The tempter approached and said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread” (Matthew 4:3).
The devil sets out to devour us by preying upon our vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
Imagine the utter exhaustion our blessed Lord experiences after having fasted 40 days and nights. The tempter wickedly proposes to Jesus that He should turn the stones strewn around Him into the bread He desperately wants to fill His belly.
Friends, Jesus’ renunciation of the devil’s temptation is far more than delaying dinner. Jesus refuses to use His divine power to remedy an intensely personal human problem. Understood clearly, Jesus refuses to renounce His identity and mission. He is fully divine and fully human, God Who is wholly and truly incarnate.
He [Jesus] said in reply, “It is written:’One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God'” (Matthew 4:4).
In this dramatic scene, notice how immensely humble our blessed Lord is to accept His human nature. Jesus rejects the tempter’s nefarious offer of His divine nature being employed as an escape pod to end a pressing human difficulty.
So, too, do we learn from the Gospel episode to remain alert. We are to live intentionally and reflectively, in good times and in bad times. At all times we must stay watchful over ourselves and over those with whom we bear special responsibilities to assist in moments of fatigue and vulnerability – whether such moments are ours or theirs or both. The devil lurks in the shadows of our toughest moments, tempting then us even more fiercely and cunningly with aims to of getting us to turn away from God’s will and pursue a different direction. Dare to be fed by God’s Word!
