FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT – YEAR C

THE TEMPTATION: AN OPPORTUNITY MORE THAN A THREAT

Introduction

From the analysis of biblical texts, a curious fact emerges: the wicked are never tempted by God; temptation is a privilege reserved for the righteous! Ben Sirach recommends to the disciple: “My son… prepare yourself for trials. Accept all that happens to you, be patient when you are humbled … because those acceptable to God are tested in the crucible of humiliation” (Sir 2:1,4-5). Misfortunes and failures test one’s fidelity to the Lord, but luck and success can also be a trap for one’s faith.

The temptation offers the opportunity to make a leap forward, improve, purify and consolidate the choices of faith. It also involves the risk of error: “For the fascination of evil obscures true values”—says the author of the Book of Wisdom—”and restless desires undermine a simple heart” (Wis 4:12). Temptation is not a provocation to evil but a stimulus to growth, a necessary step to reach maturity.

Paul assures: “God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your strength. He will give you, together with temptation, the strength to escape and to resist” (1 Cor 10:13).

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us of another consoling truth: Jesus experienced our temptations, so “he is not indifferent to our weaknesses. Having been tested through suffering, he is able to help those who are tested” (Heb 4:15; 2:18).

 

• To internalize the message, we repeat:

“Lord, we do not ask you to spare us from difficulties and temptations

 but to grow out of them mature.”

First Reading: Deuteronomy 26:4-10

Moses spoke to the people, saying: “The priest shall receive the basket from you and shall set it in front of the altar of the Lord, your God. Then you shall declare before the Lord, your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien. But there he became a nation great, strong, and numerous. When the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed us, imposing hard labor upon us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and he heard our cry and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. He brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders; and bringing us into this country, he gave us this land flowing with milk and honey. Therefore, I have now brought you the firstfruits of the products of the soil which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And having set them before the Lord, your God, you shall bow down in his presence.” —The Word of the Lord.

 

“The first of the first fruits of your soil you will bring to the house of the Lord, your God” (Ex 23:19). This was the arrangement of the Torah, and in springtime, at the beginning of the barley harvest, the first sheaf was taken to the temple and offered to the Lord (Ex 23:16). After seven weeks, at the end of the wheat harvest, the feast of Pentecost was celebrated. On this occasion, the first fruits were presented to God (Ex 34:22), not all the fruits of the field, but only those seven of species that are the symbol of the land of Israel: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates (Deut 8:8).

With this rite, God was proclaimed the master of the land and what it produces. In addition to this public offering, there was a private one celebrated by each family group. Today’s reading refers to this. When the fruits began to sprout on the trees, the farmer marked the first ones with a ribbon and, as soon as they matured, he placed them in a basket. Then, accompanied by his entire family, he took them to the temple. In delivering them to the minister of God, he said: I acknowledge that these fruits are not mine; they are a gift of the Lord; they have grown on the land that he gave me (Deut 26:1-3).

Our reading starts at this point. The priest took the basket and put it in front of the altar of the Lord. Then he invited the farmer to make his profession of faith. He helped him by reciting aloud, in Hebrew, each verse of the Creed and the pilgrim repeated, word by word, what he heard. Some think the Creed was a list of abstract truths that they must admit if they do not want to be considered heretics. If we asked instead to a Jew what his faith is, he would reply with a story. He would begin like this: ‘My father, Jacob, was a wandering Aramean’ and would continue telling the story of his people and the deeds of the Lord in his favor.

The central part of today’s reading (vv. 5-9) contains precisely, in summary, this history of salvation. In it,two contrasts are easily captured. The first contrast is between the situation from which Israel originated (a ‘wandering Aramean,’ without land, without security, and without a country) and the current reality. In the temple, there is a wealthy farmer, who, with his family, serenely celebrates the feast, offers the fruits of his fields, and rejoices because the abundant crops are announced. Destitution has turned into prosperity.

