Jesus Battles the Devil!

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the First Sunday of Lent, Year A

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center

Sunday, March 1, 2020

Temptation is always a suggestion or an enticement to do what is wrong. It is an allurement to seriously consider doing what is deplorable. It is an opinion or a view that rejects the truth, spins lies and tries to use them to our disadvantage. For instance, this common saying, “Heaven helps those who help themselves” has been variously used to persuade people to do what is immoral, sinful and criminal. Some people ignorantly believe that it is in the Bible. Although it sounds pious and spiritual, but the truth is that it is not derived from the Bible. Temptation, in itself, is not a sin or a crime; however yielding to it may be one or both. Temptation is a test of our faith in God and a test of our character as well. Our victory or otherwise defeat in it will determine where we stand with God. 

In today’s Gospel (Matt, 4:1-11), Jesus undergoes the full range of human experience in his threefold temptations. He is about to begin his public ministry, so he goes away to the desert to be alone, to fast and pray for forty days. At the end of the bruising exercise, he was hungry. Aware of Jesus’ immediate need, the tempter comes to him and says, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” What is the devil trying to do here? He is using Jesus’ hunger as a way of ensnaring him. God had fed Israel with manna in the desert, and here the devil is challenging Jesus to provide his own bread, thereby taking on God’s own power and also testing Jesus’ own trust in God as Yahweh Jireh (God the Provider). But rather than do the devil’s request, Jesus quotes the Scripture to him: “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy 8:3). The devil wants Jesus to prove that he was the Son of God by performing acts that would gravely betray that very identity. Nothing is wrong to turn stones into bread, however, if Jesus had listened to the devil, he would have obeyed him. Obedience to the devil is disobedience to God. Jesus knows his identity all too well and does not need to prove it to the devil by doing the devil’s will. Do you know who you are? Do you know that each of us is a beloved of God? If yes is the answer, then don’t worry about what the naysayers, liars and resentful people are saying about you. You don’t need to prove yourself to satisfy them. You may never satisfy them. What they say behind closed doors and in their gossip is not who you are. You are a beloved of the Father. That’s your identity. As long as you are acting as such, you have nothing to worry about. 

Unsuccessful in the first temptation, the devil takes Jesus to the temple and again challenges 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.” In the second temptation, the devil also quotes the Scripture (Psalm 91) and misuses the life-giving word that Jesus just affirmed. Jesus is the incarnation of God. He’s Yahweh in human flesh. As such, he has powers to jump down from the temple and be unharmed, but doing what the devil suggested would be putting God to the test, just as the Israelites did in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 6:16). There are some Christians who have unreasonable faith. They are so naive in the practice of their faith to the point of endangering their lives and that of their loved ones. They believe in a god of magic, and not in the God of miracles. God performs miracles and not magic. A story is told of a young man who jumped into a lion’s cage in a zoo simply because the Bible promises that nothing harmful will happen to believers. Now, it is possible his soul went to heaven, but his body was a special lunch for the lions. 

The place of the third temptation is a high mountain where Jesus could see the magnificent kingdoms of the world. I have seen this mountain and boy, what a high mountain it is. To gain power over all these kingdoms, Jesus must prostrate himself and worship the devil, just as the Magi had earlier done to Jesus. But only God is worthy of worship. Jesus knows it and he makes sure the devil hears it from his own mouth: “It is written: The Lord your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve” (Deuteronomy 6:13) .  The devil was biting more than he could chew. He actually wants God to worship him before he can give to God what is God’s own. The devil is a liar, and in this temptation he lies as he always does. The world is not his. The book of Psalm 24:1 says: “The earth is the Lord’s and all it holds, the world and those who dwell in it.” Jesus wants the whole world to acknowledge him as the Lord and Redeemer, but he cannot achieve it by worshipping a false god. It was after his death and resurrection that Jesus proclaimed from a mountain: All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18). As the people of God, are we allowed to pursue our goals by whatever means? Does the end justify the means? Are we supposed to use every available means— good or bad, to achieve our objectives? In today’s Gospel Jesus says No! The devil always offers shortcut, but his shortcut shortens one’s peace and joy. His shortcut is a shortcut to misery, sorrow and eternal damnation. 

Friends, Jesus was tempted with selfish pleasure, fame and power but in each of them, he showed his faithfulness and commitment to his Father. Are those things not what virtually everyone in the world is chasing for, and most times at the detriment of others, their faith and relationship with God? Like Jesus, each of us is also tempted. When the tempter calls you, remember to call on Jesus. If he offers you bread— which represents all the sensual things, remember to seek for the Bread of Life. If he offers you fame, seek for holiness, humility and simplicity. Even though Jesus was God, he did not seek equality with God something to be grasped, rather, he emptied himself, became a slave. He so humbled himself to the point of accepting death on a cross for the sins of the world. Because of his kenosis (emptiness), his humility, his obedience, God greatly exalted his name so high that at the mention of his name every knee bows and every tongue declares that Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:6-11). If the tempter offers you the shortcut to prosperity, ease and comfort, remember to follow Jesus the Way. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. If you resist and resist and resist, yet, the devil continues to tempt you, muster enough courage, stand up to him and yell: “Get behind me, Satan!”