Joke: "Get behind me, Satan!": Someone saw a cartoon on this notion that said: "A woman had bought a new dress which was very expensive. Her husband asked why she had been so extravagant. She replied, "The Devil made me do it." "Well," the husband asked, "Why didn't you say 'Get thee behind me, Satan!'" "I did," explained the wife, "But he said to me: It looked as good in the back as it did in the front.” So I bought it."

Temptation, temptation, temptation. From the temptation of disobedience to God to the temptations that challenge the Son of God reported in today’s first reading and the Gospel, what did it mean? Jesus was not only God but man as well. In that human nature, he had to undergo temptations.

In today’s first reading, taken from the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, the Lord God blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so the man he created from the clay of the ground became a living being. What is this breath of life if it’s not the spirit, the soul, the inner of the human being? Since man was created differently from all other creatures that God created, he gave him dominion over all other creatures in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that the Lord God asked him not to eat nor even touch lest he dies. The first law that exists on this planet is the law of obedience—you shall eat everything except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, lest you die. This law was given directly to Adam, not to Eve. It is why when Eve ate the forbidden fruit, she was fine; but when Adam ate it, he found himself ashamed of being naked. From this law came the trick of the devil, the sin of doubt that evil created in the form of a serpent, the most cunning of all the animals that the Lord God had made.

The serpent said to the woman, “Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?” The woman answered the serpent: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman: “You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil.”

In today’s second reading, Saint Paul reminds us saying, “Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned—for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world, though sin is not accounted when there is no law.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus was tempted after forty days of fasting in the desert. In the first temptation, the devil used human senses to tempt the Lord Jesus by seducing him to change the stones into loaves of bread to eat when he was hungry “If you are the Son of God,” the devil challenged Jesus. Jesus reminds the devil saying, “It is written: One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” By saying this, Jesus reminds the devil that people do not live on bread alone, but on the Word of God. What is the Word of God if it’s not the Lord Jesus Christ himself whose obedience to God the Father to vest on himself our human flesh to be with us? The disobedience of our first parents brought us to destruction, and the obedience of the Son of God restored our relationship with God.

In the temptation of Eve, the serpent used the Word of God to trick her saying, “Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?” The woman answered the serpent: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest u die.’ “You certainly will not die!” The serpent replied, “No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil.” Adam and Eve didn’t die and their eyes were wide open but open to see what? They are ashamed of their nakedness. The sin of pride is to be like gods who know what is good and what is evil. Not only the sin of pride but also the sin of doubt.

Jesus’ second temptation, the devil took him to the holy city and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and using the Word of God challenged Jesus saying, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Is it a story from more than 2000 years ago? Have you and I ever been so prideful of who we are and what we are towards our loved ones, our coworkers, our classmates, our friends, and even strangers? We might see ourselves even better than God and doubt his existence.

Adam and Eve failed to listen to the Lord which led them to sin, and sin to death and death came to all men as Saint Paul beautifully reminds us in today’s second reading, “Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned—for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world, though sin is not accounted when there is no law.” Adam and Eve fell into sin, but thanks to the Lord Jesus that he overcame his third temptation when the devil took him up to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” To this, Jesus replied, “Get away, Satan! It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.” Thank be to God that Christ has come, he is the Word of God, the Law who came to bring us salvation.

As Jesus vests on himself our human flesh to be tempted during his fast, there is no way that we can avoid temptations during our forty days of Lent. However, Jesus overcame evil’s temptations in his total obedience and faithfulness to God, we are invited to surrender our will and be faithful to God during these forty days of Lent in fasting, praying, and almsgiving. The decision is yours.