ON THE STEPS OF THE ONE WHO TRIUMPHS OVER TEMPTATIONS.

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT. YEAR C.
February 25, 2007.
(First Reading: Deuteronomy 26:4-10) (Second Reading: Romans 10:8-13)
(Gospel Reading: Luke 4:1-13)

ON THE STEPS OF THE ONE WHO
TRIUMPHS OVER TEMPTATIONS.

Our individual and collective efforts to improve ourselves as human beings are constantly met with temptations which try at all cost to derail said efforts. Jesus, likewise, is confronted with the temptations of the devil who tries to lure Him away from His efforts to liberate mankind from the devil's chains.

Let us examine the devil's temptations:
1. The temptation against the satisfaction of our human needs.
God has given all human beings the ability (and right) to meet their human needs to the fullest in accordance with their human dignity, that is, all humans, individually and collectively, have the power to earn through their work and effort what they need to live(1).

The first temptation ("If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread") wants to lure us to obtain our "bread" (That is, what we need to satisfy our human needs) by means other than those commanded by God. To command a "stone to become bread" is as much a departure from the order established by God as it is to make mine the bread that belongs to my fellow human being.

The answer from the Lord Jesus to the first temptation: "One does not live on bread alone" is saying that we human beings are to live first in accordance with the order established by God, in accordance with his will, and that we human beings are to satisfy our needs through our individual and collective efforts (as human race) not by depriving others of what they need.

Our present world has fallen to the first temptation. We live in a world where small groups of people have appropriated for themselves the "bread" (the goods and resources of the world) depriving countless human beings of their "bread"(2).

2. The temptation against the proper use of power.
After failing at his first temptation, the devil moves onto the second. The progression to the second temptation is logical; the devil seems to be saying to Jesus: If you do not have the power to command a stone to become bread, then "I shall give you all this power and glory... if you worship me".

The Lord Jesus is well aware that His power, the power of God, is in opposition to the power of the world. God's power is the power of unity, respect, justice and equality among all peoples.

The second temptation ( ... showing all the kingdoms of the world, the devil says "I will give you all this power and glory ... if you worship me") tries to lure us into giving up the power that comes from unity, justice and peace and to replace it with a power that is based on oppression and division among human beings. The power that comes from the accumulation of the goods and resources ("bread" that belong to all human beings) into the hands of a few, is a power engendered by abuse and dispossession and, therefore, a power intrinsically evil.

The answer from the Lord Jesus to the second temptation: "You shall worship the Lord, your God, and Him alone shall you serve" is a reaffirmation by Jesus that the only power that builds humanity (in "soul" and "body") comes from God, a power which frees from oppression and injustice. Jesus is reaffirming that whenever human beings live in unity and mutual respect, they are thus worshiping and serving God, their creator and redeemer.

Our present world has fallen to the second temptation. We live in a world ruled by powerful interest groups and nations trying to expand their dominion through aggression and dispossession of other human beings and nations. The power and the glory of our world is for just a few, while the vast majorities of peoples live under oppression.

3. The Temptation against the truth.
Again, having failed at the first two temptations, the devil tries a third one. An inevitable temptation: The temptation against the Truth; the presentation of the lie as if it were the truth.

God has given us, human beings, the Truth: The LORD JESUS!, who was revealed to us throughout history in the Scriptures and is now here among us, giving us His liberation from a world of sin, oppression and destruction(3).

The third temptation ("If you are the Son of God, throw yourself from here, for it is written: he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you...") lies about what Scripture truly says, in that, this temptation wants to test God by trying to make Jesus believe that God will take away the cross from Him. This temptation is trying to tell Jesus that He can redeem the world without going through death and resurrection. As for us, human beings, this temptation tries to lure us away from our responsibilities to cooperate with Jesus (through our own death and resurrection) in His efforts to redeem all mankind.

The answer from the Lord Jesus to the third temptation: "It is also written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test" is saying that He, Jesus, will not be lured into denying His identity as the Son of God who has to bring God to us human beings through His word, passion, death and resurrection. Jesus reaffirms the truth that human beings are to be redeemed through His passion, death and resurrection.

Our present world has also fallen to the third temptation. We live in a world which distorts the truth by presenting oppression, injustices, and inequalities as being the norm, the truth to be accepted by all. Many people in our world seem to be satisfied with the lie, and are reluctant to take their cross to restore God's truth in the world.

Today, the Lord Jesus shows us how to follow on his steps, for He is the one who triumph over temptations.
________________________________________________________
Footnotes.
(1) In the first reading (Deuteronomy) the people who exercise their ability to earn the goods they need say to God: "We have brought you the firstfruits of the products of the soil which you, O Lord, have given us" (Deuteronomy 4:10)
(2) Such appropriation is, no doubt, more profitable than commanding "the stones to become bread", and the hunger of it (greed) more intense than after having stayed in the desert for forty days.
(3) St. Paul in the second reading says: "The Word is near you, in your month and in your heart... 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" (Romans 10:8-9)