I saw this Cartoon of Satan tempting Jesus, saying:
“If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a medium rare ribeye steak with truffle butter.” [Jesus is thinking to himself, “He’s getting better at this.”]
Note that Jesus did not say, “Man cannot live by coffee alone, but he will give it a good try!”
Actually, as we just heard, Jesus replies to Satan: “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God." Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4
Certainly, Satan would retort, “Can’t you just feed people without theological comment? Why do you have to preach? Just feed hungry people!”
1).The devil's theology aims at speedy and sensational results. Evil-energy is speedy and sensational. Waiting, enduring and hoping are not part of the devil's toolbox.
One cannot live on bread alone because faith interprets life’s essentials like food and faith illuminates what we have and what we share so that we are not just food delivery people, but minister material support in the Name of the Lord so that not just bodily hunger may be satisfied but also human hunger. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every costly word, from 'the word of the cross' as Corinthians 1: 18 says.
[Source: Not by bread alone: how does Jesus free and unite us? By Ko¯suke Koyama, Ecumenical Review, 27 no 3 Jul 1975, p 201-211.
2). Satan can only tempt you with goods that God has created—
[The Macro view of temptations]
C.S. Lewis made an astute observation in his masterful Screwtape Letters: the devil cannot manufacture real goods or pleasures; he’s stuck with the ones God has made and for which our natures have an inclination. So what the devil does is not to present a false good as a temptation, but rather a true good in the wrong order or circumstance.
For example, he can only tempt you by looking at the past, present or future to misuse a good, or twist a scenario in your mind so that you sin by misusing what God made objectively good.
The devil tempted Eve with the good of knowledge, which was a real good, but Satan twisted it and presented it as something that Eve could grab on her own. Consequently, the knowledge of good and evil now inclines to sinfully exercise independent judgement between right and wrong apart from God’s law and will.
Saint Teresa of Avila wrote that the devil little by little darkens one’s understanding and causes its self-love to increase, until the love of God lessens to the point where the person then begins to indulge in its own wishes.
e.g. In the wedding vows, the various options include such phrases as “to have and to hold;” “to be faithful,” and, in 2009 when Pope Benedict XVI allowed Anglican’s/Episcopalians to come into full communion with the Catholic Church and keep their keep much of their liturgical tradition and patrimony, the first option among their different wedding vows includes the line, “forsaking all others, keeping myself only unto you.”
In any chosen vocation, there will be goods to give up. Jesus gave up everything when he became one of us. You married Harold not Darwin so you are giving up the good of Darwin for life. To be a priest, you forsake many goods like marriage and family. To be a soldier, you put off many goods while on deployment.
So in order not to fall into the trap of “what you resist, persists” –when tempted, acknowledge that, at the bottom, after all the disguises and trappings and smoke and mirrors of Satan—as we ask in Lent, “Do you reject the glamour of evil?”--that a real good exists, but that good is just not for you as per God’s clear commands, and unless we acknowledge this, it is much harder to resist the devil’s temptations.
3). [The Micro view of temptations]
More specifically, regarding the tactics of the devil, note that desire is the reason for the woman seeing and taking the fruit. Similarly, in Genesis 12:14-15, the Egyptians “see” how beautiful Sarah is, so she is “taken” to Pharaoh’s place. David saw Bathsheba and took her. The Dead Sea Scrolls mention the desire of the wicked who want to take.
Source: Before Human Sin and Evil: Desire and Fear in the Garden of God by Mark Smith, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 80 no 2 Apr 2018, p 225.
Temptation is a conflict of desire (cf. 1 John 2:16).
Fear is the first human emotion after the fall, then shame.
Then often blaming, which is false attribution, and is a form of denial--Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the snake and the snake doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
Lessons learned: desire of the eyes came first, but, a previous verse said there were other trees in the garden “that were [also] delightful to look at and good for food.”
Take stock of all the blessings the Lord has given you. Adam and Eve had everything. So many goods they could enjoy in peace and joy. “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.'”
4).Never dialogue with the devil. In the Diary of St. Faustina, Jesus told her that “silence is a spiritual defensive weapon. A talkative soul will never attain sanctity. The sword of silence will cut off everything that would like to cling to the soul.”
Satan makes an ideological overstatement by his premise, in his speaking to Eve, “Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?" Then he says: “You certainly won’t die,” making an emotional appeal without any evidence to back up his claim. He insinuates that the divine prohibition has a different motive, imputing bad motives to God—it’s not to protect you from dying, you will become like God deciding for yourself what is good and evil.
Now look at how Jesus handles Satan--with minimal assertion and negative emotion. You can escalate gradually and be increasingly firm but only as needed. For example, Jesus recalled the words of Deuteronomy 6:16 only when he needed to: "It is said, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God' " (Luke 4:12).
Satan will use people to get you to stumble by means of misapplied Scripture teaching. The apostle Paul wrote that "Satan disguises himself as an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:14). The apostle then added that Satan's deception can even be carried out by false apostles who "also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness" (v. 15). Jesus, John, and Paul all made repeated statements about the vast deception that will eventually encompass the entire unbelieving world which we hear every year towards the end of ordinary time.
5. Lastly, to defeat temptations we need fast from food or drink-
A friend quips, "Anne's giving up drinking for Lent, Bridget's giving up chocolate, and I'm just giving up."
In normal circumstances you'd be dead long before 40 days without water. Water is more important than food.
But hunger strikers and just regular fasters who eat no food but do drink water can and do often fast for 40 days, but you are really pushing the limits after 40 days; most died ranging from 59 days to the longest of 73 days before dying.
As a regular faster noted, after 5 days of fasting, your hunger will be gone – and you will begin to feel a fasting high, and you will have non-stop, constant energy due to an increase in the stress hormone, Cortisol, but a big negative is the big increase in Cortisol will also give you insomnia. I note that it’s not safe to drive after 5 days of fasting.
“What is Lent?” asked a Muslim to a professor at a Catholic faculty of theology. Reply: “Lent is the Christian Ramadan.” In the Jewish faith there are fasts, especially on Yom Kippur.
Please note that "fasting" is only required for Catholics on two days: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday).
For Catholics
1. Fasting must be motivated by the life of prayer and readings from the Scripture;
2. Fasting is an act of solidarity, with the money saved through not eating given to the poor;
3. Fasting is anchored to the liturgical year (Lent) or undertaken and apart from Lent in a cosmic framework: from sunrise to sunset, or with bread and water.
4. Or, take on a longer fast if your health and/or doctor present no medical concerns.
Source: Fasting--some Protestant remarks: 'not by bread alone': an argument for the contemporary value of Christian fasting by Anne Marie Reijnen, St Vladimir's Theological Quarterly, 60 no 1 - 2 2016, p 272
There is a long history of the world’s spirit in us, which is self-interest. Deuteronomy 8:2 says God led them through the wilderness “to know what was in thine heart.”
He wants to deliver us so we will be wholly committed to his will.
Amen.
