1st Sunday of Lent–March 9, 2025
Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Romans 10:8-13;
Luke 4:1-13
Theme:
The Lenten Season is When we Resist the Devil with his Temptations
A.
A
Brief Exegetical Analysis of Luke 4:1-13
1. Historical
and Literary Contexts
The Gospel passage under study is located
at the end of the third section of Luke’s Gospel, “The Preparation for the
Public Ministry” (Lk 3:1–4:13). It is preceded by the accounts of Jesus’
Baptism (3:21-22) and Genealogy (3:23-38); it is followed by the story of the
Beginning of the Galilean Ministry and the Rejection at Nazareth (4:14-30).
This location attests that the context of our Gospel story is Jesus'
preparation for his public ministry. The devil's objective in tempting Jesus is
to make him disobey God so he, the devil, can stop him from starting his
mission of establishing the kingdom of God on earth, which consists of saving
the world from him. He is afraid to lose the people in his possession.
2. Form,
Structure, and Movement
Our Gospel is a narrative account. Vv. 1-2
can be considered an introduction, vv. 3-12 constitute the body of the text,
and v. 13 is the conclusion. The evangelist commences by describing the state
in which Jesus was before he was tempted. Then, he recounts how Satan tempted
him and how he overcame all three temptations. The narrator concludes his
account by telling his readers that the devil departed from Jesus for a time
when he had finished every temptation.
Vv. 1-2. Filled with the Holy Spirit. This
is the Holy Spirit that descended upon Jesus at his baptism by John the Baptist
(see Luke 3:21-22). All three synoptic evangelists feature the account of
Jesus’ temptation in the desert (Mt 4:1-11; Mk 1:12-13). Luke is the only one
who depicts Jesus as filled with the Holy Spirit when he goes to the desert.
Luke emphasizes the prominence of the Holy Spirit at the preparation of Jesus'
ministry (4:1), the beginning of his ministry (4:14, 18), and the beginning of
the period of the Church (Acts 1:4; 2:4, 17). [Jesus] was led by the Spirit
into the desert for forty days to be tempted by the devil. The “forty days”
alludes to the forty years the people of Israel spent in the desert on their
journey from Egypt to the promised land, during which they experienced multiple
temptations (see Dt 8:2). This reference intends to contrast the victory of
Jesus, who is the “true Israel” and the “true Son of God” with the failure of
“the old Israel,” who is the disobedient “son of God.” “To be tempted by the devil.” Like Matthew,
Luke uses Temptation not as the circumstance but as the purpose of Jesus’
sojourn in the desert. Jesus’ battle with Satan is a central theme in Luke as
it lies at the heart of Jesus’ ministry.[1] “He was hungry” shows Jesus’ human nature.
Vv. 3-12. The devil uses a series of three
temptations. In Matthew, the sequence is first the desert, then Jerusalem, and
finally the world's kingdoms. Luke places Jerusalem at the end because he
intentionally shows that Jerusalem is where Jesus’ ministry will culminate and
where Jesus will meet his greatest temptation and triumph (see Luke 22:39-46;
23:44-49; 24).[2]
The devil knows who Jesus is very well: He
is the Son of God. Through his temptations, he does not intend to cause Jesus
to doubt his divine sonship, but he suggests to him how to live on earth as the
Son of God. His goal is to stop Jesus from fulfilling the mission for which he
came into the world: starting the kingdom of God on earth and saving all
people. To reach this goal, he projects to make Jesus disobey God by
positioning him to switch sides with his Father.[3]
He already employed this method on Adam and Eve at the beginning of the
creation, and he succeeded (see Gen 3:1-7).
The three temptations of the devil
correspond to the three lusts of human beings. The first temptation, turning a
stone into bread, represents the lust of the flesh. The second, the world’s
kingdoms, stands for the lust of the eyes, which is the desire for power and
possessions. And the third temptation, performing a spectacle of defiance of
nature, is the lust for glory.
“If you are the Son of God, command this
stone to become bread.” (V. 3). In this first temptation, the
tempter employs the lust of the flesh, mainly food. He suggests Jesus utilize
his divinity to change a stone into bread to satisfy his human hunger. There
are double traps here. First, the tempter intends to push Jesus to focus on his
physical hunger and forget his “spiritual hunger," which is establishing
God’s kingdom. Second, he wants to remove Jesus from the most basic of human
experiences and thus weaken him in fulfilling his mission. “One does not
live by bread alone.” (V.4). In Matthew’s version, this quote continues,
“... but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Mat 4:4). While
the devil wants Jesus to concentrate on his physical hunger that only the bread
can satisfy, Jesus decides to focus on the spiritual hunger that only the Word
of God can fulfill. He also refuses to use his divinity to avoid human
suffering.
