Do you think only of Christ’s temptations and fail to think of his victory? See yourself as tempted in Him, and see yourself as victorious in Him. If in Christ we have been tempted, in Him we overcome the devil. In Christ you were tempted, since Christ received his flesh from your nature, but by his own power gained salvation for you He suffered death in your nature, but by his own power gained glory for you therefore, He suffered temptation in our nature, but by his own power gained victory for you. Saint Augustine said: “Certainly Christ was tempted by the devil. The saints have always lived with this positive and active sense of struggle, because their eyes were set not on themselves but on Christ, who struggled and conquered in them. Rather it means not being defensive in our effort to behave as God's sons and daughters, upon whom God the Father looks with delight, despite our missteps and mistakes. It is not a question of relying on own strength or foolishly placing ourselves in what we know is an occasion of sin for us. Today’s scene shows us that our condition as children of God revealed at our Lord’s Baptism in the Jordan – “Thou art my beloved Son with thee I am well pleased” ( Mk 1:11) – should lead us to take the initiative in the struggle against evil and sin, trusting in God’s grace. Jesus takes the initiative, and it is only after he has been prepared by his forty days of intense prayer and fasting that the devil is allowed to approach him. The Book of Revelation states that it is also Michael and his angels who start the battle against the devil to overcome him ( Rev 12:7). This episode teaches us that Jesus, and not the devil, is the one who takes the initiative in the struggle between good and evil. But the parallel narrative in Matthew states that Jesus “was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness” precisely “to be tempted by the devil” ( Mt 4:1). He makes no reference to the three specific temptations Jesus underwent, as recounted by Matthew and Luke, and simply says that he “was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan.”įrom a superficial point of view, we might ask why Jesus allowed himself to be tempted in the first place. Mark’s account of this period in Jesus’ life is very brief. In the gospel we see our Lord led under the impulse of the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to pray and fast for forty days. Today we celebrate the first Sunday in Lent. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand repent, and believe in the gospel.” And he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan and he was with the wild beasts and the angels ministered to him. The Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness.
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