First Sunday Of Lent
MATTHEW 4:1-11 (Genesis 2:3-9, 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19)
The annual liturgy of the First Sunday of Lent presents us with one of three versions of the temptation of Jesus – Mark or Matthew or Luke. These are not the only temptation-of-Jesus proclamations in the New Testament. The Letter to the Hebrews contains two: “Because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted,” and “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. John 12:27 has a brief temptation story, “Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, for this is why I have come to this hour.” Nor can we omit Jesus begging his Father to escape the cross, or the taunting, mocking tempta-tions to come down from the cross, Mark 15:30-32; Matt 27:40-43; Luke 23:35-36.
The oldest narrative of Jesus’ temptation seems to be Mark’s very brief version. No triple temptation as in Matthew and Luke. Both authors however base their versions on Mark to “correct” and expand Mark. This year, Cycle A, our concern is Matthew’s version. Mark noted that “the Spirit drove (expelled, forced) Jesus into the wilderness. Matthew does not approve, but writes, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. The Spirit is not just any spirit, as Luke’s version clarifies, but the Holy Spirit who had just before this visibly descended upon Jesus at his baptism. Mark said nothing about any fasting, only temptation for forty days. Matthew adds “fasting forty days and nights.” Fasting causes hunger, thus providing introduction to the first temptation in Matthew’s version – to satisfy hunger. Matthew wants to clarify for slow readers and hearers, and writes, “…and afterwards he was hungry.”
Recall that at his baptism Jesus had been proclaimed “Son of God” by the voice from heaven. Therefore the tempter begins, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Jesus is therefore tempted to give up his trust in the Father who has just made visible the Holy Spirit in Jesus at his baptism and publicly bore wit-ness to him as his Son. Will he trust his Father to take care of his hunger? He rejects the tempter’s offer by a quote from Deuteronomy 8:3, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” In the context of this quotation the authors of Deuteronomy had given new meaning to the manna, the bread from heaven. For them the manna symbolized the Torah, the word of God revealed in the Torah (a Hebrew word meaning “the teaching”, the first five books of the Bible). Matthew will speak to this temptation in the Sermon on the Mount, when he writes, “Do not be anxious about…what you shall eat or what you shall drink. Your Father in heaven knows that you need these things. Seek first his kingdom…, and all these things shall be yours as well.”
The second temptation takes place in “the holy city,” (Jerusalem). Matthew envisions the devil transporting Jesus to a wing-like projection on the temple. This temptation is also aimed at Jesus as Son of God. The devil invites Jesus to throw himself off this projection. His proposal is based on a quote from Psalm 91:11-12, “On their (the angels’) hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Will Jesus comply with the devil’s invitation? No! Another quote from Deuteronomy, 6:16, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Is this a proclamation by Matthew that Jesus is God? Quite possible.
The message may be this: rely on God to take care of us in the ordinary course of human events, and not by some spectacular intervention.
The third temptation requires more transportation, courtesy of the devil. This time they are on a high mountain from which the devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth. He claims they are in his power to bestow on Jesus but with a condition, “If you worship me.” Once more to Deuteronomy, this time 6:13, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” Another possible proclamation that Jesus is God. What could Matthew be teaching the Church and the individual Christian in this instance? For the Church: seeking and relying on worldly power is devil-worship. It is a warning to all against the worship of creatures: wealth, power, control of others. Matthew will speak to this temptation again in 20:26, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant.” We can justly add, “…and lifestyle should reflect servanthood.”
Why was early Christianity as expressed in Matthew’s theology so concerned with the Book of Deuteronomy? Deuteronomy recalls the major temptations faced by Israel in the wilderness of Sinai for forty years. Deuteronomy calls Israel as a people and nation “Son of God.” “In the wilderness …you have seen how the Lord God carried you as a man carries his son…,”1:31. “You are the sons of the Lord your God,” 14:1. Exodus 4:22-23 are even more explicit on Israel’s sonship of God, but our concern here is Deuteronomy. Israel, the son, failed and fell in all its temptations in the wilderness. The ultimate and unique Son of God is tempted and overcomes the temptations. He represents the new Israel, the Church. The temptation story can be Matthew’s call to the Church to put its trust in God rather than in excessive display, glory, and power, especially secular power. The Church had secular power, but human events removed it in 1870. The Church has been better without this burden, though it was an extremely hard lesson to learn.
