Every year, we read and listen to the story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert on the first Sunday of Lent. After 40 days of fasting and prayer in the desert, the devil approached the incarnate son of God and tempted him. Today, we read Mark’s version of this event, which is the most concise. The Evangelists Luke and Matthew describe this event in more detail and discuss the temptations to which the Tempter exposed Christ. Mark summarizes everything in one sentence: “The Spirit drove Jesus into the desert.” He was in the desert for forty days, and satan tempted him. He was among the wild animals, and the angels ministered to him.” (Mk 1:12)
Jesus’ temptation and its meaning
Jesus reflects on these attacks, which are a repetition of Adam’s temptation in paradise and Israel in the desert, and the devil “left him for a while” (Lk 4,13). The evangelists point out the significance of this mysterious event. Jesus is the new Adam who remains faithful, whereas the first Adam succumbed to temptation. Jesus perfectly fulfills the calling of Israel. Unlike those who once tempted God in the desert for forty years, Jesus Christ appears as God’s Servant, utterly obedient to God’s will. That’s how he wins over the devil. Jesus’ victory over the Tempter in the desert foreshadows the triumph of his passion, the ultimate obedience of his filial love for the Father. The resurrection is then the definitive victory of Christ over the devil. The temptation of Jesus shows how the Son of God is to fulfill the mission of the Messiah, as opposed to the way that Satan proposes to him and that people want to attribute to him. Christ won over the Tempter for us: “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses; for he was similarly tested in everything except sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Every year, during the forty days of Lent, the Church connects with the mystery of Jesus in the desert.
Our temptations
Brothers and sisters! If Christ was tempted, we are also tempted. Temptation is a reality that a Christian cannot avoid. In the dictionary of the Slovak language, the word temptation has a simple explanation of the meaning of this word: urge, incitement to do something terrible. Even the God-man Jesus Christ knew that this would practically be our daily struggle; that’s why when he taught his disciples to pray, the request also had a firm place: do not lead us into temptation. We also pray to her several times a day. This request goes back to the roots of the previous one (forgive us our guilt – sins) because our sins are the fruit of consenting to temptation. We ask our Father not to “lead” us into it. Here, it seems the Lord God is tempting us and wants to lead us into temptation. This is a complete misunderstanding of this plea. A Greek expression that means “let us not enter into temptation” or “do not let us give in to temptation.” Scripture clearly says: “For God cannot be tempted to do evil, and he tempts no one” (James 1:13); on the contrary, he wants to free us from temptation. We ask him not to let us enter the path that leads to sin. We are involved in a spiritual battle.
The struggle between the body and the Spirit. This petition pleads for the Spirit of discernment and power. The Holy Spirit distinguishes between the test necessary for the inner man’s growth, which aims at “proven virtue,” and between the temptation that leads to sin and death. We should also distinguish between “temptation” and “agreeing” to temptation. Discernment finally reveals the lie of temptation: its object is suitable, “beautiful to the sight and enticing to the knowledge” (Gn 3:6), while its fruit is death. “Not being led into temptation” includes a decision of the heart: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also… No one can serve two masters” (Mt 6:21,24). “If we live in the Spirit, let us act according to the Spirit” (Gal 5:25).
The Father gives us strength in this “agreement” with the Holy Spirit. “The test that weighs on you is only human. And God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tested beyond your strength, but with the test, he will also give the ability so that you can endure” (1 Cor 10:13). However, such a fight and such a victory are possible only in prayer. With his prayer, Jesus wins over the Tempter at the beginning and in the last struggle of his mortal anguish. In this prayer to our Father, Christ unites us with his fight and mortal struggle. It insistently recalls the vigilance of the heart in conjunction with its vigilance. Watch that you do not enter into temptation. Vigilance is the “vigilance of the heart.” The Holy Spirit strives to awaken this vigilance in us constantly. This plea takes on its full dramatic significance about the last temptation of our earthly struggle; it begs for perseverance until the end. “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he who watches” (Revelation 16:15).
Temptations in prayer
A special kind of temptations are temptations in prayer. I want to devote a little more space to that today. Because Jesus prayed in the desert, he teaches us that only through prayer can we ask for the strength not to fall into temptation. But even in prayer itself, we experience temptations. That is why it is necessary to make them aware of what temptations lie in waiting for us in prayer so that we can also withstand them. The most common and hidden temptation is our lack of faith. It manifests less in apparent disbelief than in preference for something else. When we begin to pray, thousands of urgent tasks or worries come to mind. It is again a moment of truth for the heart and its preferential love. Sometimes, we turn to the Lord as a last refuge. But do we believe it? Sometimes, we consider the Lord an ally, but the heart remains presumptuous. In any case, our lack of faith reveals that we do not yet have the disposition of a humble heart: “Without me, you can do nothing”((Jn 15:5).
Another temptation to which presumption opens the door is spiritual disgust. By this expression, the Fathers of the spiritual life understand a particular form of depression caused by laxity in asceticism, a decrease in vigilance and carelessness of the heart: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mt 26:41). The greater a person falls from a height, the more he hurts himself. He who is humble is not surprised by his wretchedness; it gives him greater confidence to persevere. In the struggle of prayer, we must face misconceptions, different currents of thought, and experiences of our failures. These temptations, which question the usefulness or possibility of prayer, must be answered with humility, trust, and perseverance. The main difficulties in prayer are absent-mindedness and dryness. The cure for them is faith, conversion, and vigilance of the heart.
How to overcome temptation?
