THE TEMPTATIONS
BY REV. CAMILLUS AGYEKUM BOADI.
Dearly beloved people of God, peace be with you all. Today is the First Sunday of Lent. Lent is a season of deep reflection and repentance. Today, mother Church prickles us to think about how we sometimes fall into the snares or temptations of the evil one, and become dissociated from the path of righteousness which leads to God. In the first reading, Adam and eve fell to the temptation of the devil while in the Gospel, Jesus withstood or endured the temptation of the evil one. In the second reading, St. Paul writes to the Romans, telling them how through one man’s disobedience (Adam), trespasses brought condemnation, and how through one man (Jesus), the abundance of grace and free gift of righteousness has brought about justification.
After the baptism of Christ, he is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He spent forty days and nights. The forty-day temptation of our Lord Jesus Christ is a signification of purification of the whole human race. Biblically, forty is a symbol of purification. The Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness; however, they murmured against God. At the time of Noah, God purifies the world with rain in forty days (Gen. 7:17).
The three temptations concern appetite (bread), vainglory, and power (dominion). Christ overcame all by obedience to Scripture, reversing Adam’s fall and teaching the Church how to resist temptation. Let us examine how our Lord Jesus was able to withstand the temptations of the evil one, and by that draw strength to guard against our human frailties. As humans, we are easily tempted by our basic needs, our wants, and our ambitions – and these are the very modus operandi that the devil used.
Our Needs
Our needs are the indispensable basic necessities of life, without which it is difficult for humans to live. Food, water, clothing and security are most basic needs. Because they are necessary, they are very powerful instrument of temptation. When survival is threatened, moral compromise appears justified. The devil can examine us and know our basic needs. The devil first tempted Jesus with his most basic and immediate need which is food. He recognized that Jesus was fasting therefore his urgent basic need is food. In Mat. 4:3, he said, ‘if you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ When you are in need, you become vulnerable. Someone who is fasting can easily be tempted with food. Look at how some politicians lure some people into chaos with money, food and some basic items. These things can enslave us if we do not stand firm in times of needs. Some ladies are lured into prostitution because of hardships and the inability to fend for their basic needs. Some boys are lured into homosexuality because their friends started providing for their basic needs.
As a nation, when food becomes scarce, the tendency to yield to the demands of these developed nations are high. They give us money and couple it with whatever unfavorable measures, and we adhere to them because we need the money. In fasting, we withstand to these vulnerabilities of the body. We learn how to control ourselves on these most basic necessities of life. We learn how to say ‘NO’ and stand firm to our morality. Needs become idols when they override obedience. Necessity does not justify disobedience. Jesus in response to the first temptation quotes Deut. 8:3, saying, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ He does not deny the need for bread, but He refuses to make physical necessity the supreme value. Christ teaches that life is more than survival; it is communion with God. Trust in God must justify our urgent lack.
Wants
Wants are those things which we desire to possess in order to embellish our survival. They are mostly things that we can do away with and still survive. Desires characterize our wants. Unlike needs, wants reveal where the heart is. Where our treasures are, there our heart is. (Matt. 6:21) The devil recognizes that Jesus was able to overcome the first temptation because his heart is deeply rooted in the Word of God, which is his pillar of strength. He ascertained this from how Jesus quotes the scripture to overcome the first temptation. In the second temptation, he sends Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple asking him to throw himself down for ‘it is written that he will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands, they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’(Matt. 4:6) Jesus desired the Word of God most, therefore the devil shifted to that arena to tempt Jesus. Satan manipulated the Word of God by quoting Psalm 91:11 to tempt Jesus.
The full text is ‘to guard you in all your ways.’ This was omitted to purposely tempt Jesus. Irrespective of how ‘christian’ we are, people can influence us negatively even with our own scriptures. Today, many pastors hide behind scriptures to lure people into all kinds of things. False prophecies, false teachings, manipulation of Bible verses are sometimes used to tempt us. Our sought for signs instead of faith, guarantee instead of trust, religion that confirms comfort instead of demanding conversion, and the proliferation of prosperity gospel, works on our desire in God to manipulate us. Let us be cautious, for the devil now puts on clerical shirt because he has seen that religion is something we subscribe to. People want easy access to prosperity and therefore are sometimes manipulated with the Word of God. In the second temptation, Jesus responded with the Word of God again.(Deut. 6:16) He says, ‘you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ His faith in God is not anchored in self-affirmation or emotional reassurance. True faith does not manipulate God. In bread-and-butter Christianity, people pray making assertions like; if God loves me, he must prove it now, if this is God’s will it should not be difficult, I must not suffer if I am a Christian, and so on. People take the cross out of Christianity and manipulate nature with all sorts of funny ideas. If you knowingly eat a poisonous food you will die, and if you throw yourself from a building you will die. People want to simply bypass the natural order of doing things just by invoking a supernatural way or in the name of Christianity. In 1991, Prophet Daniel Abodurin, a Nigerian, entered the Ibadan Zoo while carrying bible and praying loudly, believing God will protect him. The lions quickly attacked and killed him. Let us be careful, for the devil can also twist the Word to temp us. Scripture can be misused when detached from obedience. Desire becomes disordered when God is reduced to a tool. The heart must be formed by the Word, not by impulse.
Ambitions (Goals): Glory without the Cross
‘All these I will give you, if you fall down and worship me.’ This temptation strikes at mission and destiny. Jesus came to be glorified but through the Cross and Resurrection. Satan offers kingship without suffering, glory without obedience, and success without sacrifice. Using shortcuts to achieve success has become the order of the day. Humans now seek wealth without honest labor, power without service, status without character, and success without patience. People use corruption to gain quick riches, and exploitation to rise faster. See the number of people who want to enter the security service, nursing, universities and some jobs just by paying bribes, and that has become the order of the day. Not all opportunities are from God. Christ chooses faithfulness over efficiency, obedience over success, and truth over power. If by hook or crook you have to attain a particular position, then we are making these ambitions or goals in life idols when we bypass the godly way of attaining them. Christ quoting Deut. 6:13 emphasized that ‘you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ He refused to accept false glory and embraces the path of obedience, even when it leads to suffering. He rejects the kingdom of the world to show that no one can rightly rule unless he first serves God.
In the first reading, the devil told the woman that her eyes will be opened when she eats the fruit. Through this ambition she was tempted. Christ overcame this to show us our human ability to overcome evil. Man was created from dust, showing our frailty; however, we are made in the image of God showing our reliance on God. When man believed in the vain ambition of being like God, being wise and self-dependent, he falls. Jesus, the son of God reverts these actions through obedience. In the second reading, St. Paul tells us that just as through one man sin entered world, so as through one man, the abundant grace of God has brought justification. Just as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners so as through one man’s obedience, many are made just. In the wilderness, Christ redeems human needs, purifies desires, and sanctifies human ambitions rooting them in the strength of God. While humanity falls by grasping; Christ triumphs by trusting. Where humans seek shortcuts; Christ walks the long way of fidelity.
Let us trust in God by following the path of Christ, holding fast to his precepts by emulating our lives after Christ that we may overcome temptations. Be on guard, be watchful, be conscious and cautious that you may not fall into temptation. God bless us all.
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