NEW TESTAMENT: Romans 10: 8b - 13 (RCL)
Romans 10: 8 - 13 (Roman Catholic)

Roma 10:8 (NRSV)
"The word is near you,
on your lips and in your heart"
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11 The scripture says, "No one who believes in him will be put to shame." 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13 For, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Notes

h/t montreal Anglican

Paul has written that the Israelites did strive for law-based righteousness (9:31), a right relationship with God, but failed to achieve it because they sought it through “works” (9:32) rather than faith. By massaging Isaiah 28:16 and 8:14, Paul says that God is the impediment that lay in their way. He desires that they be part of God’s plan of salvation because of their “zeal for God” (10:2); however, they lack the right relationship with God that now comes from God: that revealed in Christ. They missed the real meaning of what God has done through Christ, thus failing to embrace Christ as the model for living. Moses said that union with God comes through obedience to the Law (v. 5), but this is close to impossible: it is like a Christian being expected to bring about his own resurrection (v. 6) and ascension (v. 7) – this we are not asked to do!
Rather (v. 8) God’s “word”, his freely-given gift of love and right living, is readily available (“near you”) through faith. We need only acknowledge that “Jesus is Lord” (v. 9) and believe in Christ’s resurrection by the Father. One who believes this and recognizes Jesus as sovereign is godly (“justified”, v. 10) and will have new life when Christ comes again (“saved”).

In Isaiah 8:14-15, the “rock” is an impediment to Israel, but in Isaiah 28:16, the “stone” is a symbol of salvation; here in Romans “rock” and “stone” are interpreted as Christ. See also Matthew 21:42.



GOSPEL: Luke 4: 1 - 13 (all)

Luke 4:1 (NRSV) Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." 4 Jesus answered him, "It is written, "One does not live by bread alone.'"
5 Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." 8 Jesus answered him, "It is written,
"Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.'"
9 Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
"He will command his angels concerning you,
to protect you,'
11 and
"On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"
12 Jesus answered him, "It is said, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 13 When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.


Perhaps Jesus transcends between earth and a spirit world in the story of his testing by the devil. (Note the imaginative images in vv. 5 and 9.) During his time there (“forty days”, v. 2, meaning a significant period of time), the Holy Spirit sustains him in his travails; human as he is, Jesus is totally dependent on the Spirit being with him, for “he ate nothing”. (Moses ate nothing during the time he was on the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments.) In this dependance, Jesus is humanly helpless; he humbles himself before the Father.
The devil speaks, but is this like “a voice from heaven” speaking? The devil recognizes him as “Son of God” (vv. 3, 9), the one who fulfils God’s plan in creation and, given Luke’s genealogy in 3:23-28, in Israel’s history. Jesus answers the devil’s questions with quotations from the Law, i.e. Deuteronomy, then considered to be the words of Moses.
In v. 4 Jesus, hungry as he is, says: God sustains humans through other means than eating. Whether the devil has the authority to offer Jesus world-wide political power is unlikely (vv. 5-7); however Jesus’ answer is plain: God is the ultimate master; only he is to be worshipped (v. 8). In vv. 9-11, the devil invites Jesus to do something extraordinary – a thing not in accordance with God’s plan of salvation. Again Jesus refuses to be taken in

Verse 2: “devil”: The devil (diabolos in Greek) is God’s prosecuting attorney. He is presented in this role in Zechariah 3:1: “Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him”. “An accuser” is also mentioned in Psalm 109:6. [BlkLk] Luke consistently uses diabolos while Matthew mingles “Satan” and “devil” in his version of the story. Evil was conceived as a personal will actively hostile to God: see Luke 13:16. The devil was in conflict with God’s purpose of salvation; he is the concern of Jesus’ saving activity: see Matthew