IMITATING JESUS THE OBEDIENT SON
Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
In a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, Calvin tells his dad: “So long, Pop! I’m off to check my tiger trap! I rigged a tuna fish sandwich yesterday, so I’m sure to have a tiger by now!”
His dad replies: “They like tuna fish, huh?”
Calvin says: “Tigers will do anything for a tuna fish sandwich!”
The final frame shows Hobbes, hanging by his foot from a tree, munching a tuna fish sandwich and saying: “We’re kind of stupid that way.”
Adam and Eve were kind of stupid that way! They wanted to be like God and made a foolish decision: instead of enjoying all that was “very good”, they chose the forbidden.
Temptation came to them at three levels: physical (“good for food”); emotional (“a delight to the eyes”); and intellectual (“desired to make one wise”). But the foundation of the temptation was the doubt about God’s word: “Did God say…?” and the blatant denial of God’s word “You will not die.”
Like Adam in the garden, Jesus is subject to three tests in the wilderness. But unlike Adam, Jesus does not succumb. After his baptism, Jesus is clear about his identity as the Son of God and does not make stupid choices which prevent him from living his identity.
The three temptations in Matthew’s account reflect the three tests Israel faced. Israel, called “son” by God, failed each test; Jesus, the obedient Son, rejects the devil’s short-cuts and remains steadfast to God. Jesus
- refuses to mistrust God; refuses to exploit his power to provide himself with bread instead of waiting for bread from heaven; manifests his total dependence on God.
- refuses to seek proof of God’s presence with him.
- affirms his uncompromising and undivided loyalty to God.
Our needs and desires – physical, emotional, intellectual – could become channels for temptation. And we will fall if we fail to nourish ourselves with God’s word, which comes to us in the scriptures, in the teachings of the Church, in the advice of parents and elders, and in the innocence of children.
What is my tuna-fish sandwich? How/when do my legitimate needs become channels for temptation? What prevents me from living as God’s son/daughter?
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