Temptation: knowing when and how the devil strikes
Readings (1st: Deut
26, 4-10; Ps: 90; 2nd: Rom 10, 8-13; Gos: Lk
4, 1-13)
Dear friends in Christ, the church ushers us
into the period of Lent every year with the story of the temptation of Jesus.
With this story, the church informs us that as we embark on the forty days journey
of prayer, fasting and arms-giving to suffer with Christ in order to rise with
Him, the devil will lurk around us to distract us from our mission, just as he
attempted to distract Jesus from His God-given mission.
One of the problems of our time is the inability
to realize when we are being tempted by the devil. So, the temptation of Jesus
teaches us the various avenues the devil can take while tempting us, and the best
ways to conquer him using the examples of Jesus. Let us, therefore, treat the
temptation of Jesus in the desert step by step.
In the first temptation, the devil asked Jesus
to turn stones into bread. The devil knew that Jesus was very hungry after
fasting for forty days, so, he came with the suggestion of what Christ needed
at that time. Dear friends, the devil will not tempt you with what you don’t
need, he will always come with the idea of helping you to fill in the void in
your life.
In this first temptation, the devil was like
telling Jesus: “look, your God has failed to provide your needs. Why still wait
upon him? Use what you have and get what you need.” This is a temptation to
lose confidence in God’s providence for us; a call to do things our own way anytime
we lack material means of survival; a call to rate God’s care for us only by
our material success. It is a temptation that touches on man’s relationship
with material things; that push to make the satisfaction of material needs the
priority in every relationship.
We see this kind of temptation every day of our
life. We see or feel it when that voice tells us that the only priority of our
life should be the provision of our material needs by all means. To many of our
girls, that voice tells them: “use your body to provide your material needs, hunger
will kill you if you wait on God.” To our young boys, it tells them: “all your
mates are making it through yahoo plus, join them, the end will surely justify
the means, people will celebrate you.” To our businessmen, it tells them:
“inflate the prices of your goods, you have the market control; make your
gains, this is your time; prudence is for the weak minds, God’s time will never
come.” To our politicians, it tells them: “join their evil groups and win the
position first, being a good man will not help you.”
We also feel this temptation when that voice
tells us that we have all it takes to enrich or satisfy ourselves materially,
so, we don’t need to believe in God. In fact, that voice tells some people that
God does not exist, since they have all their material needs. This temptation
has led many people who are materially comfortable to think that faith in God
is absurd. In this type of temptation, the devil aims to make us materially
bound.
But the response of Christ has a lesson for us.
Jesus reminded the devil that our mission in this world in not just that of the
satisfaction of the material needs of our bodies, but that we must tend towards
heaven in all that we do. Hence, we must satisfy our material needs according
to the teachings of the Word of God.
In the second temptation, the devil told Jesus
that all the riches of the world belong to him and that he will give them to
Jesus if he (Jesus) bows down and worships him. Friends, the devil is the
father of all lies. In this temptation, he was laying claims on things that do
not belong to him. We know that God is the author of all that is good and the
creator of the universe. Nothing good comes from the devil; what comes from the
devil only appears to be good, but they are full of evil. So, in this
temptation is the call to compromise faith in God in order to be rewarded. It
is a temptation that hinges on the thirst or lust for power and control. It is
a temptation to throw away good morals and Christian principles or teachings
and, then, follow the whims of the world in order to be relevant in the world
or be accepted by others. We have seen this type of temptation in many
programmes of this world. It is true that many activities or programmes in our
world are geared towards luring Christians to renounce their teachings in order
to get financial grants and aids, business connections and friends, recognition,
promotion and power in the society etc. Many people go to the extent of mocking
Christians who say ‘no’ to the fantasies of this world.
The response of Jesus to this second temptation
showed us that our allegiance in this world is only to God, and, therefore, we
should not bow down to any other spiritual or worldly force.
In the third temptation, the devil asked Jesus
to jump down from the high mountain since God will help him. To back up his
claims, he quoted the bible. It is good we know that the devil can also
substantiate his demands from us or his claims with a biblical citation. In
this temptation, the devil wanted Christ to accept cheap popularity and false
security in God. It is a temptation that touches our relationship and faith in
God. In this temptation, there is a suggestion to have a false or perverse
relationship with God. A kind of relationship that makes God an idol in our
hands, something we can control the way we like. The devil asked Jesus to take
an action that will make God indebted to him. It is a temptation of putting God
to test. We see this type of temptation when that voice tells us that since we
believe in God, no harm will come to us even if we are careless with our lives;
it comes when that voice tells you that you don’t need to study for exams, that
all you need to do is to pray and you will surely pass your exams; we feel this
temptation when that voice tells us not to plan our lives very well, not to take
care of our health, not to think of our future because God is our father and he
will do everything for us. Dear friends, we are to collaborate with God by not
putting ourselves at risk.
The devil is very wicked. When he succeeds in
pushing people to have false security in God, he stands by the side and waits
for them to fail. When then eventually fail, he will creep out of his hole and
tell them: “You see, the God whom you hoped in has failed you, He is not
capable of saving you; come, I will help you.”
With the story of how God rescued Israel, the
first reading of today tells us that God does not disappoint those who have
genuine faith in Him. We have a God who will not disappoint nor reject us in
times of trials and persecutions. He will always intervene at His own time and
rescue us if we repose our hope and faith in Him.
The second reading of today comes with an explicit affirmation of that assurance of God’s help for those who trust in Him. It said, “No one who believes in Him will be put to shame… everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” Thus, in this Mass, let us build our trust in God, and always have recourse to Him in times of temptation.
Peace be with you. Have a blessed Sunday
Fr. Isaac Chinemerem Chima
No comments:
Post a Comment