Maybe the movie’s most notable quote is: “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” In many ways, the Gospel we just heard presents us with a similar idea: that to defeat an enemy, you need to know him well and know the tactics he will use. At the beginning of his ministry, the Holy Spirit leads Jesus out into the desert to face the forces of darkness. Jesus has come after all to undo the devil’s hold on the world – his grip on humanity – and so the Lord goes out to encounter him at the beginning of his ministry. Jesus knows fully well who the Enemy of humanity is and what tactics he uses to tempt our nature, and so he is not tricked by the devil’s enticements. In the words of one of the prayers from Ash Wednesday, Lent is about “taking up battle against spiritual evils,” and so as we begin it, it’s good for us to remember to be on guard against our Adversary.
The Temptation in the Wilderness (1824) by John St. John Long
But here’s a question: what does this story have to do with us? Yes, Jesus is victorious against the devil. But he’s the Son of God, right – and we are not! We are not even tempted in the same way as he was. The devil does not appear before us, offering us certain things; instead, we are usually tempted in far more mundane ways. And we know from experience that we often fall to temptation, whereas Jesus resisted and did not sin. So, what exactly are we supposed to learn?
The key to understanding this story’s relevance to us is that it occurs right after Jesus’s baptism. As John baptized the Lord in the Jordan River, a voice from heaven declared “This is my Beloved Son,” and as we enter into journey of Lent, we should recall that we share in that identity. We know we are not perfect – but by the grace of baptism, we too are God's beloved sons and daughters. In a sense, all of Lent is a meditation upon how our lives mimic the life of Jesus. He became Incarnate to share our human nature, and through baptism, we have been made partakers in Jesus’s divine nature. Thus, he shared our human life, and as we go through our human lives, we can share in his divine life.
Jesus was really tempted. Yes, in ways different from us – and yes, he did not fall to temptation, while we often do. But because Christ was tempted and overcame that temptation, then by his grace we too can overcome the devils’ assaults when they come. We share in who Jesus is and in what he has done. This is true for every part of our earthly life – whether we are coming face to face with evil, or whether we are subject to much more mundane forms of trial and temptation, we can bring the presence of Christ to bear within us and be victorious. We don’t have to wait until heaven to begin to live a life that is very much infused with divinity.
The question, of course, is how do we resist temptation? The logic of the world – the logic of The Godfather – would be that we need to learn all about the devil and his ways: “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” But in this case, the opposite is true: we have to stay close to Jesus in order to turn away from temptation when it comes. It’s true that we need some awareness of ourselves – e.g., what kinds of temptations we are most subject to, particular times and places and even persons that may be a source of temptation – and some awareness of the devil’s wiles. But the devil is a Deceiver, and if we try to outsmart him, we are going to fail. It’s much better to turn to Christ to help us in a moment of weakness.
So how do we do it? First, we have to recognize in the moment that we are being tempted. We are familiar enough with the kinds of temptations: anger, jealousy, resentment, gossip, lust, greed, sloth, petulance, immoderation, indulgence, fear, self-centeredness – the list goes on and on. But while temptation often arises, we are not powerless against it. That’s one of the great lessons of Lent – that we can learn to train our will, through self-restraint, to withstand the impulses of temptations when they come. It’s always with God’s grace, and never by ourselves, but our own agency is always involved.
Second, once we have recognized we are being tempted, we have to remember that every temptation is a lie. Every temptation is an attraction to something good, or something that seems good in the moment. But because the devil is a Deceiver, giving into temptation will never give us that seemingly good thing, at least not without costing us something much more important in return. After fasting for forty days, Jesus’s hunger must have made the idea of turning stones into bread very attractive. But to do so, he would have had to show a lack of trust in his Father’s love and in his Father’s care, something he valued much more highly than food.
And so, third, after we recognize we are being tempted, and after we realize the temptation is a lie, we invite Jesus’s strength to become our own and we powerfully dismiss the temptation present to us. We see the falsehood for what it is, and we reject it. It’s very helpful at this time to do something to counteract the temptation – maybe to turn to prayer; maybe to do something kind for someone else, especially if they're the ones aggravating us in the moment; if nothing else to get up and change our surroundings and try to remove the immediacy of the temptation so that we can recall the goodness of our relationship with God.
