Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
1st SUNDAY OF LENT (Cycle C)
Readings:
Deuteronomy 26:4-10
Psalm 91:1-2, 10-15
Romans 10:8-13
Luke 4:1-13
Abbreviations: NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name, YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments; therefore, we read and relive the events of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of this Sunday's Readings: Professing our Faith
Professions of faith are formal statements that declare what
the collective body of the faithful believes. These confessions determine the
identity of the unity of believers, which they often repeat to strengthen the
mutually shared commitment of the community. It was the practice for the first profession
of faith for the Sinai Covenant in the Old Testament. The faithful swore an
oath affirming belief in Israel's historical origins on the Jewish feasts of
Firstfruits and Weeks when offering the first fruits of the barley and wheat
harvests before Yahweh's holy sacrificial altar along with their confession of
belief. They also made a profession of faith called the Shema, which is
still faithfully repeated by Jews today, and for the Christian confessions
of faith that Catholics profess in praying the Rosary and during the Liturgy of
worship. Like the first Old Testament profession of faith, all Creeds are
confessions of belief in the origins of a unified people and what they believe.
The early Christian professions of faith are in the letters of St. Paul, the Apostles' Creed (that tradition dates to the era of the Apostles), the Nicene-Constantinople Creed, which dates to the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople in the 4th century AD, and several other early creeds written by the Church Fathers. The Christian creeds originated in the early Church as a threefold profession of faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit made by those receiving the Sacrament of Baptism and accompanied by triple immersion in the baptismal waters. Later, the Church included a statement of fundamental beliefs about the Christian faith in the baptismal professions. The Council of Nicaea in AD 325 expanded the original Apostles' Creed in response to heresies concerning the nature of the Holy Trinity that caused division within the Church. It was slightly revised into its present form in the First Council of Constantinople in AD 381 and introduced into the Liturgy of Worship in the Introductory Rites of the Mass as the Nicene-Constantinople Creed.
Today's liturgical readings refer to professions of belief in the Old and New Testaments in our First and Second Readings. Our First Reading introduces a historical precedent for a publicly professed creed (Dt 26:4-10) on the God-ordained feast of Firstfruits celebrated on the day after the Saturday Sabbath of the holy week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on the first day of the week (Lev 23:10-14). The celebration of this feast in AD 30 became Resurrection Sunday (Mt 28:1).
Our Responsorial Psalm allows the congregation to reflect on its beautiful confession of faith and trust in God on this First Sunday in Lent. We begin our Liturgical celebration in the entrance antiphon by quoting from the same psalm, Psalm 91:15-16. In our reading, the psalmist proclaims the Lord as his refuge and God in whom he places complete trust. He has confidence that no evil or affliction can destroy him because he has recourse to his Lord. He has faith that God will send divine help to enable him to cope with any difficulty, from snakes to wild beasts, literally and figuratively, in animal and human form. In response to his faith, God promises the psalmist that he will be heard and saved when calling for help.
In the Second Reading, St. Paul repeats an early Christian baptismal creed in his letter to the Christians in Rome: 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. Our baptismal vows are more elaborate today, but the confession is essentially the same. Only the Lord Jesus Christ offers us the gift of eternal salvation, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom 10:13). To believe in the "name" of Jesus is to follow His commandments, exercise obedience to everything He taught, and adhere to the deposit of faith that He entrusted to His Church.
In the Gospel Reading, we hear about the three tests of a covenant ordeal to which Satan subjected Jesus after His forty days in the wilderness. In each trial, Satan tried to lure Jesus into the sin of rebellion against God, but each time, Jesus affirmed His obedience to the will of God the Father. He refused to test God. Instead, He put His trust and faith in His Father's Divine Plan for His life and the future salvation of humanity.
In the celebration of the Mass, our publicly confessed Creed contains everything we must believe as Christians. If you cannot believe in the full declaration of the Creed, you cannot claim to be a Catholic Christian. In the Nicene-Constantinople Creed, we give our answer to Jesus's question, "Who do people say that I am?" (Mk 8:29). We declare that He is the only begotten Son of God who is the Redeemer-Messiah, the Savior of the world, and each Christian's personal Savior. As the inspired writer of the Letter to the Hebrews (believed to be St. Paul) wrote: Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy (Heb 10:23).
