This essay first appeared in our weekly Scripture reflection newsletter on March 8, 2025.
Over the past few years, I’ve heard a number of explanations of Jesus’s temptations in the desert. To begin with, scholars tell us that the word used in the original Greek, peirasmos, is probably better translated as “testing.” But how are we to understand Satan testing Jesus by offering him first, the power to turn stones into bread; second, rule over the kingdoms of the world; and, finally, protection from any earthly harm?
The New Testament scholar William Barclay, author of the popular Daily Study Bible, began his discussion of this passage, this year’s reading for the First Sunday of Lent, by reminding us that the only possible source for this story is Jesus, and so we must take the narrative seriously. Now, whether or not Satan appeared in bodily form to Jesus (it’s certainly possible) or whether Jesus experienced these temptations within himself (that’s also possible) is difficult to say. But we need to see that Jesus, though fully human and fully divine, was definitely tested.
Barclay suggests that the three testings can be seen as follows. The first is a temptation to bribe people, in other words, to use his power to convince people to follow him by giving them things—like bread. The next testing is to compromise. Why not worship Satan and rule the world, even if it moves you away from the Father’s plans for you? And finally is the temptation to do something “sensational” for people. As Barclay notes, “Jesus saw quite clearly that a sensational action would cause amazement for some time; but he also saw that sensationalism would never last.”
We need to see that Jesus, though fully human and fully divine, was definitely tested.
I find Barclay’s take (as I usually do) fascinating. But for me, Jesus’s temptations have always been about three things: fulfilling your bodily needs, wanting glory and wanting to avoid bodily harm. And here, I think, Christ’s temptations easily intersect with our own.
How easy it would have been for Jesus, hungry in the desert, to turn stones into bread. Of course, none of us are ever going to fast without any food for 40 days. But we will have to face the temptation to satisfy our bodily urges at all times, which would not be healthy. We can’t eat every time we’re hungry, or sleep every time we feel tired or have sex every time we feel like it. We’re not simply bodies, and some resistance is called for.
Second, it’s not all about glory. Most of the loving or charitable acts we perform—caring for an aging relative, wiping the bottom of an infant or giving food to a homeless person—are not going to end up on the front pages (or homepages) of any news source. We do them anyway, and that entails a kind of asceticism.
Christ’s temptations easily intersect with our own.
Finally, we will all have to one day face illness, diminishment and even pain. As one of my spiritual directors used to remind me, “We all have bodies.” Even the Son of God was not exempt from physical pain. Thinking that we can somehow avoid that is false. So the temptation to ensure that you will never “dash your foot against a stone” is not only unrealistic, it’s a lie.
Jesus’s life can seem far removed from ours. We’re never going to do anything as “sensational” as he did, to quote Barclay. But reflecting on his period of testing is an invitation for us not only to be more ascetical, but more realistic. In the desert, Jesus rejects Satan’s invitations to move away from his divine identity and focus only on his human desires. In our lives, resisting these urges helps us to become more fully human, which is to say, more fully ourselves.
