Matthew 4:1-11 This year’s season of Lent begins with Matthew’s version of Jesus’ temptations. Matthew’s version reminds us that the story of the temptations of Jesus is not about a private spiritual test for Jesus. The story portrays a confrontation with systems of power, scarcity, and domination. In the wilderness, Jesus faces three offers that mirror the injustices of the world: turning stones into bread, gaining political power, and using religion as performance. The problem of scarce resources and the call to turn stones into bread has historically been solved for the few at the top who ignoring the collective hunger of the masses. Similarly, the powerful have not collectively shared political power but seized it through violence. And religion, too, has often been used to legitimize control. But Matthew’s story is of a Jesus who refuses each temptation. Matthew’s Jesus rejects exploitation, coercive authority, and religious manipulation. His choices reveal a vision of justice rooted in faith, solidarity, and liberation, the kind of liberation that still today has the potential to challenge our contemporary oppressive structures and call Jesus-following communities to pursue economic justice, shared power, and faith expressed through action for the common good of all, even those the present system marginalizes and harms.