First Reading (Deuteronomy 26:4-10). Through the ceremony of offering the first fruits, the Israelites recognized all that God had done for them in the past, especially in the Exodus. Our worship of God is also a recognition of his favours to us.
Second Reading (Romans 10:8-13). The core of the Christian credo is that Jesus is our risen Saviour. Anyone who can say that and live by it, will be saved.
Gospel (Luke 4:1-13). Jesus was tempted like we are, but did not sin. Through his grace we too can resist temptation and overcome sin.

All three readings are concerned with faithfulness to God. The First Reading describes the ceremony of the offering to God of the first fruits of the harvest. it was an occasion for the people to thank God, not only for the blessings of the harvest, but for all he had done for them in the past, and especially in the Exodus. The creed which the offerer recited is a summary of Israel’s early history and humble origins. The readings of the following Sundays will focus on significant moments of that history.

The Second Reading contains in its simplest form the Christian credo: Jesus is Lord; he died for our sins and was raised up for our justification. Obviously for this faith to be genuine, it must be professed not just with one’s lips but also with one’s life. Luke’s account of the temptations follows closely that of Matthew, except that he deliberately changes the order of the last two temptations so that the series ends in Jerusalem. This is in keeping with his theological interest in the holy city. The three scenes serve to correct a false understanding of Jesus’ mission. Jesus repels the tempter by quoting from the book of Deuteronomy which stresses God’s will for Israel, and for all people.