First Reading: Genesis 2. 7 – 9, 16 – 18, 25; 3. 1 – 7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51
Second Reading: Romans 5. 12 – 19
Gospel: Matthew 4. 1 – 11
The number forty is the symbolic number, not necessarily an exact chronological period of time.
This number ‘forty’ appears many times in the Bible. Noah spent 40 days and 40 nights in the
ark. After the floods receded he spent another 40 days in it before touching the dry land. Moses
remained on Mount Sinai 40 days and 40 nights before receiving the Law. He fasted during that
period. The Hebrew people of God spent 40 years in journeying from Egypt to the Promised
Land. This is referred to as their wandering in the wilderness. The people of Ninevah did
penance for 40 days. The Kings Saul, David and Solomon ruled for 40 years. Psalm 95 says the
Lord has wearied of his people or forty years. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be
tempted by the devil and he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. For 40 days, the Risen Jesus
instructs before ascending into Heaven and sending the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:3).
Scripture says that Jesus was led to the desert to be tempted by the devil. We, the followers of
Jesus are not exempt from being tempted. Therefore the forty days of Lent is a time to take stock
of the temptations of the devil that prevent us from being faithful and responsive to the call of
God in order to live a holy life. It is a time to review how the devil is active and powerful in our
life and with God’s help we can be victorious over him.
Who is the devil in our life? It is the power of evil that makes us to continue to be attached to
things and persons with separate us from God. The devil is the darkness within us that prevents
us from experiencing the light of Christ and challenges the Lord within us. The devil is the evil
power that makes us self-centered and pressurizes us to keep Jesus out of our lives so that we do
not expand the kingdom of God in ourselves and in this world. The devil is the one that prompts
us to perform uncharitable, unethical and immoral acts resulting in self-alienation, alienation from
one another and God. The devil is an angel who turned against God and fought against God. He
was defeated, however, and now because of his malice he tries to convince others to turn against
God as well. He is an immaterial being who turned against God and who wants to turn us against
God as well.
When was Jesus tempted? He was tempted at the end of his fast, i.e. when he became weak, tired
and hungry. The devil knows when to tempt. He tempts us when we are weak in our faith, when
we are devoid of gospel values, when we are sad and feel lonely, when we are hurt, when we stop
loving and do not feel loved, and therefore, when we are physically, emotionally, morally and
spiritually weak. These are the moments we need to be watchful.
But each time the devil tempted Jesus, Jesus responded to him with the Word of God. During the
forty days of his fast, his only food was the Word of God. What he heard from God, his Father,
through his union with him in prayer sustained him during his fast and gave him the strength he
required in order to withstand the temptations. The message for us is loud and clear. We too are
called to strengthen ourselves by reading and meditating the Word of God, the Scriptures, and
listen to God in prayer. That is why we will do well even as part of our penance to spend time
reading the Word of God and mediating on it especially during this Season of Lent. Let us not
forget that our faith is nourished by the Word of God and the Sacraments.
During the forty years of wandering in the desert, the Israelites created their own idols and
worshiped them. During Lent we must identify the idols we worship in our life. These idols may
be the excessive greed for money, wealth, property, power, positions, alcoholism and the like,
undue self – gratification, self-glory, etc., Lent is a time to take seriously the words of Jesus that
‘man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God; you
do not tempt the Lord your God; you shall worship the Lord your God through the church to learn
to detach ourselves from undue exterior attractions and to experience our inner poverty that makes
us dependent on God as well as that which prevents us from reaching out to one another in
understanding, love and concern.
A reflective way of looking at life is to see it as a struggle between sin and grace, selfishness and
holiness. Our time on earth will be successful in the measure that we put aside sin and try to live
by the grace of God. Today’s Scriptures show two contrasting reactions to temptation. The first
humans, Adam and Eve, are imagined as preferring their own inclinations to the will of God.
Jesus, the Saviour, on the contrary resisted temptation, remaining faithful to what God the Father
required of him. St Paul reflects on how these choices affect ourselves: Adam’s sin brought
trouble on all, but we are saved and offered new life because of the fidelity of Christ.
An old priest who was blind for many years before his death, liked to urge his penitents to renew
their efforts with these inspirational lines:
“We are not here to play, to dream, to drift. We have good work to do, and loads to lift.Shun not
the struggle. face it. Tis God’s gift.”