In the second temptation, the devil uses
the lust of the eyes, which is the desire for power and possession. He first
let Jesus’ eyes see and enjoy all the riches and power of the worldly kingdoms
(see v. 5), and then he suggested giving them all to him with one condition:
Jesus must worship him (see vv. 6-7). He technically and intentionally uses the
divine passive phrase, “For it has been handed over to me,” to make his
temptation seem that if Jesus obeys him, it will be entirely in line with God’s
plan. Of course, this is not true; he lies. Jesus rebuffs this temptation by
redirecting human lust of eyes from earthly power and possessions to the
trustworthy source of power and possessions, God, who alone deserves to be
worshiped and served.[4]
The tempter failed twice but has not given
up yet. He has one more in which he employs the lust for glory. He asks Jesus
to prove his God’s sonship by spectacularly throwing himself down from the
temple’s parapet, reassuring him of divine protection since God cannot let his
Son die (see vv. 9-11). First, it is worth noticing that Mark situates this
temptation in Jerusalem. This indicates that it is in this city where Jesus
will die. Second, this temptation implies death because, due to the temple's
height, nobody can survive after jumping from its parapet. Thus, through this
temptation, the tempter tries to induce Jesus to cause his own death before he
even begins his mission. As a result, there will not be the kingdom of God
established, and the world will not be redeemed. Jesus rejects this temptation
by reminding the devil that he, the tempter, shall not put him, Jesus, who is
the Lord, his God, to the test (see v. 12).
When the devil had finished every
temptation, he departed from him for a time
(v. 13). Luke concludes this passage with an essential note, letting his
readers know that at the end of his series of temptations, the tempter departed
from Jesus for a time. “For a time” means the devil did not leave Jesus
definitively; he will return precisely before Jesus’ passion and death (see Lk
22:3; 31-32, 53).
The temptation battle was scriptural. Both
the tempter and Jesus quoted Scripture to support their statements. The devil
referred to Psalms 91:11a, 12) in his third temptation. Likewise, Jesus also
quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 (for the first temptation), 6:13 (for the second
temptation), and 6:16 (for the third temptation) to support his rejection of
all the devil’s proposals.
All these three temptations echo Genesis
3:1-7. The devil who tempts Jesus here is the same who tempted Eve and Adam at
the beginning of the world. He trapped
the first human beings by lying to them that if they ate the forbidden fruit,
they would be like God (Gn. 3:5), meaning they would have the power and
possessions equaling God. The author of the book of Genesis commented that the
woman saw that the fruit of the tree was “good for food” (resembling the first
temptation of Jesus, the lust of the flesh) and “pleasing to the eye and also
desirable for gaining wisdom” (see Gn. 3:6), (corresponding to Jesus’ second
temptation: the lust of the eyes.) In Gen 3:4, the tempter lied to them that
they “will not certainly die” (Gn 3:4). This parallels his third temptation to
Jesus (the lust for glory). The devil won over Eve and Adam and succeeded in
introducing sin into the world for the condemnation of humankind. However,
Jesus, the new Adam, defeated him and started his mission of redeeming the
world.
4.
Synthesis
The Holy Spirit, who descended on Jesus
during his baptism (see Luke 3:21-22,) led him to the desert with one specific
goal: to be tempted by the devil. After completing his forty days of fasting
and prayer, he was hungry. The devil showed up with three temptations, using a
method like when he tempted Eve and Adam at the beginning of the world (see Gn.
3:1-7). This method consists of employing three human lusts: the lust of the
flesh (the desire for bread or food to satisfy physical hunger,) the lust of
the eyes (the desire for possessions and power), and the lust for glory (the
desire for worldly recognition.) His goal in tempting Jesus is to try to make
Jesus disobey God, and so stop him from starting his mission of establishing
the kingdom of God on earth. He fears that if Jesus fulfills this project, he
will lose the people under his authority since Jesus’ mission consists of
saving the world from his hands. Unlike Adam and Eve, who failed in his
temptations, Jesus, the new Adam, overcame all his temptations. Then, the devil
departed from him, not definitively, but for a time. This means that this
meeting in the desert was just the first combat, but certainly not the last.
Jesus will be in a perpetual battle with the devil until the end of his earthly
life.