We do not sing the "Alleluia" or the "Gloria" during Lent and the Clergy wear purple, as they did during Advent. This color symbolizes the virtues we practice during these two important seasons: penance, waiting, and mourning.
The First Reading Deuteronomy 26:4-10 ~ The Creed of the Israelites
Moses spoke to the people, saying: 4 "The priest
shall receive the basket from you and shall set it in front of the altar of the
LORD, your God. 5 Then you shall declare before the LORD, your God, 'My father
was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived
there as an alien. But there he became a nation great, strong, and numerous. 6
When the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed us, imposing hard labor upon us, 7
we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and he heard our cry and saw our
affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 He brought us out of Egypt with his
strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and
wonders; 9 and bringing us into this country, he gave us this land flowing with
milk and honey. 10 Therefore, I have not brought you the firstfruits of the
products of the soil which you, O LORD, have given me." And having set them
before the LORD, your God, you shall bow down in his presence."
Notice that God's Divine Name, YHWH/Yahweh (substituted by LORD), is repeated five times. This Scripture passage is a eucharistic profession of faith. "Eucharist" is from the Greek word eucharistia, which means "thanksgiving." Our reading is a confession of thanksgiving from the ritual prescribed for the Old Covenant feast days of Firstfruits and Weeks (later called Pentecost). During these feast days, the faithful brought forward the first fruits of the barley in the early spring and wheat harvest in the late spring to God's holy altar in thanksgiving for His blessings in a fruitful harvest. In this profession, the faithful recounted the history of the people of God, beginning with Jacob-Israel and the children of Israel migrating into Egypt (Gen 46-47) and ending with the Exodus liberation (Ex 12-15) and the conquest of the Promised Land (Book of Joshua). Notice that the declaration calls Jacob-Israel a wandering Aramean. The Arameans were Semitic people living in city-states in ancient Syria. Jacob's father, Abraham, migrated from the Aramean city of Haran into Canaan, fulfilling God's command (Gen 12:1-2).
It is common for people to celebrate their origins in their rituals, as in the case of the Old Covenant profession of faith at the harvest festivals and for Christians who celebrate the birth of Christianity in the sacrificial death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus. These two Old Covenant feasts of "Thanksgiving" were transformed in the New Covenant in Christ. They became the Feast of Resurrection of the Lord (Easter) when Jesus became the "firstfruits" of the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor 15:20, 23; also see Rev 14:4) and the Christian Feast of Pentecost in the birth of the New Covenant Church fifty days after Christ's Resurrection (Acts Chapter 5).
Responsorial Psalm 91:1-2, 10-15 ~ A Confession of Trust
in the Lord
The response is: Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble."
1 You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who
abide in the shadow of the Almighty, 2 say to the LORD, "My refuge and
fortress, my God in whom I trust."
Response:
10 No evil shall befall you, nor shall affliction come
near your tent, 11 for to his angels he has given command about you, that they
guard you in all your ways.
Response:
12 Upon their hands, they shall bear you up, lest you
dash your foot against a stone. 13 You shall tread upon the asp and the viper;
you shall trample down the lion and the dragon.
Response:
14 Because he clings to me, I will deliver him; I will
set him on high because he acknowledges my name. 15 He shall call upon me, and
I will answer him; I will be with him in distress; I will deliver him and
glorify him.
Response:
Psalm 91 gives us the opportunity for a profound reflection on our relationship with God, especially on this First Sunday in Lent, in its beautiful confession of faith and trust in the Lord. We begin our Liturgical celebration with the entrance antiphon by quoting Psalm 91:15-16. Our Responsorial Psalm returns to the first verses where the psalmist proclaims the Lord as his refuge and protecting fortress in whom he places his complete trust (verses 1-2). He has confidence that no evil or affliction will touch him because he has recourse to his Lord, who will send divine help to enable him to cope with any difficulty, from snakes to wild beasts, literally and figuratively (verses 10-13). In response to his faith, God promises the psalmist that when he calls out for help, his Lord will hear him, and he will save him. However, the reference to the psalmist's deliverance in verse 14 does not necessarily mean temporal salvation.
