Dt 26:4-10
Ps 91:1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15
Rm 10:8-13
Lk 4:1-13
Every year at the beginning of Lent, we hear about the three temptations of Christ in the desert. This year we hear from the Gospel of Luke. What I find fascinating is the fact that the devil only now starts to bug Jesus. Jesus is about 30 years old at the time and this is the first time we hear about Jesus having a little “pest control” problem. What was the trigger? Well the devil found something that piqued his interest: the Son of God. But how did he not know until now? Because right before this story in Luke, we have the Baptism of Jesus, where the Father reveals Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Anytime God is claiming one of His own, the devil is not having it. The devil isn’t bothered with sinners, He already has them – He’s after God’s children you and me. Which leads me to think: if you don’t feel the temptations of the devil, it might be because you are already under his power and authority.
The Spirit leads Christ into the desert, which is also quite fascinating. Part of me wants to think of a super hero and a super villain dueling it out – not in the city where innocent people might be harmed – but in the empty desert, you know like a “let’s take this outside…” kind of thing. Fortunately, our early Church Fathers took a much better interpretation. They have this thing called “typology” which shows how the Old Testament is fulfilled in the New Testament. So St. Ambrose who lived in Milan from about 340 – 397 AD preached this:
It is fitting that it be recorded that the first Adam was cast out of Paradise into the desert, that you may observe how the second Adam returned from the desert to Paradise…. Adam brought death through the tree. Christ brought life through the cross. Adam, naked of spiritual things, covered himself with the foliage of a tree. Christ, naked of worldly things, did not desire the trappings of the body. Adam lived in the desert. Christ lived in the desert, for he knew where he could find the lost…. (Ambrose, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke 4:7-14)
Jesus entered the desert to bring us back from the desert. We enter the desert in this season of Lent, knowing that He is there with us. In the three temptations of Christ, we see the devil testing humanity completely: body, mind, and spirit. The first temptation deals with hunger: the most basic human need of nourishment and appetite. And yet scripture says Jesus ate nothing during those 40 days – and afterwards Scripture says, “…and when they were over he was hungry.” But just so that there is no doubt of that Jesus is being tempted, after 40 days of starving… the devil comes. Can you imagine your Lent being like that? 40 days of hard fasting and strict practices and then you are told: “Now the fun really begins!”?
Jesus’ response is simply this: One does not live on bread alone. Even something as fundamental as nourishment, we realize that we do not live on nourishment alone. It’s not about the physical food, it’s not about even about what we think are basic necessities, it is to know that after God has taken care of us through the our suffering of forty days – He will continue to take care of us because we are His own. “By eating we were conquered in Adam, by abstinence we conquered in Christ.” (Cyril of Alexandria)
The Second Temptation: in a single instant the devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. The devil has authority to give the world to him because he has “wrestled” it from God through inducing them into worshipping him. Jesus to him is just another mark on his tally sheet. For Jesus, He knows what is reality and what is deception. Our minds often suffer the influences of the world – knowing that certain things have value, but that is only because we give it value. We give the devil power through our false idols and our mistaken values, when we worship at the altars of department stores and televisions. But with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving – the three Lenten practices – we reject and strip away these vanities that cloud our judgment, so that we can see God clearly and worship Him alone.
Finally the last temptation, again testing Jesus and His Sonship: We see here, the devil is honing in on the very crucial point: what exactly is your relationship with God? “'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from this highest place of the Temple where God can see you. Throw yourself down there; you don’t have to worry because He will see you and save you, you’re His Son! Go ahead, try it!” Jesus is not having it, He is not submitting to this kind of false paternity test – testing the Father on our terms. The Father has already declared: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.
The true paternity test for us – the one where we know that our Father loves us as His sons and daughters – is right here: on the Cross and in the Holy Eucharist. On that day, Christ was lifted up high on the Cross to leap off that cross on His own terms, not to test the Father – but to give His Father everything back to Him: Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit!
Christ’s journey in the desert was to walk in our shoes and show us the way. It was to prepare Him, and to prepare us, for the journey to Jerusalem where He shows us the ultimate defeat of the devil and all his snares. Our first reading from Deuteronomy has Moses telling the people to give an offering to the priest – a basket to be placed in front of the altar of the Lord while the people are to recount their entire history. The verbal confession of their journey from slavery to the promise land connects their words with their actions: offering the first fruits of their labor to God. How fitting it is for us to remember the origins of our own salvation through Jesus Christ on the Cross as we profess our Faith with the Creed. Like the Jews of old, it is fitting that we should not only confess with our lips and believe in our hearts that Jesus Christ is Lord but that our confession and profession of faith must match our offerings, namely, our Lenten penances. You have begun your Lenten practices since Ash Wednesday with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. How full is that basket of offering? Is your basket to be placed before the altar of God filled with your first fruits? If not, I encourage you to start now and make this Lent a good one – to really give up those things that are necessary in life, fast, pray, and perform spiritual and corporal works of mercy that you may turn your heart completely to God. Let us pray for each other in this Holy Season as we journey with Christ in the desert.
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