Temptation in one form or another is an unavoidable part of life. If we honestly examine our daily
experience, we can find many aspects of temptation: impulses or tendencies counter to the right
way of doing things. To rationalise away these temptations, so that they become socially
acceptable and politically correct — is itself an insidious temptation. We want to dictate for
ourselves what is right and wrong, to draw for ourselves the boundaries of “acceptable”
behaviour, unencumbered by any notional commandments of God. This is rather like Adam
demanding to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Our real growth to Christian maturity
comes by acknowledging and accepting the vocation of struggling against temptation, to achieve
the kind of behaviour and attitudes Jesus expects. We must submit our behaviour to his gospel.
Christ and Adam show the two opposite reactions in face of temptation: Adam, archetype of
sinful, evasive, self-seeking humanity, finds plausible reasons to yield to it, and rebels against
God’s will. Jesus, archetype of the new God-seeking man, resists temptation even repeatedly. It
can only be conquered by this blend of patience and loyalty, supported by trust that what God
requires of us is what is best for us.
Temptation in one form or another is an unavoidable part of life. If we honestly examine our daily
experience, we can find many aspects of temptation: impulses or tendencies counter to the right
way of doing things. To rationalise away these temptations, so that they become socially
acceptable and politically correct — is itself an insidious temptation. We want to dictate for
ourselves what is right and wrong, to draw for ourselves the boundaries of “acceptable”
behaviour, unencumbered by any notional commandments of God. This is rather like Adam
demanding to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Our real growth to Christian maturity
comes by acknowledging and accepting the vocation of struggling against temptation, to achieve
the kind of behaviour and attitudes Jesus expects. We must submit our behaviour to his gospel.
Christ and Adam show the two opposite reactions in face of temptation: Adam, archetype of
sinful, evasive, self-seeking humanity, finds plausible reasons to yield to it, and rebels against
God’s will. Jesus, archetype of the new God-seeking man, resists temptation even repeatedly. It
can only be conquered by this blend of patience and loyalty, supported by trust that what God
requires of us is what is best for us.
Since he was alone in the desert, only Jesus himself knew what he felt. The implication of the
temptation story is that he had to struggle within himself to find the best way to live his life for
God. We ordinary mortals will hardly imagine ourselves turning stones into bread; but in the first
temptation Jesus seems to toy with the possibility of providing a limitless supply of bread for
people, like the daily dole-out of food by which Roman emperors kept popular with their
followers. But Jesus saw how a focus on food and drink can lead to forgetting spiritual values.
“Man does not live on bread alone.”
Jesus sensed that his ultimate service to mankind, the effective one that would endure, would be
through suffering and the Cross, after which would come the crown. Without his crucifixion and
resurrection his message would be forgotten. In every event of life, God is saying something to us
too. The story of the Temptations is warns us not to let selfishness govern our lives. We need to
be guided by the Holy Spirit, who continues to prompt our conscience throughout our days.
Imitate Our Lord by taking up life’s challenges, not with an air of gloomy resignation, but
cheerfully accepting what providence may bring. Let Jesus be a major influence in our lives,
reflect upon his words and actions with reverence and affection, so as to bring about an inner
purification of our minds and wills.
The second temptation was to seek fame and celebrity, and indeed, throughout the next few years
the people kept asking him for further miracles. What if he were to throw himself from off the
pinnacle of the Temple and be unscathed. But this would be just showmanship. He answered,
“You must not put the Lord your God to the test!” as a warning not to be rash and superficial.
Finally, in the scene on the mountain-top, seeing all the kingdoms of the world, suggests a
temptation to become a political messiah, ruling all nations and having power to impose his will
on people, like it or not. He dismisses this notion too, since we will enter into a true union with
God only if we are drawn to it in spirit.
Our deepest needs are not met by physical food and drink. Human beings need and yearn for
more, for spiritual nurture. To help save other people from hunger and misery, we need to listen to
God our Father, who awakens in our conscience a hunger for justice and solidarity.
Perhaps our great temptation today is to “change things into bread”, to reduce our desires to what
is tangible and consumable. Indiscriminate consumerism is all around us, but it is hardly the way
to progress and liberation. A consumerist society leads to emptiness and discontent. Why do the
number of suicides keep growing? Why do we barricade ourselves in gated communities, and
build walls and barriers to stop hungry people from sharing our prosperity and disturbing our
peace?
Jesus wants us to be aware that human beings do not live on bread alone. We also need to nurture
the spirit, know love and friendship, develop solidarity with those who suffer, listen to our
conscience, open to the ultimate Mystery of sharing, that joins us with God.
God bless.