Satan quoted verses 11-12 when he tempted Jesus by urging him to throw himself off the pinnacle of the Temple to prove He was the Messiah (Mt 4:5-6; Lk 4:9-11). Jesus did not deny the truth of these words, but he corrected the misinterpretation since Satan used them to challenge Jesus to test God's faithfulness. Jesus told Satan, "Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test" (Mt 4:7). Later Jesus assured His disciples that nothing would be able to harm them by using words similar to verse 13: "Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you" (Lk 10:19). We have the same assurance. The enemies of those who belong to God/Christ may harm their bodies, but they cannot harm their souls because their immortal souls belong to God the Son.
The Second Reading Romans 10:8-13 ~ Baptismal Confession
of the Early Christians
8 What does it (Scripture) say? "The word is near
you, in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith that we preach,
9 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. 10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and
one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11 For the Scripture says,
"No one who believes in him will be put to shame." 12 For there is no
distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, enriching all
who call upon him. 13 For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be
saved."
These verses from St. Paul's letter to the Christians in Rome contain an early baptismal confession: 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. Our baptismal vows are more elaborate today, but the confession is the same. The Lord Jesus Christ offers us the gift of eternal salvation, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord in the Sacrament of Christian Baptism will be saved, as Jesus told His disciples after His Resurrection. He said to them: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned" (Mk 16:16; also see Mt 28:19-20). To believe in the "name" of Jesus is to believe in Him and be obedient to everything He taught and the deposit of faith that He passed on to His Church to guide His faithful on their journey to eternal salvation.
In Romans 10:8, Paul quoted from Deuteronomy 30:14: No, the word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to put into practice (NJB), applying this Old Testament passage to Romans 10:9-10. Paul preserved the heart and mouth language of the Old Testament passage, turning it into a profession of faith by hearing the word, believing (in your heart), and professing with your lips, the missing part of the verse from Deuteronomy; putting this into practice is living it as a profession of faith. These verses form a chiastic pattern beginning with verse 9:
By believing with your heart that you are justified by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and by making a declaration with your lips/mouth, you place your eternal salvation in the hands of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of Baptism, who ensures that you "are saved" from eternal death (Rom 10:10; Mk 16:16). You are then no longer condemned as a child in the family of Adam. Instead, you become a child reborn into the family of God. Such a profession of faith is the outward expression and putting into practice the inward commitment of the "heart."
11 For Scripture says, "No one who believes in him
will be put to shame."
In this verse, Paul may be quoting Isaiah 28:16 again when
Isaiah wrote: So the Lord Yahweh says this, "Now I shall lay a stone in
Zion, a granite stone, a precious corner-stone, a firm foundation-stone: no
one who relies on this will stumble" also (see Rom 9:33). Or perhaps he
is referring to Isaiah 54:4, Do not fear, you will not be put to shame
again, do not worry, you will not be disgraced again, a passage
which refers to the restoration of the covenant people as the Bride of Yahweh.
Then, too, he may be combining the two verses into one thought, expressing salvation
through Jesus Christ and the restoration of the covenant people through Him.
Paul concludes this section by quoting from Joel 3:5 in Romans 10:12-13 (compare the phrases in bold type), 12 it makes no distinction between Jew and Greek: the same Lord is the Lord of all, and his generosity is offered to all who appeal to him, 13 for all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Now, compare what Paul wrote in verses 12-13 with what the prophet Joel wrote (see the bold type) concerning the New Age and the Day of Yahweh when God promises, "I shall pour out my spirit on all humanity. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old people shall dream dreams, and your young people see visions. Even on the slaves, men and women, shall I pour out my spirit in those days. I shall show portents in the sky and on earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the Day comes, that great and terrible Day. All who call on the name of Yahweh will be saved, for on Mount Zion will be those who have escaped, as Yahweh has said, and in Jerusalem a remnant whom Yahweh is calling" (NJB translation; bold added for emphasis). According to St. Peter in Acts 2:17-21, The Lord fulfilled this prophecy on the Second Great Pentecost in AD 30. On that momentous day, God the Holy Spirit descended upon the faithful remnant of Israel gathered in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, signaling the birth of the New Covenant Church: ... this is what the prophet was saying: "In the last days—the prophet was saying: 'In the last days, the Lord declares, I shall pour out my Spirit on all humanity" (Acts 2:16-17a).
