Matthew 4:1-11

Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7

Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 17

Romans 5:12-19 or 5:12, 17-19

Matthew 4:1-11

At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert

to be tempted by the devil.

He fasted for forty days and forty nights,

and afterwards he was hungry.

The tempter approached and said to him,

“If you are the Son of God,

command that these stones become loaves of bread.”

He said in reply,

“It is written:

One does not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes forth

from the mouth of God.”

Then the devil took him to the holy city,

and made him stand on the parapet of the temple,

and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.

For it is written:

He will command his angels concerning you

and with their hands they will support you,

lest you dash your foot against a stone.”

Jesus answered him,

“Again it is written,

You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”

Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain,

and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence,

and he said to him, ""All these I shall give to you,

if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”

At this, Jesus said to him,

“Get away, Satan!

It is written:

The Lord, your God, shall you worship

and him alone shall you serve.”

Then the devil left him and, behold,

angels came and ministered to him.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, you are all-knowing and all-powerful. You know how I will be tempted and what I need to do to be victorious. Grant me your grace in abundance and the virtues of faith, hope, and charity in need to be your faithful child.

Encountering the Word of God

1. The King of Israel is Tempted: The story of Jesus’ temptations in the desert in Matthew’s Gospel is a recapitulation of Israel’s temptations, trials, and testing in the wilderness. Matthew has indicated that Jesus is the royal Messiah and true King of Israel. “As the Messiah-King, Jesus would have been viewed by his Jewish followers as their representative. Throughout Israel’s history, the king was considered an embodiment of the whole nation. So closely was the king associated with his people that what happened to the king could be said to have happened to the people as a whole. For example, when the king was faithful to the covenant with Yahweh, the entire nation received God’s blessing. But when the king sinned greatly, the whole nation suffered for his infidelity. The king represented the people. This helps us to understand Jesus’ temptation in the desert. As Israel’s royal representative, Jesus experienced the same trials Israel did during the Exodus. What happened to Israel in the time of Moses happened to Jesus in the first century” (Sri, God with Us, 46-47). Israel was tested with hunger in the wilderness, and they failed, grumbling against God and Moses. Second, Israel failed and tested God’s trustworthiness. Third, Israel was tempted to worship false gods, and they failed. By contrast, Jesus overcomes the temptation to grumble about hunger, the temptation to test God, and the temptation to worship a false God. He is victorious and wins for Israel and the Church, the divine blessing of the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

2. The Original Sin of Adam and Eve: During Lent, the First Readings are chosen not to complement the Gospel but to give an overview of the most important moments in salvation history. It acts like a preparation for catechumens and us for the celebration of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection. We begin in Year A, with the creation and fall of Adam and Eve. Genesis teaches that human beings have “the breath of life.” We are spiritual creatures capable of knowing and loving God. In the Garden of Eden, there were many trees that Adam and Eve could eat from, but two stand out in particular. One was called “the tree of life,” and later on in Genesis, we find out that if Adam and Eve had eaten from that tree, they would have enjoyed eternal life with God. The other tree was called “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” If Adam and Eve ate of this tree, it wasn’t that they would simply know the difference between good and evil. Knowing something means possessing something. And in this case, it means determining for oneself what is good and evil. This is something that only God can do properly. And so, when the devil invites Eve and Adam to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he is inviting them to act like God and determine for themselves what is good and evil. And this is what happens when we sin. We determine that something like stealing, lying, slandering, or lusting is good when, in truth, it is something evil. When we sin, we basically say and lie to ourselves, “God says this is evil. But God is wrong. It is good for me, especially in this moment.” And so, the sin and fall of Adam and Eve is, on the one hand, representative of every sin we commit, and, on the other hand, the original sin that has stained every human being except two: Jesus, the New Adam, and Mary, the New Eve.

3. Paul on Original Sin and its Remedy: In the Second Reading, Paul sets up a typological antithesis between Adam and Christ. “Paul’s point is that the Messiah’s obedience more than compensates for the first man’s disobedience” (Hahn and Mitch, Romans, 80). Sin and spiritual death entered the world through Adam. Paul “is talking about the death of our original union with God” (Hahn and Mitch, Romans, 81). We do not inherit Adam and Eve’s personal guilt, but we, as children of Adam and Eve, inherit their fallen and mortal nature (CCC, 404). There are similarities and differences between Adam and Christ. In both cases, the deeds of the one affect the many. “By way of contrast, [Paul] emphasizes that Adam and Jesus made completely opposite choices in relation to God, the former alienating his descendants from God and the latter uniting his disciples with God” (Hahn and Mitch, Romans, 88). Paul contemplates the sin of Adam, which enslaved mankind, and the saving obedience of Christ, which freed mankind. The grace of salvation is beyond compare. Spiritual death was unleashed by the transgression of Adam; spiritual life comes to us through the mediation of Jesus Christ, the New Adam. Death reigned because of Adam, but grace and justification come to reign because of Jesus. The gift of salvation remains a gift that we need to accept individually by faith. 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I believe in your victory over the devil and that you are truly my redeemer. You have saved me from sin and death, and I am forever grateful.

Living the Word of God: Five days into Lent, how has it gone? What has gone well and what needs improvement? Did I “give up” something for Lent? Has this brought me closer to God? Where do I want to be at the end of the forty days of Lent?