THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST

The controversial movie “The Last Temptation of Christ” depicted a hypothetical scenario if Jesus gave-up his task as the Messiah. In the movie, his supposed ‘last temptation’ was to abandon his messianic mission in favor of becoming a man for the love of a mortal woman, insinuation was Mary Magdalene. Fiction as it is, the filmmakers categorically disclaimed any historical proof and theological truth in the story. Further, it was unintentional to malign Christianity as an institution of faith. Despite the disclaimers, the movie nevertheless created controversy. I saw that movie myself and despite of the controversy it did not change my faith in Christ or doubted the traditional teachings of the Church. I just hoped and prayed that those who saw that movie may not be ‘tempted’ to doubt or loose faith. Afterall, it was just another work of fiction.

If we take the movie’s premise that Jesus would have chosen to stay as a mere mortal for the love of a mortal woman was totally absurd. As the Son of God, Jesus is one with the Father who is love himself. No other love is greater than God’s. Any form of love that Jesus may have felt as humanly possible such as camaraderie, intimacy or sensuality are nothing compared to the divine love that he possessed as a God. Thus, it was impossible for him to favor any human being as distinct from any other. We all are equal in the sight of God. Besides, to choose any mortal before God is an unforgivable sin!

If Jesus did marry, he would have done so for the same reason of any man-- that is to gain status, fulfill the need for physical intimacy and establish emotional security. However, he was not any man. He neither needed to gain status to bolster his ego (e.g. pride) nor create physical bonds to be emotionally secured. Yet he was truly a man, he does not need all these. Unlike the pagan gods of ancient times, such as those in Greek mythology, Jesus was not narcissistic. His strength of character is unlike any mortal. He had God’s full grace since he was born for a very specific purpose unique in human history. And that is to save mankind.

The true account of Jesus’ temptation is in the Bible when he fasted and prayed for 40 days before he embarked in his public ministry. His intended solitary experience in the dessert was regularly interrupted by Satan’s visit to keep him company. But some company was the evil one. The devil was not there to give him comfort or keep him at ease but to make it harder for him to focus on his preparation to become the Savior and thus destroy God’s plan for salvation.

Jesus was thrice visited by Satan to temp him. Although the devil might have visited him more than that within the 40 days he stayed at the dessert, only these three were revealed to us by God as a summary of the lesson we have to learn from this particular event in Jesus’ life.

Yes, these three temptations are representations of the torments that any human suffers in all levels of his being: the body, soul and spirit.

The first temptation of Satan was for Jesus to turn the stones into bread to satisfy his hunger. It was tempting to do so. This temptation represents every bodily torment we experience that may harm us in any way or contradict values and morals. This is not to deny the physical needs that are inherent. However, it is the indulgence that goes beyond answering to the call of nature or may go against the natural processes of life. Yet Jesus as a man did experience hunger, thirst and other bodily urges, he lived a well-balanced life fulfilling these needs as required and within God’s natural law. For us, there is a tendency to live excessively to our own detriment. Gluttony, sloth, fornication and other forms of urges may destroy not only physically but morally as well. Just like Jesus, we should learn how to tame our urges; to live only as required and keep always his word that says, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from God.”

In the second temptation, Jesus was brought by Satan to the steep wall of the temple and told him to throw himself to test if God will truly send angels to save him from harm. This was in effect a clever strategy of the devil to test Jesus’ faith. Satan even quoted the Scriptures saying, “God has given orders to the angels about you. Their hands will hold you lest you hurt your foot against a stone.” With this temptation, Jesus was assailed in his spirit. He may have been tempted to prove the promise of God about him yet his faith never failed. He doesn’t have to prove it because he had faith. How many of us had doubted God? There were times when we are assailed by contradictions and uncertainty. We feel God has abandoned us. Oftentimes, we pray to Him yet we ask him for signs and reassurance shows only our lack of faith. Sometimes, we even set conditions or bargain with God without fully trusting His will for us. Let us not be tempted to doubt God just because we didn’t get what we ask of Him. Surely, He has a good reason to do so for our sake. We should not try to ‘bribe’ or coerce God even in prayer, it will never work. For it is written, “You shall not put to the test the Lord your God.”

The third and final temptation, Satan brought Jesus to the farthest perspective to view the lavish and ostentatious sight of the world’s vanity. On display are wealth, power, prestige and every temporal wish of any man. All these shall be given to Jesus if he shall worship Satan. This temptation was an attack on his soul. Jesus, the man, may have been tempted to possess all these yet he knew too well how these are temporal and fleeting. He cannot exchange eternal life for the temporal life. Unfortunately for us, we easily fall prey to materialism and to the hedonistic lifestyle. Among us are those who will “give up their soul to the devil” to possess wealth, status and fame. And there are those who ‘worship money’ and are idolatrous towards their self; their relationships or to ideologies. We may have unconsciously and unintentionally neglected the worship of the one true God for these worldly possessions. But the price for our neglect is not worth all the possessions of this world. Hence, we listen to Jesus’ reply to Satan on this ultimate temptation, “Be off, Satan! It is written: worship the Lord your God and serve Him alone.”

Eventually, Jesus triumphed over himself by proving his strength in body, soul and spirit. He defeated Satan and conquered the world by his sheer might against every temptation and won for us our salvation.

Lets us pray,

Praise to You, O Lord!
You never abandoned us.
For our sake You send Your Son Jesus to save us.
May we live like Him full of faith in You most especially in times of temptation.
Grant us a strength of character to bear the trials of this life.
Let us not be blinded by the vanity of the world.
Make us remember always that the most essential are not the worldly possessions
But rest in our mercy for us.
We ask You to grant us the grace to live as You please:
Worshipping You, caring for our selves and serving others.
Make our Lenten meaningful and full of genuine intentions.
That when we celebrate Easter we will rejoice with a pure heart.
We pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.