My dear friends,
Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights in the desert. We read it in the Gospel so:
“Jesus was guided in to the Desert by the Spirit of God”. But as a surprise, it is not God whom he first meets, just after these days of Prayer and abstinence but it is Satan “the Tempter” and he had to conquer it.
Jesus was in the best condition to be tempted.
He was alone in a vast desert. The power of burning sun should have made Jesus thirsty and the 40 days of fasting of course hungry too.
He could have simply fallen in the temptation with out being noticed by any one.
The tempter comes to Jesus in a friendly manner with “necessary offers” any human being may need in that special setting of time.
Bread, water….these are natural urges of any Human.
And if it is offered in a friendly way, most of us cannot deny it.
The tempter makes use if this chance. But Jesus was powerful than the Satan.
My dear friends in Jesus,
Don’t expect “satan” as person in our life, bringing temptations in our life.
He comes in the forms of “very important and unavoidable natural needs”.
Jesus was asked to „command“, in his second temptation. The fun in it is, he had to “make bread from the stones” - for “his own need”. He could have done that, because he was the Son of God. But the question is whether God is a self-lover? He became man for others sake. He is not a narcissist to his own self. He may do wonders and sign, but they are for others. May be some magicians may perform some tricks to get fame and name. Jesus proves he is not in search of fame.
In the third temptation, the tempter shows Jesus the World and its Powers. Through this the tempter shows his real face: he proves to be the most dangerous liar. He claims the world belongs to him. This is a big lie. Then it is God, who created the universe. Everything „belongs“ to God. Not to the satan. He was trying to be equal to God, and if he is equal to God then he asks Jesus to „adore“.
The tempter reveals and unites to the words of Jesus, quite passive:
“God the creator, alone deserves the Glory, Honour and adoration”
My dear friends, we may face temptations through some beloved and faithful people, through the communications media and may be through wrong communications, today. Many “lies” cause many of us to be the prey of the tempter.
Jesus had all these temptations for his whole life, and even on the cross: “to save himself and save others”. But Jesus replied to them in his divine manner.
We too experience these kinds of temptations in our daily life.
They may have several other names such as food, drink, power, money, gossips, etc…
Jesus overcame his temptations and lies with the help of his spiritual power. His prayers and faith in divine providence helped him a lot.
We too will be able to overcome our daily temptations when we find time to be with God and to seek for his Power, in prayers and sacraments.
The only aim of the tempter is to bring split in the Man- God relation.
Our Lenten observation helps us much to go through in to a disciplined relation with God. It helps us to come closer and deeper in to his Mystery.
It helps us to attain Power in fight against the “lies and temptations”.
In that power we can say as Jesus said:
“go away from me, Satan!”
We need His Word as Guidance and Eucharistic Bread as Food and His Spirit as uniting power.
Let us look for this,
in the Church,
in the sacraments, and in our families.
God bless us all. Amen!
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Fr Thomas Kalathil
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