The Letter to
the Hebrews - which is not part of
our readings today – tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way that we are,
yet He never sinned. It seems, from
today’s Gospel, that He was also tempted in some ways that we are not. He is tempted to turn stones into bread,
tempted to fall down and worship the devil, tempted to throw himself off the
parapet of the temple and be caught by angels.
Now I have
been tempted, many times and in many different ways, but never have I
ever had the slightest temptation to turn stones into bread, nor to fall down
and worship the devil, nor even to jump off the tower of our church. This makes it kind of hard to identify with
this Gospel passage. Would it not have
been more instructive for St. Luke to show us Jesus being tempted to gossip, or
to anger, or to lust, or just to plain old laziness? What if the Devil said to Jesus, ‘You’ve been
pushing yourself pretty hard. Why don’t
you knock off for a couple of days and go fishing with the guys? There will be plenty of time to proclaim the
Kingdom of God. Relax. Take it easy.”
You know the
temptations, the kind of things we face every day. And then see how Jesus deals with it. That would be more instructive for us. But turning stones into bread? What is going on here?
Well, first of
all, the scene of the temptation is a highly stylized theological account. Much prayerful reflection has gone into the
way St. Luke presents this material.
This is not a newspaper report of just the facts, but a very deep
spiritual reflection , and should be
read in that light.
The passage
begins, “Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan. “ What
was Jesus doing at the Jordan?
Fishing?
NO, He was getting Baptized.
And at His Baptism “the holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form
like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with
you I am well pleased."
This must have
been a truly wonderful experience for Jesus.
I mean, imagine if you heard a voice come from heaven declaring, “you
are my beloved son/daughter, with you I am well pleased.” Wouldn’t it be easy for you to think, ‘hey, I
am pretty hot stuff? Somebody up there
really likes me!’ It would not be hard
to feel proud and pretty soon start getting puffed up. “Hey, did ya hear what heaven said? I’m the beloved. The BIG guy is pretty
pleased with me too.”
It would be
pretty easy for this to go to anybody’s head, and that is true also for
Jesus. The temptation would be to stay
in that special, elite, proud feeling of being the Beloved Son.
The problem with that is that it keeps Jesus
from entering fully into our human condition.
If He emphasizes being the Beloved Son, the tendency will be to pull
back from true solidarity with sinful and fallen human kind like you and like
me.
And that is
what I believe these temptations are all about.
The temptation to turn stones into bread is a temptation for Jesus to
rely on His power as Son of
God, and not truly enter into the weakness and vulnerability of being
authentically human. Jesus is tempted to
escape human pain and physical hunger, including all the hungers of the heart,
and just pretend to be truly human.
Jesus would look human, but still rely on His divine power to protect
himself and satisfy His needs. It would
be only a charade.
The devil has
more to offer Jesus. Having shown Jesus "all the kingdoms of the
world" the devil makes an offer many humans have, to one degree or
another, accepted: Jesus can gain power and influence by worshiping at the
altar of power, compromise and shady deals.
We are already
being bombarded with continuous news stories about Presidential candidates for
November. We hope that the candidates
don’t secretly prostrate themselves before "the powers that be" to get
the dollars and votes that will enable them to seek the presidency, which, as
the most powerful position in the world, gives a person "power and
glory" over "the kingdoms of the world." But we know and fear than money and power is
what politics is really all about.
In rejecting
this temptation, Jesus chooses to live an ordinary life, to undergo the
subjection endured by his neighbors in an occupied land. He will walk the path of the oppressed. Those
without name recognition will see in him one who is totally faithful in his
choice to be human.
The devil goes
on: "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it
is written, ‘God will command the angels concerning you, to guard you..." It is tempting to think that a proof of
God’s love for us is a comfortable and pain free life. Who would not want to be
protected by a circle of angels??? Certainly
this notion of a protected life, of expecting to be spared of all pain and
disappointment as God’s beloved, would be a temptation throughout Jesus’ entire
life. Remember Peter tempting Jesus
against rejection and crucifixion, and Jesus telling him, “get behind me satan.” And it is also a temptation for us.
Where is God
when we are suffering? We say to
ourselves: “I thought God loved me. If God really loved me I wouldn’t be in this
pain... this confusion ...failed at this project....been betrayed by those I
trusted...etc.”
But there is
not an escape clause written into Jesus’ being one of us. He didn’t get out in just the nick of time;
and so His followers must resist the temptation to opt out when the path of
discipleship brings suffering. Standing
in a protective circle of angels is not what it means to be human, and
so that’s not what it will mean for Jesus as he fulfills His word to truly and
completely be one with us.
Through all
the temptations, Jesus remained faithful to His mission, and faithful to His
Father. He also remained faithful to us,
sharing fully in our situation, truly being one of us, so that we could be one
with Him.
Like Jesus are
tempted to break faith, to not be true to God our Father or to ourselves. In these forty days of Lent, by our Lenten
practices of penance, and by God’s grace, we seek to uncover these temptations,
and all the compromises we have made with evil, the little concessions we make
with the devil, and then to cut them out and return to the path of
faithfulness.
Jesus is our
model. He is our source of
strength. In Him, we can do it. Blessed Lent!
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