Introduction
From the analysis of biblical texts, a curious fact emerges: the wicked are never tempted by God; temptation is a privilege reserved for the righteous. Ben Sirach recommends to the disciple: “My son… prepare yourself for trials. Accept all that happens to you, be patient when you are humbled … because those acceptable to God are tested in the crucible of humiliation” (Sir 2:1,4-5). Misfortunes and failures put to hard test the fidelity to the Lord, but also luck and success can be a trap for the faith.
The temptation offers the opportunity to make a leap forward, to improve, purify and consolidate the choices of faith. It also involves the risk of error: “For the fascination of evil obscures true values—says the author of the Book of Wisdom—and restless desires undermine a simple heart” (Wis 4:12). Temptation is not a provocation to evil, but a stimulus to growth, a necessary step to reach maturity.
Paul assures: “God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your strength. He will give you, together with temptation, the strength to escape and to resist” (1 Cor 10:13).
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds of another consoling truth: Jesus experienced our own temptations, so “he is not indifferent to our weaknesses.Having been tested through suffering, he is able to help those who are tested” (Heb 4:15; 2:18).
To internalize the message, we repeat:
“Lord, we do not ask you to spare us from difficulties and temptations, but to get out of them matured.”
First Reading: Deuteronomy 26:4-10
“The first of the first fruits of your soil you will bring to the house of the Lord, your God” (Ex 23:19). This was the arrangement of the Torah and in springtime, at the beginning of the barley harvest, the first sheaf was taken to the temple and offered to the Lord (Ex 23:16). After seven weeks, at the end of the wheat harvest, the feast of Pentecost was celebrated, and on this occasion the first fruits were presented to God (Ex 34:22), not all the fruits of the field, but only those seven of species that are the symbol of the land of Israel: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates (Deut 8:8).
With this rite, God was proclaimed the master of the land and what it produces. In addition to this public offering, there was a private one celebrated by each family group. Today’s reading refers to this.
When the fruits began to sprout on the trees, the farmer marked the first ones with a ribbon and, as soon as they mature, he placed them in a basket. Then, accompanied by his entire family, he took them to the temple. In delivering them to the minister of God, he said: I acknowledge that these fruits are not mine; they are a gift of the Lord; they have grown on the land that he gave me (Deut 26:1-3).
Our reading starts at this point. The priest took the basket and put it in front of the altar of the Lord. Then he invited the farmer to make his profession of faith. He helped him by reciting aloud, in Hebrew, each verse of the Creed and the pilgrim repeated, word by word, what he heard.
Some think that the Creed was a kind of list of abstract truth that they must admit if they do not want to be considered heretics. If we asked instead to a Jew what is his faith, he would reply with a story. He would begin like this: “My father, Jacob, was a wandering Aramean” and would continue telling the story of his people and the deeds of the Lord in his favor.
The central part of today’s reading (vv. 5-9) exactly contains, in summary, this history of salvation. In it, two contrasts are easily captured.
The first contrast is between the situation from which Israel originated (… by a “wandering Aramean,” without land, without security, without a country) and the current reality. In the temple, there is a wealthy farmer who, with his family, serenely celebrates the feast, offers the fruits of his fields, and rejoices because the abundant crops are announced. Destitution has turned into prosperity.
The second contrast is between the condition of slavery and that of freedom. In a foreign land Israel was oppressed, abused, humiliated, now she lives free and happy.
One wonders: who operated these miraculous turnarounds?
In his profession of faith, the pious Israelite gives the answer: “The Lord saw our humiliation, our hard labor and the oppression to which we were subjected. He brought us out of Egypt with a firm hand, manifesting his power with signs and awesome wonders. He brought us here to give us this land flowing with milk and honey” (vv. 8-9).
With the ceremony of the first fruits and the proclamation of the profession of their faith, the Israelites recognize that God has been faithful to his promises and that their life depends entirely on his generosity. All that they have is a gift from him.
