Since last Ash Wednesday, we’ve started the Lenten season which is a 40-day spiritual journey that encourages us come closer to God through prayer, fasting and charity. These 40 days represent the biblical time Jesus spent in the desert, fasting and being tempted by the devil before starting His ministry. Moreover, it is a very hopeful season as it prepares us for Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus- Christ.  

Trials: opportunities for spiritual growth

The Gospel for this first Sunday of Lent gives us the picture of the temptations of Jesus. This happens after the Baptism of Jesus, after the Holy Spirit has descended upon Him in a form of a dove, and the voice from heaven had testified “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Lk 3:22). Jesus, coming from the Jordan is led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. The Holy Spirit doesn’t lead Jesus into comfort or luxury, but into a period of temptation, a time of challenges, thirst and hunger. The implication is that being baptized or being sons and daughters of God doesn’t mean immunity from temptation or trials; being pious or charitable doesn’t always guarantee us an easy life; being Christians doesn’t mean a life without cross. In fact, the cross is even an integral part of Christian life.  On this, is it worthwhile to blame God for the temptations and trials we face in our daily life?

Jesus’ temptations are not meaningless; they make us see His identity with humanity in all, but sin. Fully God and fully Human, Jesus accepts to embrace the struggles we face in our daily life, and by His victory over temptations and even over death, He shows us that it is possible for us to resist temptations if we follow His path. Thus, all of us as disciples of Jesus should not be afraid of temptations or circumstances that test our faith and perseverance, because Jesus has overcome temptations, and His victory makes it possible for us to overcome them too. Moreover, we don’t fight alone against the temptations; the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guides us. Temptations and trials have meaning in our life as they are an opportunity for us to show our faithfulness to God, and an instance of growth. That’s why James has written: “Consider it pure Joy, by brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so tat you may be mature and complete, not lucking anything”. (James 1: 2-4). In consideration of this reality, should we ask God in our prayers to take away from us all temptations and trials of life (to live an easy life) or should we ask God’s grace and be ready to confront them?

Leaning from Jesus

The first temptation of Jesus consists of turning the stone into bread. It is connected to a physical need. Reading this, it came to my mind the temptation of Adam and Eve which led to their fall. However, in the case of Jesus, the devil wants Him to use His supernatural power to quench His hunger. Jesus responds with a powerful teaching: “It is written, One does not live by bread alone”. In our ordinary life, we face temptations like this, when we are tempted to prioritize our physical needs and desires at the expense of our spiritual needs. Jesus teaches us that true fulfilment comes from God’s word, from a deeper relationship with God, not from transitory satisfaction of our longings, whether food, pleasure, possession, or success. We need to prioritize our spiritual needs, to seek first God and His kingdom (Cf. Mt 6:33).

The second temptation is about power and glory. The devil proposes to Jesus the power over all the kingdoms of the world and promises Him glory if Jesus worships him. The devil is cunning, pretending to be the owner of the world and proposing to give power to Jesus, the king of Kings. However, Jesus freely responds: “It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve”. This is not the only time Jesus faced this temptation in His earthly life; we can see when people wanted to make Him a king after the feeding of the five thousand (Jn 6:14-15), but Jesus withdrew to a mountain. Jesus doesn’t need earthly power, power without the cross or power that put down others; He knows that true power comes from God, and it implies humility and self-sacrifice. In our life, once we are in a position of power, we are tempted to keep it, putting others down, or once we don’t have it, we are tempted to seek it at all cost even in ways that lead us away from God. Today’s Gospel teaches us that true power comes from humility before God, from self-sacrifice for the sake of others. 

The third temptation is about testing God.  The devil leads Jesus to the highest point of the temple and challenges him to throw Himself down from there, quoting wrongly the scripture that says that God will commend His angels to protect him in a miraculous way. This is a temptation to test God’s power, to manipulate Him, or to try to force Him to prove his solicitude towards us. Jesus again responds with the sacred scriptures: “It also says, you shall not put the Lord, your God to the test” (Lk 4: 12). In our daily life we may be tempted to test God, asking Him for miracles of signs, especially during trials. We may be tempted to act in an unreasonable way or to put ourselves into dangerous situations with fallacious expectation s that God will help us in a miraculous way. We may even be tempted to misuse the scriptures to obtain God’s favor.  For instance, driving under alcohol influence believing that God will protect you, ignoring the doctor’s advices like stopping alcohol, smoking, or overeating, thinking that God will solve your health problems without you knowing, ignoring advices so as to enter into a dangerous relationship, hoping that God will extraordinarily intervene in your relationship, or stop working so as to rely on divine intervention solely, etc. In such situations, we may put God to test, and once our expectations are not realized, we lose faith. Today, however, the word of God calls us to trust in God even without seeing miracles, to stop demanding God to prove His presence in our lives though supernatural manifestations.  

Overall, Jesus transcends all the temptations by remaining faithful to the word of God. He always puts forward the sacred Scriptures to counter the devil’s cunning. This shows us the relevance of being rooted in the word of God, of making it the criterion of our actions. May God’s word remain in our hearts and be the light of our paths. Amen. 

1. How do the temptations of Jesus in the desert help us understand the role of trials and challenges in our own spiritual journey?

2. In facing temptations, Jesus relied on the Word of God. How can we apply this lesson in our daily struggles against sin and worldly distractions?