For the First Sunday of Lent…
When the devil had finished every temptation,
he departed from him for a time. Luke 4:13
Every Lent, we hear this Sunday’s Gospel describing the temptation of Jesus in the desert. After that episode, the devil left Jesus alone “for a time.” That implies the devil would be back.
When I was young, I used to think Jesus could withstand the devil because he was God. That there should be no contest, right? It’s not a fair fight, after all. But then I learned something about the miracle that is the Incarnation. That, Jesus, in becoming a human person (without compromising his divinity), became subject to the same mental, emotional and physical struggles we humans face. He fully became a man. And the devil tried to take advantage on that score. For Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, condescended or stooped our level, taking on human flesh, and therefore our temptations and sufferings, too. But he did this without sinning.
Jesus gets us. He came to show us the truth, and the way to become like him. In C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, there’s a memorable monologue from the devil named Screwtape about the depth of God’s amazing love for us. The devil says:
“He really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself—creatures whose life, on its miniature scale, will be qualitatively like His own, not because He has absorbed them but because their wills freely conform to His. We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons.”
We know who wins this fight. In time, Jesus would be the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God, who would shed his blood to save us from our sins, from death, and yes, the devil.
And so we pray…
Lord, lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil. Help us to become little replicas of you. May we live in the blessed knowledge of our being sons and daughters of God.