The key to understanding this story’s relevance to us is that it occurs right after Jesus’s baptism. As John baptized the Lord in the Jordan River, a voice from heaven declared “This is my Beloved Son,” and as we enter into journey of Lent, we should recall that we share in that identity. We know we are not perfect – but by the grace of baptism, we too are God's beloved sons and daughters. In a sense, all of Lent is a meditation upon how our lives mimic the life of Jesus. He became Incarnate to share our human nature, and through baptism, we have been made partakers in Jesus’s divine nature. Thus, he shared our human life, and as we go through our human lives, we can share in his divine life.
Jesus was really tempted. Yes, in ways different from us – and yes, he did not fall to temptation, while we often do. But because Christ was tempted and overcame that temptation, then by his grace we too can overcome the devils’ assaults when they come. We share in who Jesus is and in what he has done. This is true for every part of our earthly life – whether we are coming face to face with evil, or whether we are subject to much more mundane forms of trial and temptation, we can bring the presence of Christ to bear within us and be victorious. We don’t have to wait until heaven to begin to live a life that is very much infused with divinity.
The question, of course, is how do we resist temptation? The logic of the world – the logic of The Godfather – would be that we need to learn all about the devil and his ways: “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” But in this case, the opposite is true: we have to stay close to Jesus in order to turn away from temptation when it comes. It’s true that we need some awareness of ourselves – e.g., what kinds of temptations we are most subject to, particular times and places and even persons that may be a source of temptation – and some awareness of the devil’s wiles. But the devil is a Deceiver, and if we try to outsmart him, we are going to fail. It’s much better to turn to Christ to help us in a moment of weakness.
So how do we do it? First, we have to recognize in the moment that we are being tempted. We are familiar enough with the kinds of temptations: anger, jealousy, resentment, gossip, lust, greed, sloth, petulance, immoderation, indulgence, fear, self-centeredness – the list goes on and on. But while temptation often arises, we are not powerless against it. That’s one of the great lessons of Lent – that we can learn to train our will, through self-restraint, to withstand the impulses of temptations when they come. It’s always with God’s grace, and never by ourselves, but our own agency is always involved.
Second, once we have recognized we are being tempted, we have to remember that every temptation is a lie. Every temptation is an attraction to something good, or something that seems good in the moment. But because the devil is a Deceiver, giving into temptation will never give us that seemingly good thing, at least not without costing us something much more important in return. After fasting for forty days, Jesus’s hunger must have made the idea of turning stones into bread very attractive. But to do so, he would have had to show a lack of trust in his Father’s love and in his Father’s care, something he valued much more highly than food.
And so, third, after we recognize we are being tempted, and after we realize the temptation is a lie, we invite Jesus’s strength to become our own and we powerfully dismiss the temptation present to us. We see the falsehood for what it is, and we reject it. It’s very helpful at this time to do something to counteract the temptation – maybe to turn to prayer; maybe to do something kind for someone else, especially if they're the ones aggravating us in the moment; if nothing else to get up and change our surroundings and try to remove the immediacy of the temptation so that we can recall the goodness of our relationship with God.
Ilya Repin, The Temptation of Christ (1890)
Will this always work? No, not always – not because the method is flawed, but because we are. Sometimes we will give into temptation against our better judgment. In many ways, we will continue to struggle against some form of sin all of our lives. But by God’s grace, we can at least learn to reject the big sins – those grave sins that rupture our relationship with God and strip us of his grace. Because we are connected to Christ by our baptism, we can keep from falling into mortal sin again and again. And above all else, we can resist the devil’s most pernicious temptation of all: to despair, to give up hope and believe that we are not capable of turning away from sin and so it is pointless to try. We are capable, because Jesus makes us capable! And even if we fall, we need never despair of the power of the Lord’s mercy to pick us up, dust us off, and set us aright again.
Friends, as we begin Lent, the Gospel today reminds us to call upon our baptismal graces in our struggles against sin and temptation. Our Enemy may be close – but our Friend, Jesus, is even closer. Temptations to sin at times may seem ever-present, but the Lord’s presence is also always at hand, always more powerful, always ready for us to call upon him in our time of need. His protection is greater than that of any Godfather. So, don’t be afraid to brave your own wilderness this Lent – don’t fear doing spiritual battle with the weapons of self-restraint, prayer, and works of charity. But more importantly, let this Lent be a time to come to know in a deeper and fuller way your dearest Friend, Jesus Christ, the only One in the end who makes us an offer too good to refuse. This Lent, let’s strive to model our lives more and more after the life of Christ, beginning with resisting every temptation that comes our way. May the Lord’s Body and Blood, which we come forward to receive in this Mass, fill us with the knowledge and the wisdom of God so that we can prefer nothing to the love of Christ.
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