Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13
– Pope Benedict XVI
Reflecting on the temptations to which Jesus was subjected in the wilderness invites each one of us to answer a fundamental question: What really counts in my life? In the first temptation the devil proposes to Jesus that he turn a stone into bread to appease his hunger. Jesus retorts that man lives on bread as well, but that he does not live on bread alone. Without a response to his hunger for truth, to his hunger for God, man cannot be saved (cf Lk 4:3-4).
In the second temptation the devil proposes the way of power to Jesus. He takes him up and offers him dominion over the whole world; but this is not God’s way. Jesus is very clear that it is not worldly power that saves the world, but the power of the Cross, of humility and of love (cf. vv. 5-8).
In the third temptation the devil suggests to Jesus that he throw himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple of Jerusalem and have himself saved by God through his angels, that is, that he do something sensational to put God himself to the test; but the answer is that God is not an object on which to impose conditions of our own making; he is the Lord of all (cf vv. 9-12).
What is the essence of the three temptations to which Jesus is subjected? It is the proposal to exploit God, to use him for one’s own interests, for one’s own glory and for one’s own success. And therefore, essentially to put oneself in God’s place, removing him from one’s own existence and making him seem superfluous. Each one of us must therefore ask him- or herself: what place does God have in my life? Is he the Lord or am I?
Overcoming the temptation to subject God to oneself and one’s own interests, or to put him in a corner and be converted to the correct order of priorities, giving God first place, is a journey that each and every Christian must make over and over again. “Repent” is an invitation we shall often hear in Lent, it means following Jesus in such a way that his Gospel is a practical guide for life; it means letting God transform us, in order to stop thinking that we are the only ones to build our existence. It means recognizing that we are creatures, that we depend on God, on his love, and that only by “losing” our life in him can we gain it.
(General Audience, 13 February 2013)
Temptation: an opportunity more than a threat
– Fernando Armellini SCJ
Claretian Publications, Macau
The three temptations are a symbolic synthesis of the struggle against the evil which Jesus sustained in every moment of his life.
The first temptation: “Tell this stone to turn into bread” (vv. 3-4). The temptation that Jesus had (not only once, but throughout life) was to use his own divine power to escape the difficulties that ordinary people meet. Jesus understood how diabolical this project was. He has used the power to perform miracles, but never for himself, always for others. He worked, sweated, suffered hungered, thirsted, spent sleepless nights and did not want privileges. The highlight of this temptation was on the cross. There he was again invited to perform a miracle for himself; he was challenged to come down. If he had made the miracle, if he had refused the “defeat,” Jesus would have been a winner in people’s eyes, but he would have been a loser before God.
This temptation persists, devious, every day, even to us. It reappears first as an invitation to a selfish withdrawal to ourselves without thinking about others.
The second temptation: “I will give you power over the nations … for they have been delivered to me …”
Authority is a charism, a gift of God to the community so that everyone can find in it his place and be happy. But wherever dominion over persons is exercised, wherever one struggles to prevail over others, wherever someone is forced to kneel or bow down in front of another person, there is at work the logic of evil.
The third temptation: it is the most dangerous because it puts into question the relationship between man and God. The diabolical proposal is made quoting the Bible: “Throw yourself down from here—says the tempter—for it is written …” (vv. 9-12). The most insidious wiles of evil are to show itself up with an attractive face, to assume a pious stance, to use the same Word of God (crippled and misleadingly interpreted) to lead people astray.
The ultimate target of evil is to basically undermine your relationship with God. This is achieved when, in the mind of man, sneaks a doubt that the Lord does not keep his promises, is unfaithful to his word, who promises protection but then abandon those who gave him trust. The need to “have proof” arises from this doubt. In the desert, the people of Israel, exhausted by hunger, thirst, and fatigue, succumbed to this temptation and exclaimed: “Is the Lord with us, or not?” (Ex 17:7).
Jesus never succumbed to this temptation. Even in the most dramatic scenario, he refused to ask the Father proof of his love. God has not promised to miraculously free his faithful from disease, pain, but to give them strength.
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