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RJJ42
Guest
In Mathew 4-1-11, Jesus was tempted three times after a 40 day fast in the desert. I don’t understand how and why the devil could challenge Jesus to obey him knowing that he was the Son of God.
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larsenl1
Guest
You underestimate the arrogance and pride of the devil. This is a creature who was actually in the presence of God and rejected God. So why not try to get the Son of God to do magic?
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Windfish
Guest
It has been suggested that Satan did not really know that Jesus was divine, and this, I think, was reflected in Mel Gibson’s movie.
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Gem
Guest
Satan is not omniscient. He is a creation, like any other angel.
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steveb1
Guest
I think the only answer from a Catholic perspective is that Jesus was only tempted in his human nature. His divine nature as Trinitarian Son was unaffected by temptation. After all, what is the point of offering the very Creation Agent “all the kingdoms of the earth”? What a paltry, insulting, cheap offer, if made to the Trinitarian God-Son. Therefore it would appear that Jesus could only be tempted as a man, a human being. His “God-nature” by definition cannot undergo temptation.
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CHRISTINE77
Guest
Jesus was VERY hungry after fasting 40 days! As a human, it would be pretty tempting to change some stones into bread. But as the obedient son of God, Jesus turned away from the temptation. He could have made the cross disappear too, or made it lighter to carry, but of course he did not.
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Barbkw
Guest
Jesus is both fully human and fully Divine, Son of Man and Son of God.
His earthly body died, just as our body’s will. He felt pain, anquish, stress, hunger - the same as we do. Jesus was tempted in all things, but did not sin.
Heb. 4:15
His earthly body died, just as our body’s will. He felt pain, anquish, stress, hunger - the same as we do. Jesus was tempted in all things, but did not sin.
Heb. 4:15
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Big_Ro
Guest
Yes, I agree with that. Not that you needed my validation. I think though that’s it’s instructional for us as we are wholly human or material in nature. Creatures of the flesh if you will. This makes us far more susceptible to temptation. And, lacking any sort of devine make-up (well except for my wife and mother, they’re definitely angels), we must work even harder and put our reliance on Christ to protect us from temptation. I’m not sure I’m expressing my thoughts very well but hopefully my meaning comes through.
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rcjones
Guest
Temptation comes from the heart. Jesus did not want to die and he did not want to be made to be sin. This is why he prayed, ‘Take this cup…’
But he submitted his will to that of the Father.
The same temptation hit him continually through his ministry.
To Peter: ‘Get thee behind me Satan’ because Peter suggested that he need not die.
Jesus could be tempted to not die because there was no sin in not facing the cross. His was a free will offering.
But he submitted his will to that of the Father.
The same temptation hit him continually through his ministry.
To Peter: ‘Get thee behind me Satan’ because Peter suggested that he need not die.
Jesus could be tempted to not die because there was no sin in not facing the cross. His was a free will offering.
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djd83
Guest
Jesus had free will… Anyone who has free will (except God) can be tempted. That is why some of the angels, and even satan himself, fell away… Jesus, however, used his free will to submit himself to his Father, even though it meant suffering and death for him, and he knew it. That makes the Passion more important to us, and we more appreciative.
If anything of what i just said conflicts with Catholic teaching, please let me know… I am new to some doctrines…like the trinity itself
God bless!
If anything of what i just said conflicts with Catholic teaching, please let me know… I am new to some doctrines…like the trinity itself
God bless!
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FCEGM
Guest
Consider the doctrine of the Theotokos: Mary is the Mother of God because the Person born of her is Divine. IOW, she didn’t just give birth to Christ’s human nature, but gave birth to a Person. The Son, the Second Person of the Divinity, took upon Himself a human nature; joined to that human nature He is known as Jesus, but there is only one Person who is undivided in Himself while being both God and Man - and it is a person who sins or not, not a nature. The Divine Person of Jesus could not sin.
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FCEGM
Guest
Right, Satan knew Jesus was the Messiah, but did not know of that He was God Incarnate.
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Barbkw
Guest
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FCEGM
Guest
“son of the Most High God” doesn’t necessarily indicate that they knew Jesus for Who He truly was, i.e., God the Son Incarnate. Exodus 4:22, Dt. 14:1ff; Hosea 11:1; Jer. 3:19 & 31:20, e.g., show the usage indicating that Israel is God’s son, and in 2 Sam. 7:4; Psalm 2, it’s used more specifically for the King of Israel of the line of David, and ultimately for the Messiah.
