First Sunday of Lent
February 13, 2005
Matt. 4: 1-11

The evangelist Matthew is aware that the material of Christ's temptation in the desert has not been witnessed by anyone but Jesus. The presupposition is, therefore, that Jesus himself gave an account of his face-to-face experience with Satan. This also implies that Jesus spoke of his trials in intimate conversation with his disciples. We assume, therefore, that this material originated not in public preaching but in conversation with the Twelve or with an even more restricted group.

Thus, the third-person narrative form of the temptations is secondary to any conceivable original presentation of the account by Jesus. The narrative is structured around three temptations and four scriptural quotations (Dt 8:3; Ps 91:11-12; Dt 6:16; Deut 6:13). One should note the symmetric structure of the quotations: the first and third temptations are each rebuked by a quotation from Deuteronomy, while the second temptation is a "scriptural dialogue" between the Devil and Jesus.

The inner dynamic of the narrative comes from the mounting tension created by the sequence of the temptations: the first, based on Jesus' fasting and hunger, provokes Jesus to exercise his power. Such an exercise of power could also provide a basis for the social success of his messianic career. The second temptation entices him to stage his long-expected arrival as a "descent from above," i.e., from the pinnacle of the Temple. The third consists of a vision of all the world's kingdoms, supposedly under the Devil's dominion. Satan offers him these kingdoms in exchange for an act of adoration. These three themes are remarkably close to the material found in John 6, Jesus' multiplication of bread in the desert, which leads, on the one hand, to a discourse about him as "the Bread come down from heaven" and, on the other hand, to his flight from those who want to make him a king. In Matthew, the last and most outrageous temptation is the one inviting him to worship devil, a feature best understood against Jewish sensitivity and an OT background, which often identified the idolatry of "the nations" as the cult of evil powers (cf. ex. gr. Ps 106:35-38). In the context of the other gospels Matthew's account is best embedded not only into the prophetic soil of the OT but also into the whole of the Matthew's gospel. For at the end of the book, the eleven worship the risen Lord and receive a mission to preach the kingdom to all the nations of the earth. In Mt 28:28 Jesus obtains for himself by means of his descent into suffering and the ascent of the resurrection exactly what the Devil had demanded of him in Mt 4:9.

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