Testing Jesus (Luke 11)

In Luke 11, the charge that Jesus is in league with the devil comes immediately after Jesus’ teaching on prayer, and there are verbal connections between the two sections of the chapter. One of the most important is the fact taht some of the people in the crowd “test” Jesus by demanding a sign from heaven (v. 16). Jesus has just taught His disciples to pray that they would not be led into temptation (v. 4), and the word “temptation” is the same as “test.” More strikingly, the people who “test” Jesus are doing what Satan did in the wilderness (cf Lk 4:2). That is, the people who accuse Jesus of being in league with Satan are the very people who are acting Satanically.