What happened to the first fruits the farmer brought to the temple? Perhaps the answer that comes to mind is: they were donated to the ministers who officiated the ceremony.
Too bad that our reading stops at verse 10 and does not report the following verses. The fruits were not burned on the altar nor given to the priests. They were handed over to “God’s representatives,” the poor. They were offered to the Levites, the foreigners, orphans and widows (Deut 26:11-12). The feast could be considered successful and pleasing to God only after the needy and the poor had been filled. Before leaving the sanctuary where he had offered the first fruits, the farmer was asked to proclaim before the Lord his God even this formula: “I have brought out of my house the sacred share. I have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow according to the commandments that you have given me” (Deut 26:13).
There is a fact that can be verified by all: the places of prayer (no matter what religion) are an irresistible lure for the poor. Almost by instinct, they seem to perceive that those who approach God becomes supportive and generous to those in need.
This passage was chosen as the opening of Lent because, to all who are called to conversion, God shows the miraculous transformations that he operates in those who trust in him.
It was not easy for Israel to believe in the Lord. Several times she was tempted to regret the situation of slavery in which she had lived in Egypt. The rabbis said: “It was not only necessary to take the Jews out of Egypt; it was also necessary to draw Egypt out of the heart of the Jews.”
However, those who trusted the Lord have proven and can testify that when he invites one to come out of a land it is always to bring him to a better one.
Second Reading: Romans 10:8-13
Israel has had—Paul says at the beginning of the reading—the opportunity to attain salvation because she got near the word of the Gospel, heard from the very lips of Christ and the apostles. Unfortunately, she did not understand that her exodus to freedom was not yet completed. She got tired of following the Lord and stopped. Only the first fruits of this people have understood and followed Christ (Rom 11:16).
These people are asked to profess their faith and of this faith, the formula that summarizes all—Jesus is Lord—is proclaimed.
This is the first formula used as “Credo” (I believe) in the early Church. Paul has already mentioned it in the First Letter to the Corinthians: “No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3). Only those who are animated by the Spirit may proclaim that a convict, a loser is the Savior of the world. This formula has been preserved in the Gloria and every Sunday we repeat: You alone are the Lord, Jesus Christ!
Faith in Jesus the Lord—Paul continues—must be declared in two ways: with the heart and the tongue. With the heart means: with the adhesion of life. Faith in Christ must lead to decisions based on completely new principles and values. Then the profession of faith with the mouth is necessary. The mouth is closely linked to the heart. Jesus said so: “For the mouth speaks from the fullness of the heart” (Lk 6:45). Who is reluctant or even ashamed to declare his faith means he is only superficially involved in Christ.
Who proclaims the Creed together with his brothers and sisters is aware of belonging to one people of believers who make up “as the first fruits of his creatures”(Jas 1:18). Not only that, but he is required to consider meaningless distinctions between “Jew and Greek.” The only profession of faith breaks down all the barriers created by differences of race, culture, social and economic conditions, temperament and character.
Gospel: Luke 4:1-13
Every year, on the first Sunday of Lent, the liturgy wants to reflect on the temptations of Jesus. It presents the way in which the Master has confronted them to tell us how they can be recognized and overcome.
Reading the passage today, however, one gets the impression that the experience of Jesus cannot be of much help: his temptations are too different from ours, are strange, even outlandish. Who among us would cede to the solicitation of worshipping the devil? Who would listen to his proposal of turning a stone into bread or his invitation to throw oneself out of a window? No, our temptations are far more serious, more difficult to win, then they do not last only a day, but accompany us for a lifetime.
This difficulty stems from the lack of understanding of the “literary genre,” namely, the way used by the author to communicate his message. Today’s Gospel is not the faithful chronicle, written by an eyewitness of the battle between Jesus and the devil (neither Luke nor any other have seen it). The passage is a lesson in catechesis and wants to teach us that Jesus was put to the test not with three, but “with all kinds of temptation”—as the text clearly states (v. 13).
