The Temptation of Jesus

One

The Temptations

Jesus is a divine Person, incapable of sin. Why, then, would Jesus go through the motions of being tempted to sin when sin was precisely what He was incapable of?

First of all, so that He could sympathize with us in our temptations. Hebrews 14 says that Christ, Our High Priest, can sympathize with our infirmities since He was tempted like we are, but without sin.

In other words, it wasn’t just a charade. Jesus is fully God and He is also fully human. He could be tempted. He did feel the attraction of the goods which Satan presented to Him. He felt that internal tug-of-war between the lesser but so-desirable good and the greater good God wants for us.

So He knows, by His own experience, how powerful temptation can be. But secondly, so that He could show us how to overcome temptation, what practices, and what preparation can make us ready to choose rightly when evil presents itself as a live option.

He is our example in all things and here we need to look carefully at the weapons He brought to His battle with Satan.

Two

The Sources of Temptation

Scripture and Tradition have identified three sources of temptation: the world, the flesh, and the Devil. We see these sources in Christ’s temptation.

The flesh refers to the temptations that come to us from within ourselves: our natural desires for food, for drink, for love and comfort – all these quickly become disordered. Our five senses, especially sight and taste and touch, these take over for so many of us. And Satan tempts Christ to put His physical pleasure first, tells Him to turn stones into bread, to use His miraculous power for His own bodily satisfaction. 

The world refers to the temptations that come to us from other people: peer pressure, social expectation, cultural norms.

So many of our disordered desires are taught to us by others. So many of our sins are born of trying to compare ourselves to others, or out of a concern for what other people think. And Satan approaches through this avenue too. He takes Jesus to the highest point in the most crowded part of Israel, to the parapet of the temple, and says, “Throw yourself down, and then at the last second let God save you!” Sure, it’s kind of a pointless miracle, but it’ll sure impress people, and we all want to impress people, “try it!”

The Devil, of course, is at the root of all our temptations. He’s the first tempter, the one we obey every time we choose some worldly thing over God. And at the last temptation, Satan takes off the mask, and says, “I’ll give you anything on earth! I’ll give you everything on earth! Just forsake God, let me be your master!”

But Christ wins every time.

What strategy does Jesus use that we should learn from and use ourselves in our battle against temptation?

Three

Fasting: our defense against the flesh

We fall from temptation into sin because our misplaced desires and feelings overpower our intellect and will. I know I shouldn’t watch this or eat that but I really want to, I can’t help myself. We fail to say no to these temptations because we don’t have the strength. We are weak. 

So we need to do some exercise, we need to exercise our intellect and will to say no to our desires. The best way to do that is by fasting.

Christ prepares for the struggle with temptation by fasting, by denying His body what it wants.

What kind of training do you give your five senses as part of the Christian life? In what way do you deny your disordered desires for sight, touch, and taste? Do you fast on certain days of the week or from specific foods and drink? Or do you just eat and drink whatever you like? Do you discipline your eyes in what they look at: or do you just let yourself watch videos and shows because you need to veg out? Do you discipline your hearing by refusing to listen to and enter into gossip? If you struggle with lust, or with gluttony or drunkenness or gossip but you have no spiritual exercise of self-denial regarding your senses, well then what did you expect?

Christ Himself prepared for temptation by fasting, do you think He needed more preparation than you do?

Four

Time in solitude: our defense against the world

Why do you think Christ went to the desert to prepare for His battle with Satan? Probably because, as you might have guessed from its name, the desert is deserted. In the desert, Jesus could find solitude and silence.

Our lives, by contrast, are absolutely flooded with noise and distraction. How can you build up the moral reserves to do the right thing regardless of what other people think when you never stop listening to what other people think?

Christ didn’t check the news or his social media in the desert. He was alone with nature and with God. And when Satan came He was ready.

So do you take time, every day, to be away from people, away from your devices, to be silent and meditate and pray? If not, then you will always be the slave of the group and Satan will manipulate you at will.

Five

Avoiding the Near Occasion of Sin 

The most important way of overcoming temptation is to avoid the near occasion of sin. But what, exactly, does that mean?

One of the most violent and disturbing things Jesus said in the Gospels is about getting rid of whatever causes you to sin. He says that if your hand causes you to sin, you should cut it off. And if your eye causes you to sin, you should pluck it out.

You may have to cut certain things out of your life, certain things that aren’t bad in themselves, but which, for us, are near occasions of sin. We have to cut those situations out, and it’s going to be really hard. It might even feel a bit like an amputation. But it’s worth it.

Our sins, our temptations, and our vices, are nearly always linked to particular situations. Sinful behavior and addiction is largely environmental. If you put folks in a certain environment, they’re almost certain to give in to their temptation. But if you remove them from that environment, the intensity of their temptations and their likelihood of giving into it goes way down.

This is just what classic Catholic moral advice has always said: avoid near occasion of sin.

The eye we need to pluck out, the hand we need to cut off, is the environment, the situation, in which we are prone to succumb to our particular vices. When it comes to our deep vices and addictions, willpower isn’t primarily about resisting temptation when the storm hits. By the time the temptation hits, we’re usually too far gone to resist. 

Willpower is about strategizing in advance. It’s about identifying the situations in which we’re tempted and avoiding them. Jesus doesn’t say, “If your eye causes you to sin, just resist the temptation next time.” He says pluck out your eye, cut out the occasion of temptation. 

Change your environment and temptation will diminish.