Luke 4:12.

[Sam_777]

Luke 4:12: Jesus told Satan, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test”

Was Jesus referring to himself, or to God The Most High, and any reference in the CCC for that.

 

[NotWorthy]

Jesus was quoting from Scripture, Deuteronomy 6:16, " “You shall not put the LORD, your God, to the test, as you did at Massah…”.

This was a reference to Exodus 17, where the Israelites were getting a tad bit thirsty:

*** 2 ****** They quarreled, therefore, with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to a test?”****** 3 ****** Here, then, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?***”

The place was then called Massah

*** 7 *** The place was called Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled there and tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD in our midst or not?"

All three passages that Jesus quoted back to the devil refer to times where Israel failed in trusting God while they were wandering around in the desert for 40 years.
In so doing, Jesus undoes the failings of the Israelites.

 

[Nita]

Luke 4:12: Jesus told Satan, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test”

Was Jesus referring to himself, or to God The Most High, and any reference in the CCC for that.

*4:9 And he took him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here;
4:10 for it is written, He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you,’
4:11 and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
4:12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” *

My way of understanding:
I think they primarily refer to God the Most High (Triune God, Divine nature only) - the tempting consisting of presuming on God’s goodness; trying to force Him to act - even tho to (deliberately "throw yourself down", isn’t the type of situation meant by the Scripture passage.
[Note, Satan says only to do it *“If you are the Son of God,”. That means Jesus is someone who would “qualify” to be a recipient of the promises made in Psalm 91. ("*He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, who abides in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.’ *")]

The reason I don’t think Jesus was referring to Himself (in His incarnation as a human) is that it appears Satan wasn’t sure whether or not Jesus was God incarnate - “IF you are the Son of God….”. It’s just my opinion, but I don’t think Jesus was interested in revealing to Satan who He was. If Jesus was referring to Himself when He said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test”, that would have confirmed to Satan that He, Jesus, was indeed God.

I don’t know of any references in the Catechism. There will be various commentaries on the passage. It’s not that there is only one right one. NotWorthy’s comments were very good. It will be interesting to hear from others also.

Nita

 

[NotWorthy]

Here’s what the NAB says about this (This may be one of the first times I’ve quoted the NAB… I hope that’s not the seventh sign!!!

Jesus, proclaimed Son of God at his baptism, is subjected to a triple temptation. Obedience to the Father is a characteristic of true sonship, and Jesus is tempted by the devil to rebel against God, overtly in the third case, more subtly in the first two. Each refusal of Jesus is expressed in language taken from the Book of Deuteronomy (Deut 8:3; 6:13, 16). The testings of Jesus resemble those of Israel during the wandering in the desert and later in Canaan, and the victory of Jesus, the true Israel and the true Son, contrasts with the failure of the ancient and disobedient “son,” the old Israel. In the temptation account Matthew is almost identical with Luke; both seem to have drawn upon the same source.