To put it in simple and clear words: we are not in front of the story of three isolated incidents of Jesus’ life, but three parables in which, through images and biblical references, states that Jesus was tempted in all points like us, with an only difference: he has never been won by sin (Heb 4:15). These three frames are a symbolic synthesis of the struggle against the evil which he sustained in every moment of his life.
Maybe someone is still a bit baffled by the idea that Jesus had doubts like us, had encountered difficulties in fulfilling his mission, and had only gradually discovered the Father’s plan. We are almost afraid to lower him too much to our level. But God did not feel any aversion to our weakness, and made it his, in our mortal flesh and he overcame sin.
Before you consider these three “parables” we make another premise.
Unlike Matthew who says that Jesus was tempted just at the end of the forty days of fasting (Mt 4:2), Luke states that the temptation accompanied Jesus during his entire time in the desert. With this call to the desert and to the number forty, Luke intends to connect the experience of Jesus with that of Israel, put to the test during the Exodus. He repeats the experience of his people: “Your God has brought you through the desert for forty years to test you and know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not” (Deut 8:2). Unlike Israel, Jesus, at the end of his “forty days,” will go out of the “desert” fully victorious. Evil will be forced to admit its utter helplessness against him.
Now we consider the three frames in which all the trials passed by Jesus are condensed.
The first temptation: “Tell this stone to turn into bread” (vv. 3-4). The account of the temptations follows immediately after the baptism that has been commented on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. We noted then that Jesus, the just one, the holy one, did not begin his mission scolding sinners. He did not merely give them directions, maintaining his distance, as did the Pharisees. He went to be baptized along with the sinners, in the lowest point on earth. He mixed with them, has become one of them, he has chosen to walk alongside them the path that leads to liberation.
Sharing our human condition in everything is not easy. So here is the first temptation that Jesus had (not only once, but throughout life): to use his own divine power to escape the difficulties that ordinary people meet. They are hungry; they get sick and tired; they have to study to learn, can be deceived, are subject to misfortune and oppressed by injustice … Well, he can get out of these difficulties and the devil invites him to do so. He proposes not to exaggerate in identifying himself with people. He suggests to him to work miracles for his own personal gain. If Jesus had listened to him he would have given up to be one of us. He would not be truly man, he only pretended to be.
Jesus understood how diabolical this project was. Yes, he used the power to perform miracles, but never for himself, always for others. He worked, sweated, suffered hungered, thirsted, spent sleepless nights and did not want privileges. The highlight of this temptation was on the cross. There he was again invited to perform a miracle for himself; he was challenged to come down. If he had made the miracle, if he had refused the “defeat,” Jesus would have been a winner in people’s eyes, but he would have been a loser before God.
This temptation persists, devious, every day, even to us. It reappears first as an invitation to a selfish withdrawal to ourselves without thinking about others, as an invitation to reject the attitude of solidarity assumed by Christ.
If he gives in to this temptation when the ability that God has given are used to satisfy one’s whims and not to help the brothers; when he adapts to the current mentality in which everyone tries to make do, thinking only of one’s own advantage, Jesus chose to be poor and defeated with others rather than become rich and feel good alone.
In this first scene, the wrong way with which man interacts with the material realities is identified and denounced. The selfish use of assets, to accumulate for oneself, to live by the work of others, to seek pleasure at all costs, to squander in the luxury and in the superfluous, while others lack the necessary is evil. Jesus responds to the proposal of the devil by referring to a text of Scripture: “Man lives not on bread alone” (Deut 8:3). Only he who considers his own life in the light of the Word of God is capable of giving to the realities of this world the right value. They are not looked down upon, destroyed, rejected, and not even turned into idols. They are just creatures, woe to consider them absolute.
The second temptation: “I will give you power over the nations … for they have been delivered to me …” (vv. 5-8). What the devil says seems a bit exaggerated. Yet it’s true: the logic that rules the world, that governs the relationship between the people is not that of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5–8), not that of the Beatitudes (Lk 6:20-26), but the opposite, that of the evil one (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
The first temptation denounced the wrong way of dealing with things, the latter helps to identify evil ways with which we can relate to people, with our own kind.