The second contrast is between the condition of slavery and that of freedom. Israel was oppressed, abused, and humiliated, but now, she lives free and happy. One wonders: who operated these miraculous turnarounds? In his profession of faith, the pious Israelite answers: “The Lord saw our humiliation, our hard labor and the oppression to which we were subjected. He brought us out of Egypt with a firm hand, manifesting his power with signs and awesome wonders. He brought us here to give us this land flowing with milk and honey” (vv. 8-9).

With the ceremony of the first fruits and the proclamation of their faith, the Israelites recognize that God has been faithful to his promises and that their life depends entirely on his generosity. All that they have is a gift from him. What happened to the first fruits the farmer brought to the temple? Perhaps the answer that comes to mind is, they were donated to the ministers who officiated the ceremony.

Too bad that our reading stops at verse 10 and does not report the following verses. The fruits were not burned on the altar nor given to the priests. They were handed over to “God’s representatives,” the poor. They were offered to the Levites, the foreigners, orphans, and widows (Deut 26:11-12). The feast could be considered successful and pleasing to God only after the needy and the poor had been fed. Before leaving the sanctuary where he had offered the first fruits, the farmer was asked to proclaim before the Lord his God even this formula: “I have brought out of my house the sacred share. I have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow according to the commandments that you have given me” (Deut 26:13).

There is a fact all can verify that: the places of prayer (no matter what religion) are an irresistible lure for the poor. Almost by instinct, they perceive that those who approach God become supportive and generous to those in need.

This passage was chosen as the opening of Lent because, to all who are called to conversion, God shows the miraculous transformations that he operates in those who trust in him. It was not easy for Israel to believe in the Lord. Several times she was tempted to regret the situation of slavery in which she had lived in Egypt. The rabbis said: ‘It was not only necessary to take the Jews out of Egypt; it was also necessary to draw Egypt out of the heart of the Jews.’ However, those who trusted the Lord have proven and can testify that when he invites one to come out of a land, it is always to bring him to a better one.

 
Second Reading: Romans 10:8-13

Brothers and sisters: What does Scripture say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart—that is, the word of faith that we preach—for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. For the Scripture says, No one who believes in him will be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, enriching all who call upon him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” —The Word of the Lord.

 

Israel has had—Paul says at the beginning of the reading—the opportunity to attain salvation because the word of God is near her and heard it from the very lips of Christ and the apostles. Unfortunately, she did not understand that her exodus to freedom was not yet completed. She got tired of following the Lord and stopped. Only the first fruits of this people have understood and followed Christ (Rom 11:16).

The people are then asked to profess their faith, and of this faith, the formula that summarizes all—’Jesus is Lord’—is proclaimed. This is the first formula used as ‘Credo’ (I believe) in the early Church. In the First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul has already mentioned it: “No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3). Only those animated by the Spirit may proclaim that a convict, a loser, is the Savior of the world. This formula has been preserved in the Gloria, and every Sunday, we repeat: You alone are the Lord, Jesus Christ!

Paul continues that faith in Jesus the Lord must be declared in two ways: with the heart and the tongue. The heart implies the adhesion of one’s life to the life and values of Christ. Faith in Christ must lead to decisions based on entirely new principles and values​​. Then the profession of faith with the mouth is necessary. The mouth is closely linked to the heart. Jesus said: “For the mouth speaks from the fullness of the heart” (Lk 6:45). The one who is reluctant or even ashamed to declare his faith is only superficially involved in Christ.

When we proclaim the Creed together with our brothers and sisters, we grow in our awareness of belonging to one people of believers who make up “the first fruits of his creatures” (Jas 1:18). We are also required to consider the meaningless distinctions between “Jew and Greek.” Our profession of faith breaks down all the barriers created by differences of race, culture, social and economic conditions.

Gospel: Luke 4:1-13

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, One does not live on bread alone.” Then the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. 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 the devil 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 Jesus for a time. —The Gospel of the Lord.

 

Every year, on the first Sunday of Lent, we reflect on the temptations of Jesus. It presents how the Master has confronted them to tell us how they can be recognized and overcome.

