Lk.4: 1-13
The Eskimos, the indigenous people of the Arctic region, have devised a brilliant hunting strategy to capture wolves in poles.They dip a knife in the blood and allow that layer to freeze. Then another layer, and so on until the entire knife was fully covered in the frozen blood. Then the hunter fixes the knife on the ground with its blade up. The wolf would be attracted by the fresh smell of the frozen blood. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose and finds the knife covered with frozen blood, he starts to like it. As he gets the taste of fresh frozen blood, he licks it faster and more vigorously. When the wolf craves to taste more blood, it licks harder and does not realise the sting of the naked blade, finally satisfied with the taste of its own warm blood in the arctic night. His intense craving for more blood lasts till he finds himself dead in the morning. Temptations are realities of our lives. No one can escape these moments. However, if we are not careful, it can be the cause of self-destruction, like that of a wolf that kills itself by drinking its own blood.
The first Sunday of Lent invites us to reflect on the temptations of Jesus in the desert. In the Old Testament, we see that the crossing of the Red Sea was a great faith experience for the people of Israel. When they received the ten commandments from the Lord, they made a covenant with the Lord that they would be His people. However, the Israelites were tested in the desert in three ways: they gave into their cravings in their demands for food; they forgot the Lord who saved them; they committed the sin of idolatry; and they tested God with their stubbornness on several occasions. We see Jesus, who was the representative and redeemer of the new Israel, passing through the same desert experience. He was led to the desert by the Spirit after his baptism by the Jordan river. He spent forty nights and days in prayer and fasting.
The devil comes with his first temptation. If you are the Son of God, turn this stone into bread and eat it. At the Jordan River, Jesus was assured by the Father that he was the Son of God. Yet the devil challenged his identity. The Devil was aware of Jesus’ need, that he was hungry, and took advantage of this need. He forced Jesus to satisfy his sensual hunger by changing stone into bread through his prompting. However, Jesus defends this temptation by quoting the scripture that says a man does not live by bread alone. It is true that Jesus was hungry. But his spiritual hunger for God was greater than his physical hunger. Dear friends, this is the intelligent trap that the devil sets for us because he knows well what our prominent hunger is. Our needs? It can be a need for food, thirst, a craving for love, sexual pleasures, etc. We can resist this temptation if we have a greater hunger for God. We can only develop this hunger if we pray with the Word of God.
The second temptation was a false claim by the devil that all the power, glory, and fame belong to him. If Jesus adores him, it would be given to Jesus. Through his redemptive sacrifice on the cross, Jesus came for the redemption of the whole world. Here the devil tempts him to deny his cross and possess the entire world with its power, glory and fame by adoring him. Jesus, who is the Son of God, knew the entire cosmos was the creation of his Father. All the glory and honour belong to God alone. But Jesus was not deceived by the liar. Jesus wins this temptation by upholding the primacy of his Father above everything. This is another temptation that we encounter. Trying to achieve the vain glory of this world by denying the way of the cross that Jesus has shown us. When a problem comes, several of us may fall into various addictions such as alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual sins, etc. as victims of the mirage set by the devil. We can only overcome this temptation by strengthening our belief in God as the sole Creator and sustainer of the universe.
The third trap set before Jesus was the devil asking Jesus to jump from the top of the Jerusalem temple. The devil quotes Ps. 91: “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” (Ps. 91:11) Apparently, we may wonder what the problem here is. The Devil is making a request, even quoting scripture. In fact, he misinterprets the Word of God for the wrong motivation of testing the Lord and his existence. Jesus faces this temptation, reminding him that he should not test the Lord. In our life too, we may encounter similar temptations to the people of Israel in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Having witnessed the mighty hand of God in their liberation from the slavery yoke of Egypt, they tested the Lord in their desert journey. Having witnessed so many miracles of Jesus, the people of Israel asked for signs from Jesus one after the other. We need to overcome this temptation through our filial trust in the Lord.
Jesus, the representative of the New Israel, thus won all the three temptations against sensual gratification, power, riches, pride, and vain glory.
As we go through these forty days of intense prayer and mortification, let us grow close to the Lord and inherit the spiritual strength to resist these temptations of our life like Jesus.