Fighting Temptations During Lent: Homily for Sunday, March 9, 2025

What are you doing for Lent? Sometimes among other temptations we cannot resist telling people what we are doing for Lent. But the real purpose is to conversion. Readings for Today

Fighting Temptations During Lent

J.J. McGee in an article about the temptations of Jesus says this: “Many of the Fathers of the Church explained the temptations of Jesus as an example for Christians in their own temptations. The temptations were concretized; gluttony, vain glory, and ambition were respectively symbolized by the temptations to change stones into bread, to leap from the pinnacle of the temple, and to possess the kingdoms of the world.”

And again, “Essentially, the temptation of Jesus arose from his vocation. He was being tempted to renounce his role of an obedient and suffering Messiah, whose destiny was to die on a cross. The same motive stands behind the agony in the garden. A suffering Messiah was altogether different from the notion that was current about the Messiah in Judaism. The Jews looked for a glorious liberator who would free them from their political enemies, a figure of power and majesty. For the Jews, therefore, the cross was the great scandal, the great obstacle against faith in Jesus. What Jesus is tempted to is to take the easy way out. In fact, however, Jesus chose the hard way.”

Every Lent begins with an account from one of the three Synoptic gospel writers (Matthew, Mark or Luke). Today we have the version of the temptation recounted by Saint Luke. As we are at the beginning of Lent, we can ask ourselves what the temptations of Jesus can help us to enter more deeply into prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

Each of us has certain temptations that are more difficult to resist. For Jesus, they can be described simply as taking the easy way out, or specifically as temptations to, as J.J. McGee writes as gluttony, vainglory, and ambition.

And in considering these temptations, we can see how Jesus, as fully human, might be tempted by these things. He was an itinerant preacher, and so likely would have had moments where in his hunger he might be tempted to turn stones into bread. But such an action would have separated Jesus from the poor.

Inside each of us, I think, is the hope that we would be recognized for what we do. In a small way, consider how many times we share what it is that we are doing for Lent. We want some recognition for the sacrifice we are making, however small it may be.

And it also can be easy to see how Jesus might have allowed his vocation of doing the work and will of the Father to get colored by wanting to get all he could. Worse yet, it could be the case that Jesus could have taken shortcuts to achieve what he wanted. Certainly, the statements by James and John can reflect this as a continued temptation. They say, in Luke 9:54: “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”

It seems to me that each of us has specific temptations that are troubling and difficult for us. And this is why I think each Lent we read the temptations of Jesus.

What is it that seems to repeatedly tempt you? What is it you struggle with? The temptations Jesus faced were not simply temptations for the forty days in the desert. These temptations followed Jesus throughout his entire life on earth.

Consider the temptations not to suffer. We see Jesus rebuke Peter in Matthew 16:23, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Or in the agony in the garden when Jesus seeks to have the cup of suffering pass away from him.

And this is also a challenge for the early Christians too. The idea of a suffering Messiah and worse yet a crucified Messiah ran counter to all that the Jews hoped for from the Messiah. They expected a great military leader who would crush the enemies of Israel.

In fact, this expectation was part of the taunts given to Jesus on the cross. Mark 15:30 and Matthew 27:40 recount the desire from the crowd (especially the religious leaders) to come down from the cross and to be the Messiah they expected.

And these temptations of Jesus can be our temptations too. Who of us has not dreamed of winning the lottery? Who of us has not been tempted to take a shortcut at work to make ourselves look good? Who of us has not been tempted to seek the easy way out, rather than live the words recounted by both Matthew and Luke that we need to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus.

Jesus provides a model for how to live Lent. In the agony in the garden Jesus faces the temptation not to take the cup of suffering by praying. Jesus faced the temptation to ambition by fasting as he was in the desert. And Jesus fulfilled his mission as Messiah by his generous total self-gift to the Father on the cross for our salvation.

So in entering more deeply into the season of Lent, we are called to imitate Jesus by what we do for Lent. So as you consider what you have chosen to do for Lent, ask yourself how what you are doing is leading to deeper prayer, greater detachment and powerful generosity.

By reflecting on this, we can make the words of Jesus our own. We can be tempted just like Jesus. We can seek comfort, riches and fame. Faced with these temptations and in the power of the Holy Spirit, we too can say, “Get behind me Satan!”

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