the temptation of jesus

Today's Reflections 
 
                                                             

 

the temptation of jesus 

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Mt 4:1-11

¹Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. ²He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. ³The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” ⁴He said in reply, “It is written:/ ‘One does not live by bread alone,/ but by every word that comes forth/ from the mouth of God.’ ”/ ⁵Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, ⁶and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written:/ ‘He will command his angels concerning you’/ and ‘with their hands they will support you,/ lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”/ ⁷Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’ ” ⁸Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, ⁹and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” ¹⁰At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written:/ ‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship/ and him alone shall you serve.’ ”/ ¹¹Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.

IN SOLIDARITY WITH SINNERS. Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. “Desert” here is not only a desolate, arid place. Jesus’ going to the desert, as Pope Benedict XVI explains in his book Jesus of Nazareth, “is a descent into the perils besetting mankind, for there is no other way to lift up fallen humanity. Jesus has to enter into the drama of human existence, for that belongs to the core of his mission; he has to penetrate it completely, down to its uttermost depths, in order to find the ‘lost sheep,’ to bear it on his shoulders, and to bring it home.”

Just as Jesus, at his baptism, descends to the Jordan to be in solidarity with sinners, so Jesus must descend into the desert and face the perils, to face the tempter, for the sake of sinners. Pope Benedict compares this to Jesus’ descent “into hell” which the Apostles’ Creed speaks of. This descent not only took place in and after his death, the Pope explains, but accompanies him along his entire journey.