1. Liturgical
Context
Lent is the forty-day penitential time we,
Christians, prepare ourselves to celebrate the Paschal Mystery: the Passion,
Death, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We started this journey last
Wednesday with Ash Wednesday Mass. The ashes we received on our foreheads at
that Mass symbolized our firm decision to work on our repentance by observing
the three Lenten disciplines of Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving. This work of
repentance must start not tomorrow but today and now because the Ashes we received
reminded us that “we are dust, and to dust, we shall return.” The liturgy of
this first Sunday of Lent suggests we meditate on the three temptations that
the devil used on Jesus in our Gospel’s story. He used the same temptations
before on our first ancestors, Adam and Eve, and he continues to use them on us
today. They are the lust of the flesh (the desire for food to satisfy human
hunger,) the lust of the eyes (the desire for power and possessions), and the
lust for glory (the desire for worldly recognition). These three lusts are
known as the threefold concupiscence. All sins that people commit are regrouped
into these three categories. To resist all temptations of the devil, the first
reading teaches us to always cry to the Lord in prayer, the second reading asks
us to profess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that
God raised him from the dead, and Jesus reminds us that one does not live by
bread alone, we should worship and serve the Lord alone, and rebuke the devil
with authority.
2. What
the Church Teaches Us Today
Luke begins our Gospel account by telling
us that the Holy Spirit that descended upon Jesus when he was baptized now
leads him into the desert with one objective: to be tempted by the devil. This
is Jesus’ first encounter with Satan, but not the last. He will be in constant
combat with Satan from now until the end of his earthly life. Jesus spent forty
days praying and fasting in the desert to prepare himself spiritually for this
spiritual battle. Luke describes him as “filled with the Holy Spirit” and “hungry”
in the desert. The first description expresses Jesus’ divine nature, and the
second shows his human nature. This introductory part reminds us that we,
too, are in continued spiritual combat with the same devil who tempted Jesus.
He keeps tempting us today, preventing us from continuing Jesus’ mission of
building God’s kingdom where we live to save our brothers and sisters. That is
why the Holy Spirit of our baptism continues to lead us to our “desert”
(Churches and places where we encounter God in prayer and fasting) so we can
prepare ourselves spiritually to defeat this devil as Jesus did. Therefore,
aware of how crucial our mission is and how hard the battle with the devil is,
our Holy Mother Church here exhorts us to be the men and women of prayer.
The three temptations of the devil
correspond to the three lusts of human beings. The first temptation, turning a
stone into bread, represents the lust of the flesh. The second one, the world’s
kingdoms, stands for the lust of the eyes, which is the desire for power and
possessions. And the third temptation, performing a spectacle of defiance of
nature, is the lust for glory.
First, the devil started his series of
temptations with the lust of the flesh. Since Jesus is hungry (see v. 2), the
devil asks him to use his divine power and transform a stone into bread to
satisfy his hunger. There are double traps here. First, the tempter intends to
push Jesus to focus on his physical hunger and forget his “spiritual
hunger," which is establishing God’s kingdom. Second, he wants to remove
Jesus from the most basic of human experiences and thus weaken him in
fulfilling his mission. This same devil continues to utilize this temptation to
us today. He diverts our attention from spiritual needs and makes us
concentrate exclusively on our material needs. Many people fail in this
temptation as they give more importance to taking care of their physical bodies
but neglect taking care of their souls. Our Holy Mother Church invites us to
imitate Jesus, who overcame this temptation before us. How did Jesus defeat the
tempter in this temptation of the lust of the flesh? Quoting the Scripture (Deuteronomy 8:3),
Jesus answered, “One does not live on bread alone.” (V. 4) In Matthew’s
version, this quote continues, “... but on every word that comes forth from the
mouth of God” (Mat 4:4). While the tempter wants Jesus to focus on his physical
hunger only that the bread can satisfy and maintain his bodily life, Jesus
refers to the spiritual hunger that only the Word of God can gratify and assure
his spiritual life.
We are dealing here with physical hunger
versus spiritual hunger, with body versus soul. The Church reminds us here that
caring for our physical bodies is important, and caring for our souls is
exceptionally vital and must be our priority. When we focus more on caring for
our bodies and neglect the spiritual health of our souls, we distance ourselves
from God, and consequently, we become spiritually weak. This is what Satan
wants, so he can control us and lead us to eternal condemnation along with him,
as he is already condemned. Jesus teaches us that we do not live on “bread” or
physical food alone, but also, especially, on God’s Word, the spiritual food
for our souls. Let us defeat the devil in this temptation of the lust of the
flesh by prioritizing the care for our souls over the care for our physical
bodies. How can we do that? The Church encourages us to observe the Lenten
Discipline of Fasting. When we fast, we prioritize our spiritual lives over
physical ones. Fasting reminds us that we do not live on bread alone because
spiritual hunger, the hunger for a permanent relationship with God, prevails
over physical hunger, “bread” or food.
