1st Sunday Lent C: Tempted with Christ, Triumphant with Christ
Dear sisters and brothers,
Today’s Gospel passage leaves me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it is comforting. I recognize that temptation is part of the ordinary human condition. It is not something that happens only to bad people. Jesus was tempted. He was tempted after his baptism; after the Spirit descended upon him like a dove; after the Father declared him his beloved Son, with whom he is well pleased.
In addition, as St. Luke shows Jesus was not tempted for a moment or only with those three temptations. At the end of the Gospel passage, St. Luke narrates “When the devil had finished every temptation,” he departed from him for a time. Notice that Jesus faced every temptation. Not once but the devil kept coming back. He only left him alone “for a time.”
All of this is comforting. When I am tempted or when you are tempted, it does not mean that we are bad people. Good people are tempted, perhaps even more.
On the other hand, the story of Jesus’ temptation shows me that I am still a long way from becoming like him. I am far from becoming completely faithful to God. When Jesus was tempted, he did not sin. He fought off every temptation. When I am tempted, so often I fall into sin. And so do many of us.
But we should not be discouraged. Rather, we must follow Jesus and learn from him to do as he does when the evil one approaches. The devil tempts us in similar ways as he tempts Jesus. Jesus shows us how to deal with the devil.
Let us consider the first temptation. How does the devil start? “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” First, he recognizes some need, in this case, hunger. The need for food. That is his bait. The devil takes advantage of our circumstances to insinuate doubt about God and us. It can be sickness, hunger, old age, unemployment, poverty, misfortune, loss, calamity, a need for popularity, yearning for comfort, pleasure, etc. It could be aspirations, stardom, wealth, political offices, career advancement, etc. Any of our needs can be turned into bait in the devil’s basket. They become baits when the devil uses them to make us lose trust in God and turn to other means to achieve them.
Jesus responds by referring to God and what God has said. “One does not live on bread alone” [Matthew – But on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.] Here is a great lesson for us. In every temptation, we must remember God’s faithfulness. Even when we fall, we must remember that God has not abandoned us. That we are God’s children. It is God who delivers us from evil and temptation. Isn’t that how we pray in the Our Father? It is God who delivers us. Pray that you may not fall into temptation! That is a direct instruction from our Lord.
As the first and second readings remind us, it is our God who has delivered us in the past. It is our God who delivers us today. It is our God who will deliver us tomorrow! Amen