VICTOR

If Satan offered natural resource
In face of Christ's apparent need of food
The Lord displayed that He had amplitude
Because the word of God was His recourse.
If Satan proffered next the world's resource
It and its power were readily eschewed
Since a dependent Man gladly pursued
A way that owned God as His only source.
Religiousness was Satan's last resource
In imitation of what God found good
But for the Lord, whose spirit was imbrued
By faith, this last temptation had no force.

So Satan left Him for a time - and found
The tide of grace was sweeping his domain;
So when he challenged Jesus yet again
It was with force, the power of death, and fear.
He could not understand One who was bound
By love with which force could not interfere.

The altar's horns were of itself; it stood
Four-square; it bore the heat; and God had seen
Under the copper was acacia wood.

21 October 2012
This is a sonnet and a half