In the Old Testament scriptures, those who "call upon the name of the Lord" refer to the covenant faithful who believe in all God's commandments and all He taught and practiced those commands, prohibitions, and teachings in their lives. The New Testament transfers that definition of covenant faithfulness to Christians who call upon the Name of Jesus and are obedient to His commandments (see Jn 14:15; 1 Cor 1:2; 6:11; Acts 2:38; CCC# 432).
The Gospel of Luke 4:1-13 ~ The Temptation of Jesus the Second Adam
1 Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the
Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert 2 for forty days, to be
tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over,
he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command
this stone to become bread." 4 Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does
not live by bread alone.' 5 Then he took him up and showed him all the
kingdoms of the world in a single instant. 6 The devil said to him, "I shall give
you all this power and their glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I
may give it to whomever I wish. 7 All this will be yours, if you worship me."
8 Jesus said to him in reply, "It is written: 'You shall worship the Lord, your
God, and him alone shall you serve.'" 9 Then he led him to Jerusalem, made him
stand on the parapet of the Temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of
God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written: 'He will command his
angels concerning you, to guard you,' 11 and 'With their hands they will
support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" 12 Jesus said to him
in reply, "It also says, 'You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.'"
13 When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.
Only the Gospels of Matthew and Luke have the details of Jesus's temptation by Satan after His baptism. At the end of His ordeal of forty days of fasting and prayer, Jesus was hungry like any man. Recognizing His physical weakness, Satan saw an opportune time to test Jesus. The word diabolos in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (LXX) and the New Testament is usually rendered as "devil;" however, in Hebrew, the word is satan, meaning "adversary" or "accuser" as in a court of law and is written as ha satan, "the satan," with the article "the." An example of this imagery is in the book of Job, where "the satan" is standing in the heavenly court accusing the man Job (Job 1:1-8). Another example is found in the use of the word "accuser/satan" in Ps 109:5b-7: My enemies say of me: Find a lying witness, an [the] accuser [ha satan] to stand by his right hand, that he may be judged and found guilty, that his plea may be in vain. The most frequent use in the Old Testament, however, is in the metaphorical sense of an adversary (for example, see 1 Sam 29:4). Every place the word "Satan" appears in the Old Testament, the definite article "the" precedes it; the one exception is in 1 Chronicles 21:1, where it is a proper name.
Satan is a created spiritual being who was once an angel. But he fell from God's grace to become a fallen angel and the adversary of both God and man. The Book of Revelation identifies Satan as the same serpent who tempted Adam and Eve into sin and became the "deceiver of the whole world" (see Rev 12:7-9 and CCC 391-95 and 2852). In Isaiah 14:11-15, God promised His people that the day would come when He would hold the King of Babylon accountable for the suffering he caused the Israelites. Then, the covenant people would taunt the Babylonian king concerning his downfall. Within the lines of the taunt, Scripture compares him to another evil force, a beautiful creature whose pride led to his downfall when in his five declared "I wills," he announced himself God's enemy (Is 14:13-14). A similar passage appears in Ezekiel 28:11-19 where the lament over the king of Tyre also takes on a descriptive dimension of the fall of Satan: In Eden, the garden of God, you were, and every precious stone was your covering ... blameless you were in your conduct from the day, you were created, until evil was found in you .... Then I banned you from the mountain of God; the Cherub drove you from among the fiery stones. You became haughty of heart because of your beauty; for the sake of splendor, you debased your wisdom. I cast you to the earth, so great was your guilt ... (Ezek 13-17). In his first letter to the Church, St. John wrote: Whoever sins belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning. Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil (1 Jn 3:8).
