Who is in Control? 1st Sunday of Lent, 9 March 2025

Who is in Control?
1st Sunday of Lent, 9 March 2025

Our text for this Sunday is about the temptation of Jesus. Several commentators have noted that this text is not simple. The devil tries to get Jesus to make bread out of stones to satisfy his hunger. I had trouble understanding why this would be a sin. The other two temptations involve Jesus worshiping the devil and throwing himself off the temple. Both can be considered sinful. But both temptations also seem incredibly vulgar. Why would Jesus engage in something so foolish? Isn't this temptation far too simple? Upon closer inspection, you will see that these temptations were anything but trivial.

Three Questions to Ponder

All three temptations were about substituting God with something that is not God. We read in verse 2 that Jesus was hungry. Verse 3 states:"The devil said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.'"Jesus was obviously starving. Anyone in his situation would probably have done the same: instead of making bread out of a stone, we would have made a bakery out of the whole desert.

In the second temptation, the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world. Verse 5 states:"And the devil took him up high and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time."That must have been a gigantic spectacle. In one fell swoop, he showed him all the high culture that existed at that time. It's like seeing all the wealth, power, culture, splendor, glamour, and glory of New York, Sydney, Paris, London, Shanghai, and Tokyo in an instant. It would have been breathtaking. The devil offered to give Jesus all of that. This temptation was about glory.

In the third temptation, the devil led Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem and said:"If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here; for it is written, 'He will give his angels charge over you, to guard you.'"The devil wanted Jesus to test God. The key word here is protection—the guarantee that everything would be okay.

But all these points, including food, were about whether there is a human need that is more essential, more basic, more important than our daily bread. And the answer is: Absolutely yes. Jesus countered the devil's temptation by saying,"Man does not live by bread alone."God is more important. The Bible says that our hunger for God, our need for God, is more fundamental than our hunger for food. Having God is more important than eating, drinking, sleeping, and even breathing. As good and as important as all these things are, nothing is as essential to life as God.

Why Would It Have Been a Sin for Jesus to Turn a Stone into Bread?

It wasn't that it was a sin for Jesus to eat. The issue was that using his power in this way would make him independent of God. Jesus would have acted on his own initiative, without the Father. By doing so, he would have made it clear that his need for food was greater than his need for God.

Another point is that the devil, through his temptations, questioned the sonship of Jesus—his identity. We all have an identity. Many of us are husbands, wives, fathers, and mothers. But there is one identity that is more fundamental than all the others:We should first and foremost be children of God.The devil does everything he can to undermine that identity.

If we understand that we are children of God through Christ alone, why do we so easily become proud and arrogant? Why do we so easily look down on others because they have weaknesses that we don’t?

Both pride and inferiority are forms of self-centeredness. In both cases, our identity is not based on God but on something else. When we are proud, we tend to want to be independent of God. When we feel inferior, we tend to want to test God. In both cases, we try to control God instead of trusting Him. This is Satan’s strategy. He attacked Jesus' identity, and he attacks our identity as children of God.

The Ultimate Example: Jesus on the Cross

On the cross, we see how Jesus gave up all of that:

Jesus gave up his life

Jesus gave up his glory

Jesus gave up his protection

Why? Not just because he wanted to give us bread, glory, and security, but because he wants to be all of that for us.

Jesus is our bread of life, so that all who eat his flesh and drink his blood will have eternal life.

Jesus is our glory, our crown, and our righteousness.

Jesus is our protection and our security.

The hunger of our soul is a hunger for Jesus. Our deepest longing is actually a longing for Jesus.

May we always seek him first.Have a great weekend.

Fr Joe, P.P.