Mt 4, 1-11
«Jesus was led up into the desert by the Spirit for being tempted by the devil».
When the fourth gospel is written, the synoptic gospels have been in circulation for some time, where the facts and sayings of Jesus are collected. Perhaps for this reason, this gospel is conceived as a broad theological treatise where no effort is made to highlight the humanity of Jesus, but quite the opposite. On the contrary, the synoptics (especially Mark and Luke) present us with a true man who gets tired, gets angry, gets distressed… and who is subject to temptation.
The text today shows Jesus fasting in the desert after his visit to John the Baptist; probably to test his vocation before embracing it definitively. And the first conclusion could be that Jesus’ vocation was not something so dazzling, obvious, and overwhelming that it left no room for doubt, but something much more human that forced him into a process of discernment to test it and overcome the doubts that assailed him.
In this story, the temptations that likely accompanied Jesus throughout his life are narrated. It is a very symbolic text, but some specialists dare to look beyond the symbols to offer us the real nature of his temptations.
According to some, the *“stones turned into bread”* would represent their permanent temptation to return to the tranquility of Nazareth away from the vortex in which they were embroiled, the *“pinnacle of the temple”* would symbolize their temptation to ask God for a sign that would secure their commitment to the mission, and *“power over the kingdoms of the Earth”* would refer to the temptation to face the mission from the tradition of Israel, that is, allowing themselves to be elevated to the position of Davidic Messiah to which the people were pushing them, and establishing the Kingdom of God from power…
And all these conjectures may very well be correct, but they are no more valuable than satisfying our curiosity. What is truly important is that Jesus was tempted as any one of us, and that he overcame temptation. As Ruiz de Galarreta said: «In Jesus we see the complete human situation: human beings beset by weaknesses and darkness… and full of the strength of God that enables him to overcome all of that to fulfill God’s plan».
And this puts us face to face with an ancestral dilemma that concerns us very directly, and that is referred to our ability, or not, to overcome temptation. We know that Paul was very skeptical about this, but the problem goes much further back; specifically to chapter three of Genesis –the myth of Cain and Abel– where in verse seven Yahweh says to Cain: “Isn’t it true that if you do well you will walk upright, while if you do not do well, sin will be lurking at your door like a crouching beast, to which you “must dominate”?”
The translation from the original Hebrew of this last expression, “you must dominate,” has led to various interpretations that place us in different scenarios facing evil (sin). The translation we have chosen (Nácar Colunga) presents it as a command from God: “you must dominate sin,” but other translations present it as a promise from God: “you will dominate sin.” Finally, it is also translated as: “you can dominate sin,” where God recognizes the human being’s capacity to overcome evil. The book by John Steinbeck “East of Eden” offers a precious reflection on this topic.
Miguel Ángel Munárriz Casajús
To read an article by José E. Galarreta on a similar topic, click here
English version translated with AI