Lent calls us to examine our lives in an even more intense manner, to look at the truths about ourselves and face them, more importantly to leave all those things (sin, vice, weakness, etc) behind. When Jesus entered the desert our Lord leaves his temptations behind, but it took work. First it takes trust in God; second, it also takes a lot of hard work. When Jesus entered the desert he had to discipline himself, i.e. fasting for forty days and forty nights on bread and water. He also had to face his temptations, recognize them for the evil they would have produced and then to be able to let them go. This ability to be able to let go of temptations is very difficult, many times temptations give birth to sin.
Jesus’ temptations in the desert are no different than our own. First, Jesus is tempted by Satan through physical desire, in this case food, for Jesus was hungry. How often are we tempted by physical desire? The desire can take many forms, e.g. gluttony, lust, over indulgence in drink; some may even use narcotics for pleasure. We make all kinds of excuses for our behaviors, but none of them fly no matter how elaborate our reasoning. The Lord asks us to look at our tempatations and even sins and to let them go, but we can only do so once we acknowledge them and more importantly once we trust that God will help us. Jesus let his own hunger go and he trusted that God would help him, for his response to Satan is, “man does not live on bread alone, but by every Word of God.”
Jesus is tempted spiritually, for Satan tests him by saying that God will protect him if he throws himself from the parapet of the temple. We too are tempted on spiritual levels, sometimes these temptations can be intense, our belief in God can be shaken, especially when we deal with tragedy, other times these temptations are more subtle or not as intense, e.g. I can miss mass this Sunday, we have a family vacation, God understands. Though less intense, nevertheless still a sin if carried out, its gravity\responsibility could be serious. Something we have lost in our convictions.
Finally Jesus is tempted with prestige and power, Satan tempts him via the psyche (his emotion, intelligence, etc.) “All of this will be yours, if you worship me.” How often do we want more? Bruce Springsteen has a very profound lyric in his song Badlands that sums this up, “Poor man wants to be rich, rich man wants to be king, king’s not satisfied until he loses everything.” That is you and I. It can vary in degree but no man is free of ever being tempted with wanting and desiring more. But to what purpose? Obviously we all need shelter, food, and protection, the daily necessities of life and no one should be denied these, what I am referring to is, “I need a bigger house, I need another car, I need another vacation home, I need more money, I need a better position, I need, I need, I need… When is it enough? Who and what do we worship? Jesus says to Satan, “you shall worship the Lord your God alone.” Satan then departs from Jesus and angels come to minister to him.
Temptations are not sins, but what do we do with temptations when they come, do we follow through on them and give birth to sin or do we hand them over to God and rely on Him? This is not easy, to let them go and trust in God. That is why we must be in desert with much fasting and prayer. Battling temptation takes hard work, however, once we begin to build up good habits in our desert experience of Lent it will become easier to defeat temptations. Together we can achieve what Jesus did, it is possible, why, “it may be impossible for man, but with God nothing is impossible . . . ask and you will receive for what father hands his son a snake when he asks for something to eat?”
Fr John
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