The temptation of Jesus Christ!

Today's Gospel is a very short passage taken from Mark 1:12-15, which reads, "12 The spirit drove [Jesus] into the desert, 13 and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him. 14 After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: 15 This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel." Perhaps to enhance our understanding of this very short story, let us see how Matthew wrote about the Temptation of Jesus, as it is a little bit more detailed. Open your Bible and see it in Matt. 4:1-11, which reads,

"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 he fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. 3 The tempter approached and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread. 4 He said in reply, "It is written: 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.'

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, 6 and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone' 7 Jesus answered him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.' 8 Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the Kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, 9 and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me." 10 At this, Jesus said to him, "Get away, Satan! It is written; 'The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.' 11 Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him." If you carefully analyzed this passage... Jesus who is Divinity himself practically had a debate with the former fallen angel named Satan. And what was all that debate about? It would seem that they were quoting passages from Scriptures... because the first reply of our Lord Jesus to Satan was... "It is written..." therefore, he threw passages of Scriptures to thwart the effort by Satan to luring him with the sin of pride... the pride that brought his downfall. Yes, indeed, a proud person who possessed the power to turn stones into loaves of bread would have shown that indeed, he was the Son of God. But then, the devil only gets a very humble reply from the humble Jesus because humility is a trait the devil could never understand

Satan's second effort to use Scripture to tempt Jesus was once more rebuffed by yet another Scripture passage that Jesus throws back at Satan, saying, "Again, it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.' Satan gets the same results from Jesus even if he brought him to the highest mountain to show him the kingdoms of the world that he would give to Jesus if only he prostrated himself and worshipped the devil. But as Jesus answered him, "The Lord your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve. If you recall... that's the first amongst the Ten Commandments!

Please take note that in this exchange... the devil wasn't sure who Jesus really was... which is why he always began his questions with "If you are the Son of God?" But our Lord Jesus fully recognized the devil, even while he suffered in the desert for forty days and forty nights and was hungry. But what about us... can we recognize the devil when he comes to tempt us? This passage clearly teaches us the importance of knowing God by reading the Scriptures or the Bible... so we can thwart any temptation by the evil one.

Now what if the devil came to you and told you that because you now have faith and therefore, you are already saved, then you can go and commit all the sins that you can find because God would still save you because you are saved by faith alone... and not by works? The devil would even point this out in the Bible and then what... you will believe in the devil?

But if you are armed with your knowledge of the Bible, even the devil cannot twist what is written in James 2:14 which says, What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Read further to James 2: 20-21, "Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham, our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the Altar? Finally on verse 26 it reads, "For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." Next time a misguided Bible reading man talks to you about faith alone... you now know how to reply to this question.

Take note that the temptation of Jesus happened at the beginning of his ministry. This is important to those who recently joined a charismatic group because surely the devil would tempt them immediately in order to test their resolve and see how strong their faith is. Every day is a struggle against temptation... but if God is with you... then who can be against you?

* * *

For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected].