In the Desert this Lent

On the first Sunday of Lent in this year, we hear from the Gospel of Saint Matthew concerning our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the desert.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards He was famished.  The tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”  But He answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took Him to the holy city and placed Him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, so that You will not dash Your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to Him, “All these I will give You, if You will fall down and worship me.’  Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him.’”

Then the devil left Him, and suddenly angels came and waited on Him. (Matthew 4:1-11)

We are oftentimes puzzled by this portion of the Gospel.  We find it hard to believe that our Lord Jesus was tempted, or even that He allowed the temptation to go on for as long as it did.  On the other hand, we are also comforted, knowing that our Lord was tempted as we are.  St. Paul in fact tells us, “For we do not have a high priest Who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One Who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)

We remind ourselves as well that everything that is found within the Scriptures, the Word of God, is given there for our benefit in living a life in union with Christ.  Therefore, we must approach these temptations of Jesus, seeking ways in which we can follow our Lord’s lead in countering sin and evil.

First, we realize that for each temptation, the things that the devil offers are usually quite reasonable.  He begins by noting that Jesus is hungry and follows with, “Why not have some bread?”  But the real temptation is not just the bread, but the way in which it is obtained, and also the motivation behind why it should be pursued in that way.  This shows us that in our daily lives while we can usually hold off the larger or more grievous sins, it is within the more mundane aspects of life where these temptations usually can trip us up.

Second, our Lord also shows a way to combat sin and temptation within our lives.  While we certainly know that our Lord could have just sent the devil fleeing with a simple command, rather He relies on the Scriptures, the Word of God, to show the way.  For each temptation, our Lord quotes Scripture to show us that when we rely on the ways that God has already laid out for us, we can use them to counter any temptation.

We can also ask the question, if Saint Paul said that Jesus was tested in “every way,” why are these three specific temptations presented to us within Matthew’s Gospel.  I think that the lessons we can take from them are that they are indicative of many of the temptations that we each face every day on our journey of striving to live in faith.

In the first temptation, Jesus is tempted to turn stones into bread because He is hungry.  The temptation is to take a shortcut and to rely on our agency or any power we have to meet our immediate selfish wants.  The counter of our Lord is to rather concern ourselves with the ways and will of God, the “word that comes forth from the mouth of God,” to always be our guide.

The second temptation is to put God to the test, and moreover to create a spectacle. The devil, in essence, says to Jesus, “If You throw Yourself down and the angels catch You, everyone will see it and then, seeing the miracle, they will surely and easily follow You.”  But again, the temptation is just a shortcut to winning the hearts and minds of other people.  The answer of our Lord is again from Scripture, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”  Rather it is through humble trust in the daily presence of God in our lives that will allow us to grow closer to Him every day and slowly win the hearts and minds of those who experience our goodness and love modeled on Christ.

Lastly the devil tempts Jesus with all the wealth in the world when he shows Jesus all the kingdoms and their splendor.  The devil says, all that needs to be done is to worship the controller of all that wealth, who is himself.  Here the temptation is to look for security and influence through things rather than look to the Creator of all things, God Almighty.  Again, the answer of Jesus is telling, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him.”  If we are serving anything else, besides God, we are on the wrong road.

These would seem to be the temptations that afflict each of us almost every day of our lives.  We sometimes seek to only be selfish and use our power to meet our own needs without considering the ways of God and the needs of others.  We also sometimes seek to have others think well of us because of the things that we do. We forget that we are only to follow Christ and His ways of love and sacrifice for others.  Or we sometimes look for wealth, or control, or power or prestige in our lives, setting them up as idols that we strive for and worship.  We divert our effort and our attention away from God and focus on other selfish things.

The temptations of Jesus in the desert are our temptations in the journey of our daily lives.  During this season of Lent, I encourage each and every one of you to spiritually spend some time with our Lord in the desert.  While there, confront the temptations that you deal with on a daily basis.  And then with the help of our Lord, Who is present to us, in the Sacrament of Penance, in the Sacrament of God’s Word, and in the Sacrament of the Altar, the Eucharist, to say to your temptations and sins, “away with you,” just as Jesus did.  If we rely on His strength and not on our own way through life, we will certainly participate fully in Jesus’ life and ministry, and then, at the conclusion of this Lenten time, we will also fully be united to Him in the Resurrection.