First Week of Lent - Sunday

Matthew 4:1-11

At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry.

The tempter approached and said to him,
"If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread."

He said in reply, "It is written:
'One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God.' "

Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him,
"If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written:
'He will command his angels concerning you
and 'with their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.' "

Jesus answered him, "Again it is written,
'You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.' "

Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him,
"All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me."

At this, Jesus said to him,
"Get away, Satan! It is written:
'The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.' "

Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.

--Reflection
In all three years of the lectionary cycle, the Gospel for the first Sunday of Lent is devoted to the temptation of Jesus in the desert. Examining temptations is a good way to begin Lent. Most people’s daily ethical choices are not between total good and total evil, but between various shades of good, a partial good that is wrongly perceived as an absolute good (because of the self as the central reference point), or even evil that disguises itself as good. These are what get us into trouble.