Reading the passage today, however, one gets the impression that the experience of Jesus cannot be of much help: his temptations are very different from ours, are strange, and even outlandish. Who among us would cede to the solicitation of worshipping the devil? Who would listen to his proposal of turning a stone into bread or devil’s invitation to throw oneself out of a window? No, our temptations are much more severe, more difficult to win; then, they do not last only a day but accompany us for a lifetime.

This difficulty stems from the lack of understanding of the ‘literary genre,’ namely, the method used by the author to communicate his message. Today’s Gospel is not the faithful chronicle, written by an eyewitness of the battle between Jesus and the devil (neither Luke nor anyone else has seen it). The passage is a lesson in catechesis and wants to teach us that Jesus was put to the test not just with the three, but “with all kinds of temptation”—as the text clearly states (v. 13).

To put it in simple and straightforward words: we are not in front of the story of three isolated incidents of Jesus’ life, but three parables in which, through images and biblical references, the evangelist states that Jesus was tempted in all points like us, with the only difference: he has never been won by sin (Heb 4:15). These three frames are a symbolic synthesis of the struggle against the evil he sustained at every moment in his life.

Maybe someone is still a bit baffled by the idea that Jesus had doubts like us, had encountered difficulties in fulfilling his mission, and had only gradually discovered the Father’s plan. We are almost afraid to lower him too much to our level. But God did not feel any aversion to our weakness and made it his, in our mortal flesh, and he overcame sin.

Before you consider these three ‘parables,’ we make another premise. Unlike Matthew, who says that Jesus was tempted just at the end of the forty days of fasting (Mt 4:2), Luke states that the temptation accompanied Jesus during his entire time in the desert. With this call to the desert and the number forty, Luke intends to connect the experience of Jesus with that of Israel, put to the test during the Exodus. He repeats the experience of his people: “Your God has brought you through the desert for forty years to test you and know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not” (Deut 8:2). Unlike Israel, Jesus, at the end of his “forty days,” will go out of the “desert” fully victorious. Evil will be forced to admit its utter helplessness against him.

Now we consider the three frames in which all the temptations Jesus faced are condensed. The first temptation: “Tell this stone to turn into bread” (vv. 3-4). The account of the temptations follows immediately after the baptism, which we reflected on at the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. We noted then that Jesus, the just one, the holy one, did not begin his mission scolding sinners. He did not merely give them directions, maintaining his distance, as the Pharisees did. He went to be baptized along with the sinners, in the lowest point on earth. He mixed with them, became one of them, chose to walk alongside them on the path that leads to liberation.

Sharing our human condition in everything is not easy. So here is the first temptation that Jesus had (not only once, but throughout life): to use his divine power to escape ordinary people’s difficulties. They are hungry; they get sick and tired; they must study to learn, can be deceived, are subject to misfortune and oppressed by injustice … Well, he can get out of these difficulties, and the devil invites him to do so. He proposes not to identify himself with people. He suggests to him to work miracles for his own personal gain. If Jesus had listened to him, he would have given up being one of us. He would not be genuinely man; he would only pretend to be one.

Jesus understood how diabolical this project was. Yes, he used the power to perform miracles, but never for himself, always for others. He worked, sweated, suffered, hungered, thirsted, spent sleepless nights, and did not want privileges. The highlight of this temptation was the cross. There he was again invited to perform a miracle for himself; he was challenged to come down. If he had performed the miracle and refused the ‘defeat,’ Jesus would have been a winner in people’s eyes, but he would have been a loser before God.

This devious temptation persists every day, even to us. It reappears first as an invitation to a selfish withdrawal to us without thinking about others, as an invitation to reject the attitude of solidarity taught by Christ. If he gives in to this temptation, it will mean abusing the God-given ability to satisfy one’s whims and not help others; like many in today’s world do. However, Jesus chose to be poor and embrace the cross than become rich and powerful.

In this first scene, man’s wrong way of interacting with the material realities is identified and denounced. The selfish use of assets, to accumulate for oneself, to live by the work of others, to seek pleasure at all costs, to squander in luxury and the superfluous, while so many are deprived of the basic needs is evil. Jesus responds to the proposal of the devil by referring to a text of Scripture: “Man lives not on bread alone” (Deut 8:3). Only he who considers his own life in the light of the Word of God can respond to the realities of this world in the right way. They are not looked down upon, destroyed, rejected, and not even turned into idols. They are just creatures; woe to consider them absolute.

