Father Jacques de Longeaux, parish priest of St-Pierre-du-Gros-Caillou in Paris, comments on the three temptations of Jesus in the desert, reported in the Gospel of the first Sunday of Lent (Lk 4, 1-13). Temptation is not sin, but it comes from the devil: Lent is a time of spiritual warfare against the Tempter.
Jesus was tempted. We can even think that he was, as a man, the one among us who was most subjected to temptation. Does this thought offend us? Do we not spontaneously think that the saints who have reached the highest degree of holiness are no longer faced with temptation, that they have reached a state of spiritual and moral peace free from all combat? How much more Jesus! But that is not what the evangelists tell us. Jesus goes to the desert where he will be violently tempted by the devil, as the Gospel of Luke says (Lk 4, 1-13) . He will be so all his life, even on the Cross. Satan mocks him through the mouths of the high priests and scribes: “Let him now come down from the cross, Christ the King of Israel; then we will see and we will believe” (Mk 15:31). Jesus could have done it, he is tempted to do it: but then how would he have saved the world, how would he have freed us from the snares of sin and death?
The Three Temptations
Temptation comes from the devil. In itself, it is not a sin. Sin begins the moment we listen to temptation, allow it to creep in, begin to consent to it. But Jesus absolutely does not consent to temptation. To the assaults of the tempter in the desert he opposes the rampart of the Word of God. The three temptations of Jesus include according to Saint Luke “all forms of temptation”. They correspond to the three temptations of Israel in the desert, during the Exodus.
It is the temptation to invert values when material goods, consumer goods, assets are placed above spiritual goods.
First, turning stones into bread brings to mind the lamentations of the people who fear starvation. In response, God causes manna to fall and quail to rain down (Ex, 16 ; Count, 11). It is the temptation to invert values when material goods, consumer goods, assets are placed above spiritual goods. Second, to receive the power and glory of all the kingdoms of the earth on the condition of bowing down to the devil, is reminiscent of Israel making a golden calf for themselves and bowing down to it while Moses is on the top of the mountain. Sinai (Ex, 32): it is the eternal temptation of idolatry and power. Finally, throwing oneself from the highest point of the Temple to verify that he is indeed a son of God and that his Father will send his angels to protect him from falling, makes one think of Israel who doubts God in Massa and Mériba, who puts him to the test (cf. Ex 17, 1-7): “Is God with us, yes or no? It is the temptation against the faith when one goes through a trial and God seems to be silent. It is the temptation to know everything about God’s plan instead of trusting Him.
Unmask the Tempter
Going further back to the biblical account of human origin, we read that Eve and Adam, after allowing the serpent to instill doubt in their minds about God, yielded to a triple lust: “The woman saw that the fruit of the tree [celui de la connaissance du bien et du mal] must have been tasty, that it was pleasant to look at and that it was desirable, this tree, since it gave intelligence” (Gn 3, 6). Lust is the root of sin, the gateway to temptation. Jesus yields neither to the lust for possession, nor to that of power, nor to that of knowledge. Jesus confronts the tempter, the devil, on his ground. He accepts being subjected to temptation in order to be victorious where all humanity was defeated in Adam and Eve; to be strong where Israel was weak. This is why, by his fight, he saves Israel and all humanity from sin and death. This victory will definitely be won by his death on the Cross and his resurrection on the third day.
During the season of Lent we are called to lead more intensely the spiritual battle against the tempter who again and again seeks to distance us from God, to make us revolt against Him by disguising his image. Let us ask the Lord for the grace of discernment in order to unmask the Liar, to spot his tricks, to repel his maneuvers. Yes, Lord “let us not enter into temptation”, don’t let temptation have a hold on us, don’t let it invade us, envelop us, convince us, but “deliver us from evil”.