In Luke 4:3, Satan began the test by asking Jesus to prove that He is God's Son. Perhaps Satan was not confident that Jesus was the promised Redeemer-Messiah, or he wanted to lure Jesus into the sin of rebellion against God. Therefore, he tested Jesus. Later in the New Testament Gospels, it is clear that the demons recognized Jesus's true identity as the divine Son of God (i.e., Mt 8:29; Mk 1:24; 5:7; Lk 4:34, 41; 8:28). The title "son of God" was a title also assigned to:
See Job 1:16; Ex 4:22; Wis 18:13; Dt 14:1-2; Mt 5:9, 45; Ps 2:7; 89:27/26; 2 Sam 7:8, 12-14; 1 Chr 17:13.
However, Jesus's rank of divine sonship is different from the others who bore the title previously in salvation history (see Mt 4:11; 7:21; 22:42-46; Mk 1:13; Jn 10:15, 29-30; 14:9-10, 20; 16:15):
The events of the Resurrection and Ascension will confirm Jesus's claim to the unique title "Son of God."
In His encounter with Satan, Jesus, the Son of God, enacted both Adam's temptation by Satan in the form of a serpent in the Garden of Eden (Rev 12:9) and Israel's temptations in the desert after leaving Egypt as God's "firstborn son" among the nations of the earth (Ex 4:22-23). St. Paul called Jesus the "last Adam" (1 Cor 15:21-22, 45-47), and the Fathers of the Church called Him the "new Adam" and the "second Adam" (CCC 359 and 504).
St. John the Apostle wrote: Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life is not from the Father but is from the world (1 Jn 1:15-16 NJB). St. John has summed up the world's temptations into three categories: sensual lust (desires of the flesh), enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life (1 Jn 2:15-16).
| The Temptations of the First and Second Adams Contrasted | ||
| Temptations | The first Adam Genesis 3:1-6 |
Jesus, the new Adam Luke 4:1-13 |
| The devil's invitation to rebellion | "Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees...?" | The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, |
| Hunger, a desire of the flesh | The woman saw that the tree was good for food, | command this stone to become bread." |
| Enticement for the eyes | pleasing to the eyes, and |
Then he took him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world ... "All this will be yours if you worship me." |
| The pride of a pretentious life (power) | desirable for gaining wisdom | "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here ... He will command his angels concerning you." |
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2012 | ||
We can also make comparisons between the desert testing experiences of Jesus, the Son of God, and the Israelites, the sons of God, in their Exodus experience:
| Israel | Jesus |
| Israel is God's "firstborn son" from among the nations of the earth (Ex 4:22-23). | Jesus is the Son of God (Lk 1:32). |
| The Israelites were baptized by passing through the waters of the Red Sea, and then, accompanied by a visual manifestation of the Spirit of God in the pillar of cloud and fire, they went into the desert (Ex 13:21-22; 14:21-22; 15:22). | After Jesus's baptism in the Jordan River, the Spirit of God led Jesus into the desert (Lk 4:1). |
| The Israelites were in the desert for forty years, suffering from hunger (Ex 16:2-3). | After forty days in the desert, Jesus was hungry (Lk 4:2). |
| God tested Israel (Ex 16:4; Dt 8:2). | God allowed Satan to test Jesus (Lk 4:1-13). |
| The Israelites continually failed their tests of covenant obedience and loyalty, even to the point of worshiping a golden idol (Ex 32:1-6). | Jesus passed His tests. He remained faithful and obedient to God and refused to bow down to worship Satan (Lk 4:8). |
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2011 | |
Satan is Jesus's great adversary. He describes the devil as "a murderer from the beginning" who "does not stand in truth because there is no truth in him" (Jn 8:44). Jesus's mission is not only to free humanity from bondage to sin and death but to "destroy the works of the devil." The most heinous work of the devil was to lead humanity into rebellion against God by disobeying His commands concerning the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and bringing sin into God's perfect world, infecting all humankind (Gen 2:16-17; 3:1-19; 1 Jn 3:8, CCC 394).
In Jesus's contest with Satan, the devil addressed Jesus three times. Jesus responded by quoting Scripture three times from Deuteronomy 8:3a, 6:13, and 6:16, using the formula "it is written" twice in verses 4 and 8. The devil quoted Scripture once from Psalm 91:10-12 and used the formula statement "it is written" once (verse 10). Notice that all of Jesus's quotations from Scripture are from the Book of Deuteronomy:
It is not a coincidence that all of Jesus's responses to Satan come from the Book of Deuteronomy. We must ask what was significant about the events in the Book of Deuteronomy that have a bearing on Jesus's testing by Satan? See Mt 3:1-2; Lk 4:1-2; Ex 15:25b; 16:4; Dt 1:1-3; 8:16; Ps 106:14. The answer is that Jesus's tests took place after His forty days in the desert wilderness, and the Book of Deuteronomy takes place after Israel's forty years of desert wandering.
If you read those three passages from Deuteronomy that Jesus quoted in the context of the book of Deuteronomy, you will notice the three similar tests the Israelites faced in the desert (see Ex 16:3-4; 17:7 and 32:1-6). All of Jesus's quotes from Scripture are from passages in Deuteronomy where Moses recalled Israel's testing in the desert journey from Egypt to Mt Sinai. In Jesus's temptations, He faced three similar tests:
When we compare the three tests of the Israelites on the journey to Mt. Sinai to Jesus's three trials, there is a noticeable difference. Satan gave Jesus three similar tests; however, unlike the Israelite "sons of God," Jesus, the obedient and faithful Son, passed His three tests:
| Israel | Jesus |
| The Israelites failed the test to trust God when they complained of hunger. God gave them manna (Ex 16:3, 4.) | Jesus was hungry when Satan challenged Him to make bread out of a stone (Lk 4:3-4). |
| Israel tested God at Massah and Meribah to prove He was with them (Ex 17:7). | Jesus refused to put God to the test when Satan challenged Him to prove He was the Son of God (Lk 4:9-12). |
| Israel yielded to the temptation to commit idolatry in the sin of the Golden Calf (Ex 32:1-6). | Jesus refused to bow down and worship Satan (Lk 4:6-8). |
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2011 | |
Note: in St. Matthew's Gospel, temptations #2 and #3 are reversed, reflecting the same order as the Israelites' desert temptations listed above.
During the desert period, the Israelites often tested God's faithfulness. At the end of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, when the new generation of the children of Israel was ready to possess the land of Canaan, Moses gave three warnings/perils to them concerning the judgment they would face in Deuteronomy 6:10-16. God told the Israelites they would be in danger of losing the blessings He promised the Patriarchs and would be driven from the land if:
Jesus did not fail as the Israelites failed. He fulfilled all His obligations as an obedient Son of God.
Satan tests Jesus three times:
Test #1: Luke 4:3-4,
The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this
stone to become bread." 4 Jesus
answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"
In the first test, Satan approached Jesus to test Him to see
if He would reveal Himself as the divine Messiah by commanding a rock to turn
into bread to feed His hunger; no ordinary "son of God" would have that power
over the natural world. Jesus responded to Satan's test by quoting from
Deuteronomy 8:3. In that passage, Moses tells the children of Israel: Remember
how for forty years now the LORD, your God, has directed all your journeying in
the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was
your intention to keep his commandments. 3 He, therefore, let you be afflicted
with hunger and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your
fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does man live, but by
every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD (Dt 8:2-3).
In Deuteronomy 8:2-3, Moses told the Israelite "sons of God" the reason for their forty years in the wilderness. God tested them to see if they would be obedient to His commandments by allowing them to be afflicted with hunger and then showed them His faithfulness to provide for their needs by feeding them manna, the bread from Heaven. Moses continued his address to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 8:7-9 by telling them that God would give them the land He promised them if they were faithful. Then, Moses described the Promised Land as a new "Eden" where God would provide everything they needed.
In the first test, Jesus rejected Satan's taunt. He did not come to serve His fleshly desires but to do the will of God the Father. The context of Moses' remarks in Deuteronomy Chapter 8 links the manna from Heaven to a test in obedience. The "word of God" (Dt 8:3) and the description of Canaan as a new Eden gives us greater insight into Jesus's reply to Satan in the first test (see Ex 16:1a, Jn 1:1, and 6:28-35, 47-58 where Jesus referred to the "manna of the fathers" and then to Himself as "the bread which comes down from Heaven").
Notice the irony in Jesus's response to Satan when He said that it was not material bread that nourishes the physical body and ultimately gives life but the Word of God. In the Old Covenant, "life" meant obedience to the Law of God, but there is more to Jesus's response to Satan than the meaning of "life" in the Old Covenant. The irony is that Jesus is Himself the "Living Word," and He is the "Living Bread come down from Heaven." Jesus ultimately gives the gift of life that lasts to eternity, and the "bread" that He will provide to provide eternal life is not like the manna that only gave temporal life. His "manna" is His Body, which is "the Living Bread" and the future gift of the Eucharist. Jesus's Body becomes the real Tree of Life that sustains man's immortality, like the Tree of Life in Eden. Jesus will give humanity the necessary spiritual nourishment on the journey to the new Eden, God's home in Heaven.
Test #2: Luke 4:5-8, Then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a
single instant. 6 The devil said to him, "I shall give you all this power and
their glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I
wish. 7 All this will be yours if you worship me." 8 Jesus said to him in
reply, "It is written: 'You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone
shall you serve.'"
In the second test, the devil offers Jesus all the kingdoms
of the earth if He will bow down and worship him. As the world's ruler, Satan
has the authority to make this offer (see Jn 12:31 and
CCC 550 and 2853).
From the time of humanity's fall from grace, when Adam and Eve rejected God's
sovereignty over them, Satan became the "prince of the earth."
In His response to Satan, Jesus referred to Deuteronomy 6:13. In his discourse to the Israelites in Deuteronomy chapter 6, Moses told the Israelites: "... take care not to forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. The LORD your God, shall you fear; him shall you serve, and by his name shall you swear. You shall not follow other gods" (Dt 6:12-13). In Moses' statement, serving Yahweh stands in contrast to the fact that the Israelites had once served the Egyptian Pharaoh, a man who was worshiped as a god-king (see Ex 24:3-8 and Dt 8:12). Furthermore, the statement "by his name shall you swear" suggests a loyalty oath of allegiance to Israel's new king, who is Israel's God and Divine Ruler in the covenant sworn at Mt. Sinai.
Do not miss Jesus's point in quoting from this passage. Compare His faith and obedience to God to the failures of Adam and Israel. Unlike the Israelites, who were the "firstborn sons of God" among the nations of the earth, and unlike Adam, God's firstborn son in the human family, Jesus is the true Son whose allegiance cannot be swayed by hardship. He was not like the Israelites, who demonstrated their loss of loyalty and faith by worshipping the Golden Calf. Nor was He tempted by Satan's promises of self-glorification, to which Adam submitted himself when Satan promised Adam he would be god-like if he disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit. Jesus's loyalty and obedience belong to God the Father alone.
Test #3 Luke 4:9-12 Then he led him to Jerusalem, made him stand on the parapet of
the Temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down
from here, 10 for it is written: 'He will command his angels concerning you, to
guard you,' 11 and 'With their hands they will support you, lest you dash your
foot against a stone.'" 12 Jesus said to him in reply, "It also says, 'You
shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.'"
In the third test, Satan quoted from Psalm 91:11-12, while
Jesus responded by quoting from Deuteronomy 6:16. This passage is proof that
even the devil can quote Scripture and twist it to his advantage. Satan's taunt
was for Jesus to demonstrate He is God's Son by testing God's promise to
deliver His chosen One: For God commands the angels to guard you in all your
ways. 12 With their hands, they shall support you, lest you strike your foot
against a stone. 13 You shall tread upon the asp and the viper, trample the
lion and the dragon. 14 Whoever clings to me I will deliver; whoever knows my
name I will set on high (Ps 91:11-14). Notice that the devil, the deceiver,
and the ancient serpent/dragon failed to add verse 13 to the quote. For a third
time, Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy, refusing to "test" God by demanding a
supernatural show of power, unlike the Israelites. Jesus only quoted most of
the verses, but not all of them. The complete passage is: You shall not put
the LORD, your God, to the test as you did at Massah (Dt 6:16).