The second temptation: “I will give you power over the nations … for they have been delivered to me …”(vv. 5-8). What the devil says seems a bit exaggerated. Yet it’s true: the logic that rules the world, that governs the relationship between the people is not that of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5–8), not that of the Beatitudes (Lk 6:20-26), but the opposite, that of the evil one (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).

The first temptation denounced the wrong way of dealing with things; the second helps identify evil ways with which we relate to people, with those around us. The choice is between domination and service, to competition and solidarity, pride and humility. This choice is manifested in every attitude and every condition of life. One who is educated and has reached a prominent position can help better the lives of the less fortunate, but he can also use it to humiliate those who are less privileged. The powerful and wealthy can serve the poorest and those disadvantaged, but they can lord it over them too. The lust for power is so overwhelming that even the relatively poor are tempted to overwhelm those who are weaker.

Authority is a charism, a gift of God to the community so that everyone can find in it his place and be happy. Power, instead, is evil even if it is exercised in the name of God. Wherever dominion over persons is exercised, wherever there is a power struggle to prevail over others, wherever someone is forced to kneel or bow down before another person, there is the logic of evil at work.

Jesus did not lack the talents to emerge, to climb up the ladder of religious and political power. He was intelligent, lucid, courageous, and enchanted the crowds. He would undoubtedly have been successful … but on one condition, if “he worshiped Satan,” that is, to comply with the principles of this world: competition, violence, domination, allying oneself with the powerful, and using their methods. His choice was the opposite: he made himself a servant.

The third temptation: is the most dangerous because it questions the relationship between man and God. The diabolical proposal is based even on the Bible: “Throw yourself down from here—says the tempter—for it is written …” (vv. 9-12). The most insidious wiles of evil show themselves with an attractive face, assume a pious stance and use the same Word of God (misleadingly interpreted) to lead people astray.

The principal target of evil is not to provoke moral failure, fragility, and weakness but to undermine the relationship with God. This is achieved when he can sneak into the mind of people who doubt about the Lord keeping his promises, that he is unfaithful to his word, and abandons those who trusted him. The need to “have proof” arises from this doubt. In the desert, the people of Israel, exhausted by hunger, thirst, and fatigue, succumbed to this temptation and exclaimed: “Is the Lord with us, or not?” (Ex 17:7). The people provoked God, saying: if he is on our side, if he accompanies us with his love, let him manifest himself by giving us a sign, performing a miracle.

Jesus never succumbed to this temptation. Even in the most dramatic scenario, he refused to ask the Father for any proof of his love. He did not doubt his loyalty even when on the cross; the absurdity of what was happening to him could have misled him into thinking that the Lord had forsaken him. When the Lord does not act according to our wishes, we grieve: ‘Where is God? Who knows if he exists! Is it worth continuing to believe if he does not intervene to support those who serve him?’ If he does not give evidence of the love that we demand, the fragile faith is in danger of collapse.

God has not promised protection to his faithful from all difficulties and tribulations. He has not promised to free them miraculously from disease and pain but to give them strength to endure. Will God treat us differently from the way he treated his only Son?

Today’s passage ends with an annotation: “Having exhausted every way of tempting Jesus, the devil left him to return another time” (v. 13). Luke speaks of every kind of temptation. Therefore, the three frames he depicted had to be interpreted as a synthesis of all the temptations. Schematically, they represent the wrong ways of dealing with three realities: material wealth, people, and God.

Luke gives us a glimpse, from the beginning of his Gospel, of the time when the temptation will manifest itself most violently and dramatically: on the cross. The devil has not strayed definitively; he withdrew, waiting to return at the appointed time. His seductive work will be discussed later during the passion when he will enter Judas and push him to betray Jesus (Lk 22:3). That will be the manifestation of the empire of darkness (Lk 22:53), the evil, when it thinks of celebrating its triumph, will be squarely defeated.