The Temptations of Jesus

Being tempted is an essential part of his being a man, part of his descent into fellowship with us, into the depths of our need... Temptations depicted in grand images reoccur concretely at particular stages in the life of Jesus.

After multiplying the loaves, Jesus sees that the crowds want to make him king, and he flees — to the hills, by himself (Jn 6: 15).  In a similar way he resists the temptation to identify himself with his miracles, which would interfere with his preaching — his real mission (cf. Mk 1: 35-39).  And when Peter, having declared that Jesus is the Son of God, tries to keep him from the path to suffering, the Lord says to him the same thing that we hear at the climax and conclusion of the temptation story here: "Get behind me, Satan" (Mk 8: 33).

Thus the temptation story summarizes the entire struggle of Jesus: it is about the nature of his mission, but at the same time it is also about the right ordering of human life, about the way to be human, about the way of history.

Finally, it is about what is really important in the life of man.  This ultimate thing, this decisive thing, is the primacy of God.  The germ of all temptation is setting God aside, so that he seems to be a secondary concern when compared with all the urgent priorities of our lives.  To consider ourselves, the needs and desires of the moment to be more important than he is — that is the temptation that always besets us.  For in doing so we deny God his divinity, and we make ourselves, or rather, the powers that threaten us, into our god.