1st Sunday Lent -  C/ Temptation of Jesus
 

Dt. 26:4-10/Ps   /Rom. 10:8-13/Luke 4:1-13
  Introduction
 

      There is no man strong enough to defeat temptations in life. Even the strongest man (Samson) fell to the charm of Delilah, the wisest man (Solomon) trapped into the gods and goddess of his 700 wives and the most devout and pious man in the Old Testament (David) was enslaved by the beauty of his general’s wife (Bathsheba). If you can not surpass the strength of Samson, intelligence of Solomon and the holiness of David do not be too confident that you can surpass the temptations of this world.

  
   
  Background
 
  1. In the first reading, Saul loved David like a Son, but Saul began to be jealous of David’s popularity. Saul began to pursue David to kill him in order to remove this threat. It would be expected, given the opportunity that David would in turn take Saul’s life in order to “get even.” But when Saul and his men fall asleep and David had a good chance of hitting Saul, he did not “take advantage” of him. David respected Saul as anointed by God.

  2. In the Gospel, Jesus was tempted by the Devil and urged him to do miracles to show his power, in order to win the hearts of men, and gain glory and power. Remember that Jesus was about to begin his public life and was looking for a way to get the whole world to know him and accept his message. But Jesus, filled with His love for the goodness of the Father never waiver. His heart speaks of gratitude for the blessings he received. He did not fall into temptations because he doesn’t need whatever the devil would offer. Greediness and ingratitude are the two doors into devil’s trap. When we want to have a lot of things, and we forget how to thank God for his blessings; we slowly open ourselves to whatever the devil offers.

  3. Forty days – it was used in the Old Testament more as an expression than as a numerical entity. Moses was said to be on the mountain with God for forty days (Ex. 24:18), Elijah went in the strength of the meal the angel gave him for forty days. (1 Kings 19:8). For the Jews it meant only as a “considerable length of time” of being with God.
 
  Reflections  
 
  1. The first thing the devil does is to sow doubts in our mind. The first thing the Tempter said to Eve was, "Did God really say you should not eat of any fruit of the garden (Genesis 3:1)” Then if we start to doubt ourselves and the things around us, we can easily be deceived by making ourselves, what we are not. It happened also to Adam and Eve, when the serpent said, “… don’t you know that when you eat this fruit you will be like gods?” Temptations always begin with a doubting thought which leads to deception, into false hopes and happiness, until we find ourselves trapped in devil’s hands. Jesus overcame the temptations by refusing to entertain such doubts and be firm with his true identity as a suffering servant of God.

  2. The devil placed Jesus in a dilemma: should he follow the normal way of obtaining bread or should he take the shortcut suggested by the devil to obtain instant bread? Jesus refuses to take the devil's shortcut. We should be careful with easy shortcut to richness, the easy way to get honors, and the fastest way to secure our future. We should observe the slow workings of nature and learn in the “cautiousness” of it. Patience is a virtue and hastiness leads to waste.  We might be so much in a hurry without noticing that we are already being trapped by the devil. The God of Jesus Christ is not a God of the sensational but a God who works through the ordinary, everyday things of life.

  3. Basically, there is nothing wrong with the three arguments used by the devil. There is nothing wrong if you buy the things that you wanted, especially if you worked for it. It is not bad to aspire for honors or to gain some glory if you really tried hard to strive for excellence. And it is not wrong to have good social security and insurance to secure your future. What we have to be cautious of is: When we can not refuse to get the things we wanted even though we do not really need them. When a politician can not step down from his present position and even dreamed of a higher position. It is when he can not let go of the glory of being on the top, and we are totally drowned into power. And we have to careful of being so secured, that we thought money can buy everything even our gateway into heaven and feel that God is not necessary anymore. The power of temptation comes in when we realized that we can not control these things anymore, and especially when they start controlling us.
  
  Conclusion  
 

Temptations will always be around. It is like our own shadows that are keep on following us wherever we go. The only moment that we can eliminate these shadows is by keeping the “Sun” of God’s love . . . in the “noontime” of our lives.