Second, after failing with the lust of the
flesh temptation, the devil now employs the lust of the eyes in his second
temptation, which is the desire for power and possession. The devil first let
Jesus’ eyes see and enjoy all the riches and power of the worldly kingdoms (see
v.5). Then, he proposed giving all these riches and power to him with one
condition: Jesus must worship him (see vv. 5-6). The tempter aims to make Jesus
lose his loyalty to God by worshiping him so that he can easily stop him from starting
his mission of redeeming the world. He technically and intentionally uses the
divine passive phrase, “For it has been handed over to me,” to make his
temptation seem that if Jesus obeys him, it will be entirely in line with God’s
plan. Of course, this is a trap.
The devil continues using this temptation
on us today. He displays the fake riches and power in our eyes and suggests
giving them to us in exchange for our separation from God and our brothers and
sisters. He even makes it seem that God agrees with us; it is alright. Many
Christians fail at this temptation. Today, Churches are empty. Many Christians
no longer come to Church regularly. We experience divisions in our families and
Churches, conflicts, and wars in our societies and countries. All this is because
many people are obsessed with the desire for power and possessions. They try to
make their wrong actions look normal and acceptable to God and the Church. We
should know that nothing can replace our baptismal calling of praying to God
and serving the Church. Anything that weakens our prayer life and our
commitment to serve Jesus and his Church, regardless of how it looks, does not
come from God but from the devil. Our Holy Mother Church exhorts us to imitate
Jesus and overcome this temptation. What did Jesus do to defeat the devil here?
He rebuffed this temptation by redirecting the human lust of eyes from earthly
power and possessions to the supreme author of these riches and power. Quoting
the Scripture (Deuteronomy 6:13), he reminds us that our baptismal call is to
worship and serve God alone. How can we do that? The Holy Church invites us to
observe the Lenten discipline of Almsgiving regularly. The practice of
Almsgiving makes us realize that possessions and power should connect us to God
and our fellow humans but not separate us from them.
The third temptation is the lust for
glory. The devil asks Jesus to prove his God’s sonship by spectacularly
throwing himself down from the temple’s parapet. Quoting Psalm 91:11-12, he
reassures him of divine protection since God cannot let his Son die (see vv.
9-11). First, it is worth noticing that Mark situates this temptation in
Jerusalem. This indicates that it is in this city where Jesus will die. Second,
this temptation implies death because, due to the temple's height, nobody can
survive after jumping from its parapet. Thus, through this temptation, the
tempter tries to induce Jesus to cause his own death before he even begins his
mission. As a result, there will not be the kingdom of God established, and the
world will not be redeemed.
Today, the devil continues to trap many
believers with this lust for glory. Because of worldly recognition, some
Christians abandon their baptismal call of praying to God and serving his
Church. Our Holy Church calls us to imitate Jesus and resist this temptation.
What did Jesus do? Quoting the Scripture (Deuteronomy 6:16), Jesus reminded the
devil that he, the tempter, shall not put him, Jesus, who is the Lord, his God,
to the test (see v. 12). Jesus demonstrates that his mission is to be humble so
that God’s glory (not his) might be known to the people. As his followers, we,
too, should seek not worldly recognition but humility, not our glory but God’s
glory. To do that, the Holy Church calls us to observe the Lenten discipline of
Prayer. When we pray to God, we acknowledge that we are not “gods” and do not
intend to be equal to our God. Instead, in prayer, we approach God with
humility as his creatures.
Luke concludes our Gospel story by telling
us that when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Jesus
not definitively but for a time (v. 13). Why did the devil leave Jesus just
temporarily? Luke wants to tell his readers and us that the devil returned many
times and challenged Jesus until the end of his earthly life (see, for
instance, Lk 22:3; 31-32, 53). The same devil continues to challenge Jesus’s
followers, who carry out Jesus’ mission.
Jesus’ apostles and all Christians who lived before us went through this
combat with the devil. Today, we, too, are in the same spiritual battle with
the same Satan. As Jesus’ followers, we are called to defeat this devil in the
same way our Lord defeated him. To do so, we must always pray to the Lord (our
first reading), confess with our mouths that Jesus is the Lord, and believe in
our hearts that God raised him from the dead (our second reading).
May the liturgy of this Mass empower us
with all the graces we need to resist the devil with all his temptations,
especially those we will encounter during this Lenten season. Amen.
Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD
Pastor at Holy Family Catholic Church
&
SVD USS Biblical Apostolate
Coordinator
[1]
Michael Patella, “Luke” in The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the
Twenty-First Century. Third Fully Revised Edition, ed. By John J. Collins,
Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid OP, Donald Senior CP. (Great Britain: T&T
Clark Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2022), 1309.
[2]
Michael F. Patella, The Gospel According to Luke, (Collegeville,
Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2005), 28.
[3]
Michael Patella, “Luke” in The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the
Twenty-First Century. Third Fully Revised Edition, 1309.
[4]
Michael Patella, “Luke” in The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the
Twenty-First Century. Third Fully Revised Edition, 1309.
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