Why was Jesus tempted? Matthew, Mark and Luke place the temptations between the
Baptism and the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. The Gospels tell us that, after the
Baptism, “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil” (Mt
4:1). At the Baptism, Jesus has been confirmed in His Sonship and the Holy Spirit
rested upon Him, anointing Him. He is the Son. He is the anointed One. Why does this
period of trial follow His declaration as “Son”?
 
The temptations question His Sonship. The devil repeats, “If you are the Son of God …”
Joseph Fitzmyer, S.J., observes: “The devil challenges his filial status, exploits his
hungry situation, and seeks ultimately to thwart his role in salvation-history” (Joseph
Fitzmyer, S.J., The Gospel According to Luke I-IX, 515.)
 
The first temptation is to use His power for His own bodily relief. The second is to force
the Father’s hand to rescue Him as He displays Himself in an extraordinary way. The
third is to compromise the means to bring about the kingdom, that is, to adore the devil.
Jesus chooses fidelity to the Father and His will.
 
Fitzmyer summarizes the temptations: “The three scenes then depict Jesus as the Son
of God obedient to his Father’s will and refusing to be seduced into using his power or
authority as Son for any reason other than that for which he has been sent” (Fitzmyer,
510).
 
In our lives, there are moments when our temptations are very evident like rushing
streams of water that seem so powerful. Those same temptations continue throughout
our lives, in a quieter way like small streams, at times under the surface.
 
Throughout His ministry, Jesus’ being the Son, the anointed one, will be disputed. His
authority to teach and His right to heal will be challenged. He will not be accepted, even
by the people of His village and members of His own family. Temptations run
throughout the time of Jesus’ ministry to use His power to prove Himself, to crush His
opponents, to force acceptance. He will not work mighty deeds in Nazareth because of
their lack of faith. Even as He dies, the temptations continue: “If You are the Son of
God, come down from the cross … He saved others. He cannot save Himself” (Mt
27:40, 42).
 
Thomas explains: ““Christ came to destroy the works of the devil, not by powerful
deeds, but rather by suffering from him, so to conquer the devil by righteousness not by
power” (3a. 41, 1, ad 1).
 
What about ourselves? Jesus models our experiences. As He picks up His Cross, so
He calls us to “take up [our] cross and follow Him… to lose [our] lives for His sake and
that of the Gospel” (Mk 8:34-35).
 

St. Thomas Aquinas recognizes this aspect: “Christ wished to be tempted that He might
strengthen us against temptations” (3a. 41, 1). He strengthens us by making us aware
that temptation or trials are not out of the ordinary.
St. Thomas reminds us that the same Holy Spirit who led Jesus into the desert to be
tempted, will lead us: “The Holy Spirit exposes to temptation those whom He had filled”
(Commentary on Matthew).
 Whenever we try to do something good, sooner or later, difficulties emerge, perhaps
the technology on which we depend breaks down or our efforts bring us into tensions
with others. As often as not, the difficulties arise from ourselves. We want things to be
the way we want them, now!
  
A basic temptation is to resist the movement of the Holy Spirit, just as the devil tempted
Jesus to turn away from God’s plan. An American singer, Frank Sinatra, famously sang,
“I did it my way.”
According to Thomas, when we are open to the Spirit, we do it His way: “For men are
led by the Holy Spirit, when they are moved by charity in such a way that they are not
moved on their own initiative but by another; because they follow the impulse of charity:
‘The charity of God drives us’ (2 Cor 5:14) (Commentary on Matthew). Rather than use
force, Jesus brought change by His patient endurance.
St. Thomas notices that Jesus is tempted after the Baptism. We might think that the
Baptism and anointing should come after the temptations. Jesus is tempted because He
is the Son of God, because He is the Lord’s anointed.
 
Thomas explains the reason: “We may be warned that no one, however holy, may think
himself free from temptation … He was tempted after Baptism.” Surely, it is a surprise to
each of us to discover, after we have somehow dedicated ourselves to God, perhaps
through a conversion experience or entering a religious community, that temptations
continue. Thomas recalls the Book of Sirach: “When you come to serve the Lord,
prepare yourself for trials” (Sir. 2:1).
 
After Catherine of Siena was clothed with the Dominican habit, she remained for three
years in prayer and fasting, alone in her room, leaving only for Mass. Rather than
experiencing spiritual consolation, her small room became a battlefield where she was
taunted by temptations, especially lewd apparitions of demons. Repeatedly she threw
herself upon the merciful help of God, affirming, “I trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
 
In one of her letters, Catherine recalled that Jesus appeared to her after these trials.
She asked Him where He had been in her temptations. He told that He had been with
her and the sign of His presence was that her will resisted the temptations.
 
Catherine came to understand that these temptations were actually God’s way of
making her draw closer to Him. She tried to teach this to others, as she did in her letter
to a monk in prison: “Think that the goodness of God permits the devils to molest our

souls in order to make it humble and to recognize His goodness, and to run back to Him
into His sweet wounds, as a little child runs back to the mother” (Letter 4).
 
Catherine became convinced that following Christ had to involve temptations and
struggles: “You, my soul, as a member, ought not to pass by another way than your
head. It is not right that under the thorned head there are delicate members” (Letter 38).
 
She came to see that, in their struggles, people grew in virtue: “With what does purity
prove itself and with what is it acquired? With the contrary, that is with the annoyance of
impurity … Through the contrary of the virtue, the virtue is acquired … in many storms
and temptations” (Letter 211).
 
According to Thomas, one of the reasons that Jesus underwent temptation was to
strengthen us: “To fill us with confidence in His mercy.” Thomas refers to the Letter to
the Hebrews, “We have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin”
(Heb 4:15).
 
Through Jesus, we become the sons of God and we are given the Holy Spirit. In our
experiences of temptations, we are joined with the power of Christ in His temptations:
“The sons of God, having the Holy Spirit, are led into the desert to be tempted with
Christ” (Commentary on Matthew).
 
Jesus, as He was tempted, saves us from our temptations: “For He willed to be
tempted, in order that, as He overcame our death by His, so He would overcome all our
temptations by His “(Commentary on Matthew).
 
Denis Vincent Wiseman, O.P.

The references to St. Thomas Aquinas’ Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew were
done by R.F. Larcher, O.P.