The Temptation in the Desert

Temptation is a test or trial. In special, it is an invitation or an allurement to sin which tests or manifests the moral fiber of one who experiences it. Temptation is either: (a)external only, and then it is an invitation or suggestion from without, with no tendency whatever, in the person tempted, to respond to it; or (b) internal, and then it is a weakness,passion, or tendency in the person tempted. Now the temptation of Christ in the desert (Matt., chap. 4) was entirely external. Our Lord’s human nature was perfect and without unruly tendencies, and his Person is divine. The temptation of Christ was a test or experiment on the part of the devil. The devil wished to know for sure whether this man Christ was God Incarnate; for the divinity of Christ had been manifested to the demons only in so far as Christ willed it to be made known to them. Satan suspected; he wished to be sure. In making his proposals or temptations, Satan twice employed the phrase, “If thou be the Son of God …” It is interesting to note that our Lord, inrebuffing the tempter, did not tell him what he was so eager toknow. Now, our Lord endured what may be called the indignity of the temptation in the desert, for good reasons: (a) to bear, at least outwardly, all that his followers have to endure; (b) to show us,and warn us, that not even perfect sanctity is immune from the assaults of the devil; (c) to set us an example of prompt andunhesitating rejection of temptation; (d) to show up, forourbenefit, the devil’s method of assault, namely, first suggesting something apparently good or at least harmless(“make these stones bread”), and moving quickly on to what is most vile, even to devil-worship; (e) to assure us that all temptation can be successfully resisted, and to make us turn to him with confidence in our own temptations.

Christ’s temptation in the desert shows us another of the devil’s wiles, namely, his preferring to tempt a man when the man is alone, that is, away from where his ready help lies. Thus a man forgetful of God or negligent of prayer puts himself into a desert place where temptation lurks. Seen from Satan’s angle, the world of virtue and grace-inspired works isa desert where he has nothing; he is envious of those who dwell in abundance there; he envies that abundance which cannot ever be his;he strives to tempt pious souls, therefore, and to make their lives a real desert.

We need penance to make us strong against temptations. Our Lord permitted Satan to approach him only after his hardpenance of fasting forty days. Herein is a plain lesson for us.

The order of the three temptations proposed by Satan shows us his strategy and teaches us to avoid his snares. No one falls suddenly into the deepest evildoing; Satan is too shrewd to suggest to a decent person the indecency of the viler sins, until he has prepared the way for that suggestion by lesser matters. Satanic wiles begin with something of which one may say, “Whynot? What harm is there in it?” Having won a first concession,the devil cleverly pursues his advantage until the grossest evils are possible.