On the First Sunday
of Lent each year we hear of the temptations of
Jesus. Matthew has told us that the name ‘Jesus’
itself tells of God saving his people. Jesus has
just been baptised. The Spirit of God descended
and the voice of Father spoke: “This is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased,” a public declaration.
Matthew has in a few words reminded us about who
Jesus is and goes on to ask what that might mean
for us. For him the life of Jesus has to be seen
in the context of Old Testament promises being
fulfilled. A new covenant has been established.
What do we have to do to be part of it? Our role
is best discovered in hearing and thinking about
that of Jesus. Like his people, Jesus has to work
out the will of the Father for him. Moses and
Elijah were tested for forty days. Moses received
the commandments on the mountain [Exodus 24:15].
Elijah was told there how to renew the covenant
[1 Kings 19:11]. As God did with the chosen
people centuries before, Jesus is now led into
the wilderness—his test will end on a high mountain.
Like his people, he will know hunger. Like the
people, he has to choose before whom he will prostrate
himself, whom he will adore. Jesus is confronted
with these choices not just in these three temptations
but throughout his life. What in fact does it
mean to be the Messiah?
The question takes different
forms. Should the Messiah solve people’s problems
by miracles, like changing stones into bread,
as God provided manna in the desert? Perhaps being
the Messiah means doing something dramatic: should
one provoke God into keeping his promises, as
Psalm 91 promises, that God would help his chosen
one? At the third question the devil does not
say: “If you are the Son of God” but instead offers
a shortcut: ‘to reach the place you want to go
all you need do is . . . .’ ‘Nobody else need
know’.
The temptations concern the
promises of God, what God has promised to his
Messiah. God’s promises are in the realm of love:
they can only be received as gift: love does not
make demands; it does not grab. It receives thankfully.
Adam was made lord of creation, free, but instead
of receiving the gifts as gifts he wants to be
the equal of God. He moves beyond love and finds
himself naked and poor. Jesus makes the opposite
choice: “Be off, Satan.” He keeps his eyes fixed
on Sacred Scripture. His three answers come from
where the Book of Deuteronomy meditates on the
temptations of the Chosen People in the desert.
St Matthew wishes to help us identify
what it may mean that Jesus is Son
of God.
Underneath that lies the idea
of the covenant, the agreement between God and
his people, God’s love for and choice of Israel
[Deut. 7:9]. Deuteronomy suggests that
the Israelites see the challenges in the desert
in the context of discipline in a father-son relationship
[8:5].
| 1. Who do I
say the Son of Man is? What does (or should)
that mean to me? |
| 2. Lent is a time of penance,
yet the Church asks us to start off by thinking
about the nature of Jesus Christ. Is there
any connection between the two? |
| 3. Are my temptations like those
of Jesus in any way? |
Our pilgrim life here on earth cannot be without
temptation, for it is through temptation that
we make progress, and it is only by being tempted
that we come to know ourselves. We cannot win
our crown unless we overcome, and we cannot overcome
unless we enter the contest and there is no contest
unless we have an opponent. – St Augustine.
|
