1st Sunday of Lent–March 9, 2025

 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.

 

3.      Detailed Analysis

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.

 

B.    Pastoral Implications

 

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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