The choice is between to dominate and to serve, to compete and to be in solidarity, to overpower and to consider ourselves servants. This choice is manifested in every attitude and in every condition of life. Who is educated and has reached a prestigious position can help to better the lives of the less fortunate, but he can also use it to humiliate those who are less endowed. Who has power and is rich, can serve the poorest and those who have been disadvantaged, but he can lord it over them too. The lust for power is so overwhelming that even the poor are tempted to overwhelm those who are weaker.
Authority is a charism, a gift of God to the community so that everyone can find in it his place and be happy. Power instead is evil, even if it is exercised in the name of God. Wherever dominion over persons is exercised, wherever one struggles to prevail over others, wherever someone is forced to kneel or bow down in front of another person, there is at work the logic of evil.
Jesus did not lack the talents to emerge, to climb all the steps of the religious and political power. He was intelligent, lucid, courageous, enchanted the crowds. He would certainly have been successful … but on one condition, that “he worshiped Satan,” that is, to come into compliance with the principles of this world: competition, resorting to violence, overwhelming the others, allying oneself with the powerful and using their methods. His choice was the opposite: he made himself a servant.
The third temptation: it is the most dangerous because it puts into question the relationship between man and God. The diabolical proposal is based even on the Bible: “Throw yourself down from here—says the tempter—for it is written …” (vv. 9-12). The most insidious wiles of evil are to show itself up with an attractive face, to assume a pious stance, to use the same Word of God (crippled and misleadingly interpreted) to lead people astray.
The maximum target of evil is not to provoke some moral failure, some fragility, some weakness, but to basically undermine the relationship with God. This is achieved when, in the mind of man, sneaks a doubt that the Lord does not keep his promises, unfaithful to his word, who ensures his protection but then abandon those who gave him trust. The need to “have proof” arises from this doubt. In the desert, the people of Israel, exhausted by hunger, thirst, and fatigue, have succumbed to this temptation and exclaimed: “Is the Lord with us, or not?” (Ex 17:7). The people provoked God, saying: if he’s on our side, if he really accompanies us with his love, let him manifest himself by giving us a sign, performing a miracle.
Jesus never succumbed to this temptation. Even in the most dramatic scenario, he refused to ask the Father proof of his love. He has not doubted his loyalty even when on the cross, the absurdity of what was happening to him, could have misled him into thinking that the Lord had forsaken him.
When the Lord does not realize our dreams we begin the grievances: “Where is God? Who knows if he exists! Is it worth continuing to believe if he does not intervene to support those who serve him?” If he does not give evidence of love that we demand, the fragile faith is in danger of collapse.
God has not promised to his faithful to protect them from the difficulties and tribulations. He has not promised to free them miraculously from disease, pain, but to give them strength because they don’t come out defeated by the evidence. It’s unthinkable to think that God treats us differently from the way he treated his only Son.
Today’s passage ends with an annotation: “Having exhausted every way of tempting Jesus, the devil left him to return another time” (v. 13).
Luke above all speaks of every kind of temptation, therefore, the three frames he depicted had to be interpreted as a synthesis of all the temptations. They represent, in a schematic way, the wrong ways of dealing with three realities: with things, with people, with God.
Luke gives us a glimpse, from the beginning of his Gospel, of the time when the temptation will manifest itself in the most violent and dramatic way: on the cross.
The devil has not strayed definitively; he withdrew waiting to return at the appointed time. He and his seductive work will be discussed later during the passion when he will enter Judas and push him to betray Jesus (Lk 22:3). That will be the manifestation of the empire of darkness (Lk 22:53), empire, that just when it thinks of celebrating its triumph, it will be defeated.
There is a video by Fr. Fernando Armellini with English subtitles
commenting on today’s Gospel reading: