This morning’s Gospel reading is Luke 4:1–13:
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry.
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, One does not live on bread alone.” Then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. The devil said to him, “I shall give to you all this power and glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours, if you worship me.” Jesus said to him in reply, “It is written: You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve.”Then he led him to Jerusalem, made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you, and: With their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus said to him in reply, “It also says, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.
A blessed Lenten season to all of our readers! We are on the path to our true natures as an Easter people -- a people resurrected to what the Lord intended for us all along. Jesus sacrificed Himself as a ransom for our unworthiness so that we may find our way back home to the Father.
These 40 days are intended for us to reflect on that necessity as a mournful and repentant period, but not without hope. We are called to remind ourselves of our fallen natures, lamenting our sins not just for the damage we do to ourselves and others, but for the way they separate us from the Lord. We have usurped His authority over us, we have deliberately defied His commandments, and we have debased and denigrated ourselves and others in our zeal to hoard material wealth, power, or influence.
We have -- like the prodigal son in the parable -- stolen our inheritance from our Father and dissipated it on our own dissolute lifestyles. And even if we haven't gone quite that far, we have been the older brother in the same parable, who obeyed his Father but seethed with resentment over His authority.
In other words, we have much for which to atone. I'm not sure how anyone else feels, but 40 days may not cut it for me.
Of course, we are always called to recognize our sins, repent, and atone for them all through the year. This period is a grace given us to do so with more discipline and intent, a way to bring ourselves into a right relationship with God in order to celebrate our Easter revival and life within the Trinity more joyously. To experience that more fully, we have to make our own journey as Jesus Himself did, which brings us to today's Gospel.
This recounting of Jesus' temptation in the desert has significant meaning in reversing how mankind entered and remained in its fallen state. Every temptation has connections to various stages of that fall; I have covered those in my previous reflections (links below). Rather than rehash those, let us take a broader look at the meaning of Jesus' refusal to sin even under the worst conditions and temptations of Satan.
First, this takes place immediately after Jesus' baptism. In Luke 3:21, we read that after His baptism, "heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.'" Luke then provides Jesus' genealogy all the way back to Adam, whose sins Jesus will reverse -- and then immediately begins this Gospel passage.
What does this tell us? It shows how Jesus began to be crucified for our sins from the moment His mission began. The devil uses both Scripture and worldly appetites to insinuate himself between Jesus and the Father -- just as the devil does with us, every day. He does so while Jesus is physically weak and distracted by His pain and hunger, strategies that again work so well with us. It's a form of psychological torture, and not just psychological either.
Jesus has to withstand this torture because we keep falling victim to it. It is necessary to defeat the devil not just to reverse the sins of Adam and others, but our sins too. These same temptations and mind games leads us to sin in the exact same way, every day, everywhere, when we are not strong enough to resist the devil's snares.
But more importantly, this passage allows us to hope through these forty days as well. Jesus died for our sins on the cross, but this Gospel reading reminds us that He lived through our sins as well, right from the start of His mission. Jesus defeats the devil and lives to sanctify us through His undefiled grace.
At the end of these forty days, though, we must confront the final sacrifice that we required to join in His grace. Even at the crucifixion, Jesus refuses to separate Himself from the Father, not out of obligation or fear but out of perfect love. He asks to have the cup taken from his lips in the Garden of Gethsemane, but only asks that if it is the Lord's will. He goes willingly to the cross, out of love for the Father and love for all of us, because we can't stand on our own against the devil. Jesus must do that for us, even with the example of the temptation in the desert given to us in this scripture. And by doing so, Jesus triumphs for us all, allowing us to become the Easter people we were always meant to be.
That is what we mourn in these days of Lent -- that we were so lost that Jesus made that sacrifice for us, once and for all who would embrace Him as Lord. Paul explains this in our second reading from his letter to the Romans:
The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart —that is, the word of faith that we preach—, for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. For the Scripture says, No one who believes in him will be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, enriching all who call upon him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
This is what today's Gospel calls us to do, in times of trouble and temptation. Even when we fall, we can cry out, "Lord Jesus Christ, only son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner." If we learn to do that, we may find less and less need to do so as we learn to defeat sin and temptation in our pilgrim journey as an Easter people.
Previous reflections on these readings:
The front page image is "Temptations of Christ," c. 12th century, a mosaic in the Basilica of St. Mark in Venice, Italy. Via Wikimedia Commons.
“Sunday Reflection” is a regular feature that looks at the specific readings used in today’s Mass in Catholic parishes around the world. The reflection represents only my own point of view, intended to help prepare myself for the Lord’s day and perhaps spark a meaningful discussion. Previous Sunday Reflections from the main page can be found here.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member