Christ the Cornerstone

This Lent, ask for God’s grace to overcome life’s temptations

In the Gospel reading for the First Sunday of Lent (Mt 4:1-11), St. Matthew tells us that Jesus was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit “to be tempted by the devil” (Mt 4:1). Why would the Spirit of God deliberately draw Jesus into a situation that would be uncomfortable, at best, and, at worst, dangerous to his physical and spiritual health?

We are rightly offended by the idea that the devil would be so bold and disrespectful that he would presume to tempt the Son of God. Who does Satan think he is, and what gives him the idea that he has any chance at all to succeed in persuading Jesus to betray his Father and his mission on Earth?

We know that Jesus was hungry, weak and very tired after fasting and being exposed to the elements for 40 days. When the devil offered him comfort, security and earthly power, Jesus was not at his best—humanly speaking. And yet, he resisted forcefully, reminding Satan that God alone provides what is needed to live in communion with him.

Jesus does not raise his voice or berate his tempter. He remains calm, responding to each temptation with a simple statement of the truth. We do not live by bread alone, he says. It is not our place to put the Lord our God to the test. And we are commanded to love and worship God alone. No amount of earthly gain is worth betraying the Lord our God. No amount of money, success or worldly power can take the place of righteous living and accepting the will of God.

When we recite the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer that Jesus taught us, we ask not to be led into temptation. We know that we don’t have Jesus’ strength or his confidence in the Holy Spirit’s ability to sustain us in the face of the Prince of Lies and his seductive power.

But we also know that we can’t completely avoid every form of temptation. That’s why Jesus’ desert experience is so instructive for us. If God’s only Son was drawn into this kind of disturbing, uncomfortable situation, who are we to think it can’t happen to us?

The first reading for this Sunday (Gn 2:7-9, 3:1-7) reminds us that our first parents, who were given every possible advantage, were tempted by the Evil One in the form of a serpent—“the most cunning of all the animals that the Lord God had made” (Gn 3:1).

Unlike Jesus in the desert, the first man and the first woman gave into temptation and disobeyed the Lord’s command. Their sins, and the sins of all humankind, are the reason God became man in the first place. Their weakness, and the weaknesses of their children, are the cause of Christ’s suffering and death on a cross.

As St. Paul teaches in this Sunday’s second reading (Rom 5:12-19), the same Jesus who calmly but firmly rejects the temptations of the devil is the one who is responsible for righting the wrongs that came into the world because of our first parents’ sin.

For if, by the transgression of the one, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. (Rom 5:17)

Jesus is led into the desert by the Holy Spirit for our sakes—to confront the Evil One and to foreshadow the decisive victory that will be won, once and for all, on Good Friday.

What we can learn from our Lord’s experience is that we do not have to be fearful in the face of temptation. If we place our trust in God—the Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and if we believe that God will deliver us from evil, we can be calm like Jesus was when he encountered Satan in the desert.

It’s true that we don’t have Jesus’ wisdom or strength when we are faced with temptation, but we do have the certain knowledge that comes from faith that the final victory over sin and evil has already been won. If we stumble and give in to temptation, we need not worry that all will be lost. We only have to confess, resolve to sin no more, do penance, and all will be well.

As we continue our Lenten journey, let’s ask for the grace to face temptation without giving in. Let’s pray that by our prayer, fasting and almsgiving we will be better prepared to confront the devil. And let us pray that our acceptance of the cross of Christ will deliver us from all evil. †