First Sunday of Lent Year C - Gospel Reflection


Luke 4:1-13

After Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit led Him to the desert to spend 40 days, tempted by the devil. Despite the devil's persistence, Jesus had a comeback for each of the four temptations presented. As God the Son, Jesus knew all of the Old Testament by heart because He had a part in the Divine inspiration given to each scriptural author. If you look up Deuteronomy 8:3, 1 Samuel 7:3, Psalm 91:11, & Deuteronomy 6:16, you will see each of Jesus’ responses to the devil’s temptations.

The devil found no success in tempting Jesus, so he turns towards the next best thing – God’s children! We are bombarded by temptations on a daily basis. Most are not quite so extraordinary as what Jesus faced in the desert, but temptations that can cause great harm if succumbed to nonetheless. Let us look to Jesus as an example of how to resist the devil & his temptations.

Now, I’m not saying we must go out & memorize the entire Bible (although that would be awesome, wouldn’t it?) How about we kept a dozen or so verses tucked away in an easy to reach section of our brains? Then we could simply toss a verse out to refute those temptations that come our way. The stronger we become in our faith, the harder the devil tries to distract & divert our attention from Jesus. As we go through this season of Lent, let us start compiling our arsenal of scripture references so that, as we become closer to Jesus, we will be ready for any attacks the devil may throw our way in an effort to thwart our path to Heaven.


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