The Season of Lent is modeled upon Jesus praying and fasting for 40 Days in the desert. He was being prepared for his compassionate ministry to help and save us. The First Sunday of Lent always proclaims one of the versions of the Gospel about this "desert experience" of Jesus.
Eventually, the early Church mandated 40 Days of fasting and prayer, as well as almsgiving, as an annual preparation for Catechumens who would be Baptized at the Easter Vigil. At the same time, all Christians would also practice these "lenten disciplines" in solidarity with the Catechumens and in preparation to renew their own Baptismal identity at Easter. Our Baptism calls us to life-long conversion in the life of Christ and Lent focuses especially upon this perennial journey.
Looking now to the Gospel of Matthew 4:1-11, when Jesus goes into the desert, he has just come from his Baptism where the Holy Spirit descended upon him and God the Father declares "This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased." (Matthew 3:17) At Jesus Baptism, his identity is publicly revealed as the Beloved Son of God. A similar revelation is made at each Christian’s Baptism: we are Beloved sons and daughters of God by spiritual adoption. (See Catechism #522 HERE)
The Baptism of Jesus established for him his identity as the Beloved Son. The striking drama of Jesus then going into the desert is that he is tempted by the Devil and the Devil calls into question the identity of Jesus as we shall see.
and afterwards he was hungry. The Tempter approached and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread."
‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’" (Matthew 4:1-4)
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| "Temptation of Christ" by Eric Armusik |
We see the Tempter calling into question the identity of Jesus, saying "If you are the Son of God." In some way, all temptation to sin is a question of our identity. A husband or wife who commits adultery violates his or her identity as a married person. A Christian who does so, violates his or her Baptismal identity as an adopted son or daughter of God: "You shall be holy as the Lord your God is holy." (See Leviticus 19:2) The philosopher and sociologist Erich Fromm defined integrity as "the unwillingness to violate one’s identity."
The First Temptation questions the identity of Jesus with great seductiveness, tempting Jesus to prove his identity as the Son of God by producing bread from stones and then consuming them to satisfy his hunger. Though this would truly require a supernatural action, remarkably this is still a "modern temptation." It reminds us of the false identity assumptions of "consumerism" which afflict our modern lives and society which claim
"...that persons do not count, unless they are certain kind of persons. If they are not endowed with value by power, affluence, productivity [what they can produce], or national interest, they may be sacrificed...What is ‘ours’, what we possess, what we own and consume has become the ultimate criterion against which we measure all other values." (John Kavanaugh, Still Following Christ in a Consumer Society, p.26; emphases added.)
Another commentator observes that this consumerism "begins with two themes: that more possessions mean more happiness, [and] that a person who does or produces more is more important." (Quoted in Kavanaugh, p.32; emphasis added)
In the temptations presented in this Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus is tempted to base (or prove) his identity and worth by an act of producing something so that he could consume it. By resisting this temptation, he shows that he still has value even when he isn’t producing or consuming. He is still the Son of God, also, whether he is hungry or not. These insights also apply to us who follow Christ as adopted sons and daughters of God through Baptism.
Jesus counters this temptation by recalling the Scriptural truth: "Humans do not live by bread only, but by every Word of God." (Matthew 4:4)
and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.
For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you
and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’
Jesus answered him, Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test."
(Matthew 4: 5-7)For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you
and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’
Jesus answered him, Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test."
It may be disturbing to us that the Devil can quote Scripture!
This Second Temptation is somewhat like the first. Here the Tempter is questioning once again the identity of Jesus ("If you are the Son of God"). We can note that Jesus isn’t being tempted in his divinity as the Son of God, but rather in his humanity. And Satan is tempting Jesus to ignore his human limitations and throw himself off the temple parapet, so that God can rescue him from the natural consequences of such an action.
Such a temptation appeals to a claim of being "privileged," someone not limited, not bound by the consequences of his or her action. A great many people are still tempted by such an attitude. In a way, this temptation was the temptation of Adam and Eve in the First Reading of this Sunday. The Serpent tempted them to not be humanly limited, but to disobey God and become gods themselves.
This temptation to not recognize legitimate limits is also part of the seduction of addictions (notice Satan takes Jesus to a "high" place) Someone abusing alcohol or drugs, for example, never wants "the buzz" or "high" to end. To regain sobriety, one has to accept that you can’t get drunk or be stoned without consequences. That’s just how our human bodies are.
Second, there are some limits that we may legitimately try to transcend: like when someone sets out to climb a mountain; at other times, we must accept the limitations of human nature, like the need to rest. This has given rise to the famous "Serenity Prayer":
Jesus resists this temptation to be privileged and to reject human limitations.
"Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you,
if you will prostrate yourself and worship me."
At this, Jesus said to him, "Get away, Satan!
It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve." (Matthew 4:8-10)
if you will prostrate yourself and worship me."
At this, Jesus said to him, "Get away, Satan!
It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve." (Matthew 4:8-10)
In the Third Temptation, the Tempter doesn’t say a third time: "If you are the Son of God..." Yet he still attempts to change the loyalties of Jesus to God his Father. The Devil tempts Jesus with power, in fact the ultimate political power of ruling all the nations–but at a great cost: Satan wants Jesus to worship and serve him. This is the temptation of power that does not serve God and life, but rather would serve self and what is opposed to God’s way.
Power is still a potent temptation. Power, like bread or trusting God to save is a good thing, but sin always wants to distort what is good. The temptation of unlimited power is exactly what is wrong with not accepting proper limitations and wanting to be privileged rather than to serve (the Second Temptation) and the belief that one can "buy" happiness in life" and protection from hungers by what one owns and can consume (the First Temptation).
Priest and author John Shea sums up the Temptations of Christ in this way:
"Jesus may be conscious of his true identity in a clear and immediate way, but for most of us it is a more labored and reflective effort. We do not always remember our spiritual identities [as the children of God]. So temptations appear to us as options, possibilities that have to be weighed rather than demonic invitations that have to be dismissed. In particular, temptations are attractive because they appeal to our fantasy selves, those aspects of ourselves that we want to be above it all. And this is the opportunity, our [supposed] good fortune to have what we always wanted–a life that is always satiated, without injury, and rippling with splendiferous power." (John Shea, The Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels for Preachers and Teachers. Year A. On Earth as It is in Heaven, p.107)
"Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him." (Matthew 4:11)
Just because Jesus was tempted to sin, tempted by his hunger, by a desire to be unlimited by human nature, to be all powerful does not change at all his identity as the Son of God in human flesh. Some speculate that this desert experience by Jesus could well have been his struggle to know just how he would serve God in the flesh, in this world of ours. Our deserts may do exactly the same for us.
This will not be the only time that Jesus is tempted, and if we follow him, we shall also expect periodic times of temptation and struggle in life. It will be instructive to us to recall another time of temptation in the life of Jesus: when Jesus is tempted in the Garden of Gethsemane, before he was arrested and began his suffering that took him to the Cross. In the Gospel accounts he is shown in a great struggle, hoping that the Cup of Suffering that he forsees as coming to him might pass him by. Though Satan is not mentioned in these Gospel accounts, in Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ, great effect is made of Biblical symbolism in the Garden scene. As a commentator on the movie observes about the Garden scene:
It seems he learned such obedience to God’s will in the desert. There in the Garden, as in the desert, the Gospel of Luke says: "An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him." (Luke 22:43) If we would follow him, we too will find that the best defense against temptation is this prayer: "Not my will, Father, but your will be done."
