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March 5, 2022The temptation in the dessert comes right after Jesus’ baptism and in each of the Gospels it is the “Spirit” (AKA: Holy Spirit) who leads Jesus into the dessert. Everyone (Jews, Samaritans, Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, etc.) knows to stay away from the dessert because you can always count on meeting something/someone evil (the devil) in the dessert. Anyone in the mid-East, regardless of their religious beliefs, knew that nothing good happened in the dessert. Jesus is not afraid of evil and has come to confront Satan on his territory. The first place Jesus goes to proclaim the Kingdom of God is at hand is the dessert. Recall where the courageous first monks and hermits went after the Resurrection: the dessert. If you’re looking for a good read this Lent, read The Life of St. Anthony written by St. Athanasius.
The evil one will use his only weapons to try and throw Jesus off course: fear, lies, and temptations. So, what is the first temptation? Read below:
The devil said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘one does not live by bread alone.’” Luke 4:3-4
The devil temps Jesus to give in to His carnal desires. Jesus is spending 40 days fasting and praying in the dessert, and since Jesus is 100% human while also 100% God, He is obviously hungry! The devil wants to get Him to stop this ascetical practice and eat something, making Him follow the needs of the body over the needs of the soul.
I’m sure you can think of hundreds of times you gave in to the needs of the body over the needs of your own soul. Think about what you fasted from last Lent (coffee, chocolate, meat, phone use, music, etc.), and how many times did you say, “screw it,” and indulge in the very thing you were meant to fast from? I know I do it all the time, every year, regardless of what I’m fasting from. How often do we skip prayer to exercise, finish homework, catch up on e-mail, or just mindlessly look at our phone? Think of all the times you watched pornography, drank too much, let your anger boil over, joined in the gossip at work, or mocked someone instead of listening to your conscience tell you to stop or to not do it at all. These are only some ways we give into the temptation of following the desire of our body over that of the soul.
Hopefully it is a regular practice for you to pray the Our Father at least once a day. In that beautiful prayer from our Lord Himself we say, “give us this day our daily bread.” Even in another translation that says, “give us this day our supersubstantial bread,” the point is that we expect God to take care of our carnal/bodily needs. We tell God that we trust He will put food in our bodies and a roof over our head. It may not be the filet migon or the mansion we want; but we trust that God will feed us and house us. The evil one doesn’t want us to trust that God will take care of us, so he tempts us to believe we need to take care of ourselves, or WORSE that the devil will take care of us!
Jesus knows this trick and immediately rejects it. This is how we fight off these carnal temptations. When we feel the desire to do something that is sinful and hurtful to the soul, pray against the temptation by simply praying “Lord Jesus, in your holy name I reject this desire/thought/feeling and I desire to be in relationship with you alone.” Pull out your rosary and spend that time with the Blessed Mother instead of engaging in whatever sin you’re being tempted with. The desire of our soul is to be in union with God, and the evil one will do all he can to distort and distract from that desire. Remember the evil ones only weapons: fear, lies, and temptations. That is what he attempted on Christ, and it didn’t work. We need Christ to help us fight against the devil’s tricks of fear, lies, and temptations. Be brave! Have courage! Trust in the Lord!
