matthew 4:1-11 is one of those passages that is at once both familiar and unexamined. We know it well as the account of the temptation of Jesus, following the glory of his baptism and the voice from heaven affirming him as God’s Son. Many sermons are based on these verses, hoping to provide the hearer with good and meaningful guidance for facing the inevitability of temptation for the followers of Jesus. While that is not a bad idea, if that is the limit of our engagement with the passage, we...