Jesus went to the River Jordan, where John preached a baptism of conversion for the forgiveness of sins. (Lk 3:3) When Jesus received His baptism, He confirmed John’s Mission.
Jesus was in the midst of sinners at the Jordan, and John points out that He is the Holy One “Who takes away the sin of the world.” (Jn 1:29) Then, Jesus leaves for the desert; and after 40 days of fasting and prayer, He faces the triple temptation of Satan.
Reflect on this: Jesus, the One Who comes to take away the sins of the world, comes face to face with the very cause of sin, Lucifer, the angel of light who becomes the angel of darkness and death.
Luke identifies Lucifer now as “diabolos” the divider. John calls him “the father of lies” (Jn 8:44) and worse, a murderer (ibid.). He is also the great accuser who tempts us to sin through pride and then shames us for sinning.
Christ rejected the triple temptation, and at the same time reveals how we are to cope with temptations: obedience.
Temptations are unruly passions. Augustine calls them the triple concupiscence, or addictions we face:
* Lust of the flesh,
* Greed of the eyes,
* Pride of life. (1 Jn 2:16)
In fighting against sin, we must go back to these willful roots in ourselves.
The desire to sin in us is like a secret friend who fascinates our senses, memory, imagination, and logic to indulge. Undisciplined desires, a secret friend tempting us, is an ally of Lucifer who, as the “father of lies,” is the first tempter. Christ, however, teaches us not to talk to Lucifer as he is a liar but turn to Scripture when dealing with unruly desires for that is what Christ did. He responds to Lucifers temptations quoting:
“You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” (Lk 4:12)
“You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” (Lk 4:8)
Lucifer tempts us not to serve our eternal God, our Father, but to worship ourselves as Lucifer worshipped himself above God.
Satan does not worship anyone except himself and seeks to deceive us through this same false worship. That is why Satan says: “You will be like God.” (Gen 3:15) That is, you can become gods unto yourselves.
Christ faces this triple temptation at the beginning of His mission, so as to reveal Himself as the One who came to take away the sins of the world through obedience to the truth, not the lies of Lucifer:
He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name (Phil 2:8).
Jesus confronts temptation not by fighting against it – not even engaging or defending Himself – but through obedience to His Father’s will. The very root of sin is disobedience. Jesus comes and teaches us obedience to the Father of Life, not the father of lies.