Our Christian life at times feels like pushing a big boulder up the hill. It requires strength, perseverance, and at times new beginnings.
The spiritual disciplines of Lent (prayer, fasting and charity) help us to start anew, train our spiritual strength and, through our Sunday readings, learn how to persevere from the example of Jesus. Today’s Gospel about the temptations of Jesus does all of the above (Luke 4:1-13).
The story starts with a seemingly insignificant detail about the river Jordan: “Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days to be tempted by the devil.” It is an important detail which establishes two important things: First, Jesus is not going to be in the desert alone – the Holy Spirit is with him, Secondly, we are reminded that Jesus just accepted the baptism from John as a sign of identification with sinners. During his baptism the heavens opened and the voice declared “You are my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.”
Full of the Holy Spirit Jesus is confronted by the devil. However, the enemy waits until Jesus is physically weak, hungry and tired having spent 40 days and nights in the desert. This gives the enemy a window of opportunity: he cannot face Jesus when Jesus is at his peak, but maybe, when he is weak, he will lower his guard and fall. A lesson: each time we are hungry, angry, lonely or thirsty, we should pay attention to our choices (words and actions), as those are the times when we are least guarded.
The first temptation is a sinister one because of its apparent harmlessness. The enemy says, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." What’s the harm in that? No one will know, and no one will care. The true harm is well masked. It is the “if” that betrays the magnitude of what the enemy is really after. He wants Jesus to use his biggest strength which is his being the Son of God against himself. He says, “If you are the Son of God,” do something for yourself. How often we all fall for this one! Using our position, influence, or means for selfish purposes! What an audacious attempt to use Jesus’ very identity to tempt him! He has no right to ask Jesus to prove anything to him. Jesus knows he is the Son of God because he heard it from his Father while in the river Jordan. No proof necessary. Jesus does not fall for the temptation and replies: "It is written, One does not live on bread alone." A lesson: pursuing selfish purposes lead us to self-centered life. A life of the follower of Jesus is not centered on self, but on God and others.
The enemy does not give up. He shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth saying: "I shall give to you all this power and glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours, if you worship me." The enemy offers power (authority) and glory at the price of the change of allegiance. How many of us fall for this false promise of glory and success and in the process bow down to idols! Jesus is not power-hungry; for Jesus the greatest power is service, and the greatest glory is to serve God: "It is written: You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve." Jesus will not fall before a false God. A lesson: the real power of the follower of Jesus is in the service to God and others.
The enemy is a quick learner. Jesus used scripture to fend off his attempts, so the enemy uses scripture to tempt Jesus. "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you, and: With their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone." He quotes Psalm 91:11 in which God promises protection and help to those who remain faithful. The enemy wants to confuse Jesus by enticing him to test God (by which he will demonstrate unfaithfulness) while at the same time trusting in the promises offered only to the faithful. We fall hard for this one! We often demonstrate unfaithfulness in our words and actions and at the same time expect God’s blessings which God promises his faithful ones! Jesus uses Scripture again and says, "It also says, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’" The enemy loses the battle and departs “from him for a time.” There will be other opportune times to tempt as the enemy never really stops. A lesson: if we want the rewards of faithfulness, we should live faithfully.
The verse which follows (unfortunately not part of the Sunday reading) brackets the whole experience well. Right after the temptations, Luke says: “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.” This line shows that temptations really strengthened Jesus. While he started “full of the Holy Spirit, “he finished empowered by the Spirit. A lesson: each temptations can have this outcome – empowerment rather than failure (sin) – if we resist by the strength of the Holy Spirit.
We, the baptized, live in the world where choices are not simple, yet the consequences of those choices can have eternal consequences. However, Jesus understands our struggle to resist temptations. He chose to be tempted precisely to demonstrate to all of us that he understands and has compassion on us. Because of his choice to be tempted, as the author of the letter to the Hebrew says, “he is able to help those who are tempted” (Hebr. 2:18).
Our Christian life requires strength, perseverance, and at times new beginnings. May the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and charity help us focus on God, discipline our urges, and practice unselfishness.
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