Fr Marco Lazzaron
he story of Jesus’ temptations is one of the best-known passages in the Gospels. Even those who do not frequent the Church regularly have heard of Jesus, who was tempted to transform stones into bread, who was taken to a very high mountain, where the evil one made him contemplate all the kingdoms of this world and then invited even to throw himself from the pinnacle of the temple to manifest himself directly to everyone.
As temptations, they seem very different from ours but, these are images that the first Christian communities used to present a very consoling truth: Jesus is truly our brother, he had to face all the trials of life, all the temptations that we too must face. From all situations in life, one can emerge defeated, even dehumanized, the pain can even lead to blaspheming God and losing faith, and even more one can also forget God and our brothers and sisters. At times, however, one can emerge also more mature in faith, asking Jesus to be on our side and to fight against all our temptations, so that we cand do like him and reject the evil one.
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews says that Jesus went through all the situations of life, which we too must deal with. There is only one difference: he has never emerged defeated; he is equal to us in everything, except sin. Sometimes, we do not behave like children of God, we do not listen to the Spirit of the children of God who is in us, but we follow the impulses of our passions. He, however, has always been faithful to his identity as the Son of God. This is the reason why every year at the beginning of Lent, the liturgy places before us how Jesus lived all the moments of trials and temptations.
This year we are offered the version of the temptations of Jesus by Mark, which does not present the three parables, as Matthew and Luke do, but only two verses, in which however the evangelist wants to show us how Jesus experienced the trials of life. His first call, which comes to us repeated this Sunday, is: “Repent and believe in the gospel” (what Fr Peter and I said while imposing the ashes just a few days ago!) He begins right from what had been the central point of John the Baptist’s teaching.
Lent is above all a period of reflection on the mysteries of our redemption, at the heart of which they are the teaching and person of Jesus Christ. The Savior took on human form, that is, that which is our condition, and he was not even spared from the experience of temptation. In its human nature, Jesus experienced firsthand what it means to reject Satan and put divine things first.
Our Lord and our God is our guide and model in everything. Trying to know Christ also means becoming aware of our need for a change of life that we call “repentance”. In particular, it is through the liturgy of the Church that we approach Christ and experience his presence among us. In the liturgy, we become “one” with Christ in the mystery thanks to which he redeemed the world.