by Fr Raymond Raj
Deuteronomy 26:4-10
Psalm 90:1-2,10-15
Romans 10:8-13
Luke 4:1-13
Theme: Scripture Guides Us Against Temptations
Brothers and sisters in the blessed Lord,
Today’s Gospel theme speaks about Temptation. Speaking of temptation, temptation rarely comes in working hours. Temptation rarely hit us during working hours. Very often, it is during our leisure time or free time we are mostly tempted. That is why in English, we say:
An idle mind is a Devil’s workshop.
So speaking of temptation, a little story comes to my mind.
A young by the name John attended Sunday Mass at his parish. After the final blessing, as he got up from his pew he saw a wallet (dompet in Malay) packed with money lying on the floor of the church. So he took that wallet and went straight to his home.
Reaching his home John told about this incident that he found a wallet in the church to his mother. The mother immediately scolded and shouted to John,
‘Why didn’t you return that wallet back to the church office? John, you are supposed to return that wallet to the office because it is not yours. Maybe someone, maybe one of the parishioners dropped the wallet.’
And John told his mother, ‘Because, mother, I was discerning whether this wallet is a temptation from the Devil or answer to my prayer.’
If you happen to see a wallet, don’t discern further. Straightaway go to Wai Chun and return it.
Brothers and sisters, temptation has no face. Temptation has no shape. Above all, temptation has no prejudice. All of us here, regardless of our vocation (let us not be proud of our vocation), regardless of our vocation, regardless of our age, regardless of our experience, all of us like it or not, all of us will be tempted.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus Christ the Son of God was tempted by the Devil. The Devil was desperately trying his best to stop Jesus from fulfilling His Father’s mission. And what is the Father’s mission?
Passion, Death and Resurrection.
So the Devil was trying to stop the Father’s mission. One would say the temptation of Jesus is very different from human beings like us because one would say Jesus is Divine. Father, Jesus was Divine so it is okay to tempt Him. Unless like us, all of us are human beings. We are full of flesh, full of blood.
It does not matter how clever we argue about this. Please be reminded today Jesus was tempted in His Human nature. Jesus has two natures, Divine nature and Human nature, and the Devil tempted Jesus in his Human nature.
The first temptation of Jesus was very basic and universal which involves food. The Devil appeared to be very concern that Jesus was on empty stomach, hungry. Therefore, the Devil suggested to Jesus ‘change these rocks into bread and satisfy yourself.‘
Brothers and sisters, the Devil was tempting, was persuading Jesus to be a selfish human being, to think about himself. But Jesus rebuked the Devil, rebuked the feeling of selfishness.
So Lesson Number One, takeaway lesson for you and for me, Number One:
Sacrifice is a virtue. When one does not know the value of sacrifice, he or she will become a selfish person.
The second temptation of Jesus, the Devil was trying to be generous to Jesus with one condition. And that condition was, ‘Worship me. Worship me and I give you everything.‘
Brothers and sisters, the Devil tells Jesus ‘If you worship me, everything belongs to you.‘
First and foremost, who gave the Devil authority over the world? The Devil is self-proclaiming. In Malay, we call it ‘shiok sendiri‘. You know some of us ‘shiok sendiri‘. ‘Shiok sendiri‘. The Devil was in ‘shiok sendiri‘ mode, proclaiming that everything belongs to him.
Brothers and sisters, Lesson Number Two for you and for me:
Jesus Christ is in charge of this universe. Not the Devil. And Jesus does not rule the world by force but rather by love.
The third temptation of Jesus. The Devil took Jesus to the pinnacle and asked Him to jump, just to check whether God will save Jesus. To put it short, the third temptation was to put God into test.
Brothers and sisters, if only (listen carefully), if only Jesus obeyed this third temptation, then the whole idea of Christianity will be centered on the word ‘Miracle‘. Christianity means miracle if only Jesus obeyed this instruction.
Christianity, my dear friends, is more than miracles. Christianity is founded on the Passion, on the Blood of Jesus Christ.
So in a nutshell, the Devil has failed tremendously before Jesus. It does not matter actually whether the Devil tempts Jesus three times or three hundred times. The Devil will lose.
So brothers and sisters, the only message that I intend to share with all of you today is:
To fight temptations of the Devil, for you and for me to fight the temptations of the Devil, you and I must be familiar with the Word of God.
More than being familiar with the Word of God, you and I must be obedient to the Word of God because the Devil needs no tuition for scripture. The only thing the Devil lacks is obedience.
Therefore brothers and sisters, in today’s Holy Mass, let us pray for the grace that you and I will be familiar with the Word of God. More than familiar, you and I, we will be obedient to the Word of God.
We pray for this grace during this Holy Mass.
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