Greetings on this the First Sunday of Lent
Readings: Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7; Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 17; Romans 5:12-19 or 5:12, 17-19; Matthew 4:1-11
Summary
The Temptation of Jesus
The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” [and then] said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. [and then] he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” (Mt 4:3,6,9).
NABRE Commentary
Jesus, proclaimed Son of God at his baptism, is subjected to a triple temptation. Obedience to the Father is a characteristic of true sonship, and Jesus is tempted by the devil to rebel against God, overtly in the third case, more subtly in the first two. Each refusal of Jesus is expressed in language taken from the Book of Deuteronomy (Dt 8:3; 6:13, 16). The testings of Jesus resemble those of Israel during the wandering in the desert and later in Canaan, and the victory of Jesus, the true Israel and the true Son, contrasts with the failure of the ancient and disobedient “son,” the old Israel. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mt/4?11#48004011)
Franciscan Commentary
They are all temptations to the misuse of power for purposes less than God’s purpose. They are sequentially the misuse of practical everyday power, the misuse of religious power, and the misuse of political power. These are the constant tragedies that keep defeating humanity. Jesus passes all three tests, and thus “the devil left him” because he could not be used for lesser purposes. If you face such demons in yourself, God can and will use you mightily. Otherwise, you will, for sure, be used!
But let me point out something we almost always fail to notice. We can only be tempted to something that is good on some level, partially good, or good for some, or just good for us and not for others. Temptations are always about “good” things, or we could not be tempted: in these cases “bread,” “Scripture,” and “kingdoms in their magnificence.” Most people’s daily ethical choices are not between total good and total evil, but between various shades of good, a partial good that is wrongly perceived as an absolute good (because of the self as the central reference point), or even evil that disguises itself as good. These are what get us into trouble.
—from the book Wondrous Encounters: Scriptures for Lent
by Richard Rohr, OFM
Personal Reflection
The strength of our identity with the Lord as Son or Daughter an inverted, direct correspondence to the temptation to use the stone, the tower or the vainglory
If I AM a Son, then no need to test it, prove it, nor gloat about it.
I am naked, yet not ashamed — for my clothing is the righteousness given by the Father.
Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022226.cfm
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry