First Reading: Dt 26:4–10
Second Reading: Rm 10:8–13
Gospel: Lk 4:1–13

Being Put to the Test

Lk 4:1 "Filled with the holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for forty days being put to the test by the devil". This opening line of our gospel for today makes quite clear that Jesus is not a self-proclaimed enthusiast or an individual with a personal agenda. He was being "LED by the Spirit", or as Mark’s gospel phrases it: "the Spirit DROVE Jesus into the desert...and [He] was put to the test by Satan." Let us look back a moment and refresh our minds about what Jesus had been doing immediately prior to this episode.

John the Baptizer was proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins to the crowds who had followed him from all the surrounding towns into the area of the Jordan river. The Baptist urged soldiers and tax collectors to be just and fair in their dealings. But "When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." Mt 3:7-12

This is the scene as Jesus arrives. Matthew tells it with stark simplicity: "Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him." Mt 3:13. John the Baptist, preacher of righteousness, desert-dweller, holy man, has a problem with Jesus’ request to be baptized. John tried to prevent him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?" Jesus said to him in reply, "Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he allowed him. After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened (for him), and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove (and) coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Mt 3:14-17.

It is after having joined the crowds of sinners seeking John’s baptism for forgiveness of their sins that Jesus, God’s sinless Son, is led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted. The Word of God humbled himself to be born as a man in the poorest of conditions. He humbles himself further by seeking John’s baptism amid the throng of sinners. Jesus chose baptism by John, not because he had need of forgiveness but to give us sinners the example we needed. In liturgical tradition, Jesus’ baptism is seen as Jesus giving water its power to wash away sin.

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus is the last person to be baptized. Jesus’ baptism is the beginning of an entirely new stage in his life. A new era has begun. "After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’" Lk 3:21, 22. This scene is clearly trinitarian. The Holy Spirit descends upon the beloved Son while the Father’s voice is heard.

The Holy Spirit’s presence (the Spirit was not absent before) is underlined for the sake of the crowd; the heavenly Father’s approval is heard by all. At this point, which one can only think of as a peak or apex, the Spirit leads Jesus out into the desert for forty days, "where he was tempted by the devil." Why does temptation follow such an intense spiritual moment?

In Mt 16:13-23 there is what seems to be a somewhat similar episode. Jesus asks his disciples: "Who do people say the Son of man is?" Simon responds: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replies that Simon is blessed, and that this answer was given him by "my Father in heaven." Jesus goes on to change Simon’s name to Peter and found the church upon him. Is this not a spiritual highpoint for Peter? Then Jesus began to tell the disciples of his coming sufferings and death at the hands of the religious leaders in Jerusalem. Peter takes Jesus aside to rebuke him! "God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you. He (Jesus) turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." Mt 16:22,23. The newly constituted head of the church is attempting to dissuade the Messiah from fulfilling the Scriptures! Could Peter have fallen any lower spiritually? Why does Peter take this spiritual tumble when shortly before, he was able to receive a divine revelation from the Father in heaven?

"You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." Mt 16:23. In this single verse, Jesus give us the answer to why we fall, why we sin. Isaiah had written the same message centuries earlier: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord." Is 55:8. The whole of our lives must be an effort to bring our thinking into line with God’s thinking. We are put to the test and must be put to the test repeatedly to measure the extent to which we still need to change our way of thinking. This is not something that can be done once and for all. God’s will and his way for our life must be chosen anew each day.

As St. Paul tells us: "you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth." Ep 4:22-24. "I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus." Ph 1:5.

This is the task the Lenten season places before us: to allow ourselves to be led to the desert by the Spirit and put to the test, to be renewed daily by God’s merciful grace; to "not conform ourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect." Rm 12:2. "Therefore, we are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day." 2 Cor 4:16. Sr. Veronica

Copyright 02/08/01