The Trouble with Jesus

by Constance Hastings

A Devil of a Day
March 5, 2025

The Trouble with Jesus is he seemed to always be looking over his shoulder for something no one else can see.

Answer something for me. Why do you always link yourself, Jesus, with trouble? It’s like you’ve got something eating at you all the time, and you’ve got to smack it down. Are you looking for a fight? Or is there a fight looking for you?

 

Good insight there, as if Jesus was always looking over his shoulder for something no one else can see. True, the world gave him enough trouble of its own, but there was more to it, an internal, spiritual battle that would divide him from what he was called to be. It came early in his ministry and hung over him constantly from there.

 

It had been forty days. No food, no friends, just him with his thoughts, prayers, trying to sort out what had happened. His mind resembled the desert in which he’d spent these days, empty except for a dry wind that blew through. He gave meaning to retreat, get away and wrestle with what was stirring in the deepest parts of who you are and what it meant.

 

It happened after Jesus convinced John to baptize him. John thought it should be the other way around. Jesus was going by the book here, wanting to be right, to fulfill or be filled with this power. As John was bringing him up from the water, something like a dove landed upon him. A voice said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

 

Whether this revelation was only known to Jesus or evident to the crowd around them could be argued, but it is of no consequence. The human part of the “Word made flesh” was meeting his divine destiny. He was compelled to know what that would be. That’s what drove him to the desert.

 

The Devil in the Details

Forty days then with nothing but the struggle, likely doubt comingled with fear. You’d think Jesus could just resolve it in his mind and go from there. It’s never like that. To settle it with certainty, he had to test it, prove it, show himself and all in the heavenly realms who he was and who he wasn’t.

 

All heroes have an antagonist, one who pushes hard against the best parts of who you are and what your purpose is. Fitting then, God’s beloved Son would face the total antithesis of who he was before he even got out of that hot place, a kind of hell.

 

Not surprisingly, the great tempter showed up for a fight. “The devil is a better theologian than any of us,” warned Aiden Wilson Tozer, “and is a devil still.”  Swords are drawn on both sides.

 

Make Your Deal with the Devil

By this time, it had been forty days since Jesus had eaten. An obvious weakness, it’s an easy play for his enemy. “Son of God? Change this stone into bread!” Hunger is one thing, but this cheap shot is aimed to prove his power. Pride is a big target and a shattered bullseye on many backs. But as one schooled in the ancient Scriptures, Jesus retorts, “People need more than bread for their life.” (Deuteronomy 8:3) 

 

Then go for the glory. Showing him the whole world in a vision, his nemesis makes his deal. Just worship me, make me your God, and it’s yours. But it’s an easy turn down; Jesus rejects it all with a basic commandment, “Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.” (Deuteronomy 6:13)

 

Ok, then, his adversary makes it personal. The vision gets larger. Show him a life ending that doesn’t mean sacrifice and pain. Jump off the highest point of the Temple itself, and let the angels hold you from the fall. You’ll have the people in the palm of your hand, and you don’t have to end your life with a cross full of trouble and pain. Except Jesus knows what his enemy wants: to cut him off before Jesus gets to the place where this devil will taste defeat. With implied threat, Jesus comes back, “Do not test the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 6:16)

 

Whereas his adversary aimed for what could have been Jesus’ weakest points, this devil didn’t realize how strength is gained in weakness. Hunger, isolation, spiritual wrestling of humanity with divine destiny took away the desire to protect oneself. Longing to love those whom God loves and restore each being so as to know and be known deeply by the other would drive Jesus to deny himself and suffer all costs for it. With the ancient words of the truth of God, Jesus is fortified from attack.

 

Our hero and his antagonist who embodies trouble will meet more than once. The devil backed down this time. Even so, the victory was made in not succumbing to the wisdom of the world, an offer to grasp power at any price, even if it was not pure. Instead, Jesus battled for the will of God, promising good news for the poor, the captive, the blind and downtrodden.

 

The devil didn’t win this one but still struck with another blow. A return to Jesus’ hometown was met with rejection and an attempt on his life.  The fight was on.


Luke 4:1-13


The Trouble with Jesus: Considerations Before You Walk Away by Constance Hastings

 Ask for it wherever you buy your books, but don’t forget you can support local bookstores Here. 

 

Subscribe to The Trouble with Jesus Blog Here.

 

 

The Trouble with Jesus: He plays with our common assumptions about God to shock us into new faith.
By Constance Hastings October 6, 2025
The Trouble with Jesus is he plays with our common assumptions about God to shock us into a faith that won’t let go.
The Trouble with Jesus: He teaches by taking our questions and giving answers we didn't see.
By Constance Hastings September 29, 2025
So Jesus, ... to get through this life, you ask for this thing called faith. How is that just wishful hope for something to hang on to, even if it’s not real? Oh, you’re good at telling us how much a person has to have. Mustard-seed size, you say. That kind of example may have worked in your day, but if you are going to take me down this exercise of improbability, give it to me in some way I can wrap my head around it.
The Trouble with Jesus: He warns  how self-centered intentional blindness...
By Constance Hastings September 22, 2025
The Trouble with Jesus: He warns how self-centered intentional blindness contributes to pain and agony, forming chasms of eternal separation.
The Trouble with Jesus: Even his stories from the shady side of life show what God desires.
By Constance Hastings September 16, 2025
The Trouble with Jesus: He will use whatever he can, even stories from the shady side of life, to get people to understand what God desires for the world.
The Trouble with Jesus: His stories make God look desperately unsatisfied, on the prowl for more.
By Constance Hastings September 8, 2025
The Trouble with Jesus: His stories make God look desperately unsatisfied, on the prowl for more, regardless of whether they’re lost or don’t know how lost they are.
The Trouble with Jesus: He made a life lesson on humility into a blessed honor.
By Constance Hastings August 31, 2025
Jesus, you are the perfect example of the observation, “When you are invited to a dinner, you are either a guest or you are part of a menu.” Everybody is always watching you, sizing you up, holding their breath to see what you might do next. You look like you’re there to eat as much as you’re there to preach.
The Trouble with Jesus: His rhetoric doesn’t permit a domestication of lifestyle covered by religion
By Constance Hastings August 25, 2025
The Trouble with Jesus: His scandalous rhetoric doesn’t permit domestication of lifestyle covered with a veneer of religion.
The Trouble with Jesus: ihe brings upheaval into how the world works, even when it hurts his cause
By Constance Hastings August 18, 2025
This reads like Jesus is being attacked for healing on the Sabbath. It's more than that which brings big trouble. Jesus was breaking Sabbath by breaking perceptions of what the social and religious structure of the world should be, wreaking and crumbling the caste system of the entire religious culture.
Truth Burns: The Trouble with Jesus is he makes political divisions look tame.
By Constance Hastings August 11, 2025
You know what, Jesus? This makes you certified dangerous. So you’re going to bring fire, division and family dysfunction? Like we need your divine help on this one. Incendiary talk won’t get you votes on making our world better. More like, arrested and put away for good. Yeah, you ask for it.
The Trouble with Jesus is he both brings and requires reversals.
By Constance Hastings August 4, 2025
Jesus. We need help. No, make that, you need help. Whatever. You spin this talk about treasure in heaven and then getting robbed. About being the revered master and then acting like you’re the slave. Come on here. Say what you mean and quit making it so hard for us to get it.