First Sunday of Lent – Temptations

“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” (Luke 4:6-13).
 
This is the first week of the Lenten season, so it’s no surprise that our reading describes the aftermath of a fast. Jesus fasted and wandered the wilderness for 40 days. After this ordeal, the devil tried to tempt him, and Jesus resisted.
 
If we treat Lent as a season of deprivation, we miss the point. Jesus’ responses to the devil’s temptations can teach us something about our own Lenten preparations.
 
The temptations in this reading are the same distractions that threaten to keep us from our mission. The temptation to turn stone into bread is the temptation to set aside our relationship with God for the sake of quick and easy fulfillment of desire. The desire for glory and authority over nations is the same as our own desire for domination in interpersonal, business, or political spheres. And the temptation to put God to the test is the same as refusing to take responsibility for ourselves and our actions.
 
Jesus resisted attachment to pleasure and power and skirting of accountability. These same temptations threaten our own relationships with ourselves, with others, and with God. By rejecting them, Jesus says “Yes” to contentment, unity, and responsibility.
 
Jesus drew his strength from the 40 days of being “full of” and “led by” the Holy Spirit. Forty days from now, we will be ready to more fully experience Easter joy, to celebrate the great Easter liturgies, and, in word and action, to spread the good news of Jesus’ resurrection and forgiveness of sins.
 
How have your desires for pleasure, power, or unaccountability interfered with your relationship to yourself, to others, or to God? In what way have you overcome these temptations?

Adapted from Word on the Go, a downloadable resource from RENEW International.