Jesus's third test recalled the Israelites' failure at Massah. In Deuteronomy 6:16, Moses told the people: You shall not put the LORD [YHWH], your God, to the test, as you did at Massah. He was referring to the events in Exodus 17:1-7 when the Israelites quarreled there and tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD in our midst or not?" (Ex 17:7). At Massah, the thirsty Israelites challenged God to provide them with water, behaving rebelliously instead of demonstrating faith and trust in God's power to meet their needs. Moses' message to the Israelites was that they should be loyal, diligent, and obedient rather than testing God. Likewise, Yahweh's promised blessings in the Promised Land were conditional upon Israel's obedience. Jesus is God's faithful and obedient Son. His response to Satan was that He would not test God; He would put His trust and faith in His Father's will and the divine plan for His life.
13 When the devil had finished every temptation,
he departed from him for a time.
After completing His covenant ordeal, the angels of the
heavenly court came to minister/serve Jesus (Mt 4:11). However, the devil had
only departed "for a time." Satan returned to test God the Son a final time.
That test came as Jesus prayed alone in the Garden of Gethsemane and then made
His last act of obedience and submission to the will of God the Father.
Question for reflection or group discussion: Does God tempt us to sin? See
James 1:2-6, 12-18;
Wis 2:12-13; 3:1, 5;
Sir 15:11-20;
1 Cor 10:6-13 and
CCC 1730, 2846, 2847.
Answer: No, God does not tempt us to sin. As
St. James wrote: No one experiencing temptation should say, "I am being
tempted by God"; for God is not subject to temptation to evil, and he himself
tempts no one (Jam 1:13). It is why the sixth petition of the English
version of the Lord's Prayer should read "Let us NOT be led into temptation,"
or "Let us not yield to temptation," as other translations read and as Pope
Francis has pointed out (see CCC 2846). However, God will allow our faith to be
challenged but never beyond our ability to withstand the temptation (1 Cor 10:13), and at the same time, He provides what we need to have victory over sin
to allow us to grow stronger in faith. While God would never tempt us to do
evil (Jam 1:13), He does not urge Satan to tempt us, and when we rise above
temptation, He purifies us by the experience: But the souls of the upright
are in the hands of God, and no torment can touch them. [...]. God was putting
them to the test and has proved them worthy to be with him; he has tested them
like gold in a furnace" (Wis 3:1a, 5 NJB).
Take courage when you are tested and claim this Psalm: Yahweh guides a strong man's steps and keeps them firm; and takes pleasure in him. When he trips, he is not thrown sprawling since Yahweh supports him by the hand (Ps 37:23-24 NJB). St. John of Avila wisely wrote, "God is strong enough to free you from everything and can do you more good than all the devils can do you harm" (Sermon 9).
See the document "The Lenten Journey."
For the Bible study on Lent and Easter, see the Lent And Easter Study.
Catechism References (* indicates Scripture is quoted or paraphrased in the citation):
Psalm 91:10-13 (CCC 336*)
Romans 10:8-13 (CCC 432*), 10:9 (CCC 14*, 186*, 449*), 10:12-13 (CCC 2739*), 10:13 (CCC 2666*)
Luke 4:1 (CCC 695*), 4:5-6 (CCC 2855)*, 4:8 (CCC 2096*), 4:9 (CCC 2119*), 4:13 (CCC 538*, 695*, 2096*, 2119, 2855*)
The temptation of Jesus (CCC 394*, 538*, 539*, 540*, 2119)
"Lead us not into temptation" (CCC 2846*, 2847*, 2848*, 2849*)
Christ frees from evil (CCC 1505*)
Faith as submission to God, response to God, answer to evil (CCC 142*, 143*, 309)
God forms His priestly people through Abraham and the Exodus (CCC 59*, 60*, 61-63)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2014; revised 2025 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.