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PaulWeb
Guest
Jesus allowed himself to be tempted as an example for us.
He shows us how satan twists scripture; Jesus resists temptation by the right use of scripture.
Thank you, Jesus!
He shows us how satan twists scripture; Jesus resists temptation by the right use of scripture.
Thank you, Jesus!
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Barbkw
Guest
How many “sons of God” were able to exorcise demons? The best that David was able to do toward removing Saul’s “demons” was to play music upon his harp.
The demon’s quote, “Jesus, son of the Most High God” is an acknowledgement of Divine power.
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FCEGM
Guest
Satan and his associates actually weren’t sure whether or not Jesus was God incarnate. They weren’t sure Who or What He was, but they likely suspected (and feared) that He might be, since they had an obscure understanding that some kind of Incarnation would take place. According to rabbinical/early Christian (and Islamic) lore, this is why Lucifer rebelled in the first place - because he was given some kind of mysterious glimpse of the Incarnation and could not accept it. In the Koran (and some pre-Christian Jewish sources, which the Koran draws from) this tradition is related through a story in which all of the angels are commanded by God to kneel before Adam, and Lucifer/Iblis/Samael refuses, exclaiming “Why should a son of fire bow to a son of clay?!” The Christian understanding of this legend is that it wasn’t the first Adam (per se) who Lucifer was commanded to bow to, but the New Adam, i.e., he was commanded to acknowledge and celebrate the coming Incarnation of Christ.
So, the demons would have suspected that Jesus somehow embodied God, in some manner, but they certainly didn’t know how or if their suspicion was correct. In calling him “son of the Most High God,” this doesn’t necessarily imply Divinity, but rather an extraordinarily good and pious Jew who kept the Torah, as the promised Messiah would do. Now, this doesn’t require any tradition that the Messiah (per se) would cast out demons; rather, in calling Jesus “son of the Most High God,” the demon is merely recognizing Jesus’ holiness (as an ultra-special Jew Who is faithful to the Torah), and thus has the power and ability to exorcise demons because of His closeness to God and His holiness.
It must be kept in mind that the reason there were so many demonic possessions in Palestine at the time of Christ was because Jews were mis-using the Torah (via the Kabala) and practicing Solomonic magic to control angels/demons. This of course backfired on the them. So, a Jew Who kept the Torah perfectly, and manifested the kind of extraordinary holiness that Jesus the man manifested, would certainly get the attention of the demons, and inspired fear in them. That’s all that is at play here. At best, the demon’s referring to Jesus as the “Son of the Most High God” is presented by the Gospel writer as an intentional irony. Little did the demon know how spot-on correct he actually was.
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Bob_Crowley
Guest
First of all Christ was hungry. If you were absolutely famished, you’d do all you could to obtain food. People have resorted to cannibalism, infanticide, eating grass and rats and anything else they could get their hands on, despite both a strong natural and moral aversion.
Secondly how could Christ be so sure He was the Son of God? He’d performed no miracles up to that time as far as we know, He was probably ridiculed in his village as being born outside wedlock, and there was most likely nothing that would have given Him absolute certainty as to who He really was. In that sense the test of throwing himself off the Temple would have been tempting for Christ, and instructive for the devil.
Thirdly Christ was compassionate. When the devil showed Him in an instant (and visions often show great detail in a very short time) all the kingdoms of the world, he’d have made sure Christ saw all the misery those kingdoms caused, and impiied that if He were to be the ruler, He could stop all the abuses.
That would have been a very powerful temptation for someone who loved people and no doubt animals as well. In fact, the Church states that the final deception will be a religio-political charade that promises to fix all the world’s problems without reference to God, or the basic problem of human nature - sin.
I can see why the devil did it. Obviously none of us can get into the mind of Christ. But even today, the devil knows who God’s people are and tempts them in similar ways
Sometimes I suspect he’s not quite sure just what God intends to do with these people, so he prods them to find out, as much to find out God’s response as anything else. If tempting or damaging a particular person seems to get a stronger than usual reaction form God, the devil knows that person has an important role to play and then concentrates his attacks on him or her, much more so that he would on someone destined to have less influence on events.
We are also told angels ministered to Christ after the temptations, so if the devil wasn’t sure before, he would have been absolutely positive afterwards. But by then Christ had passed the test, so now the gloves were off. The devil knew who Christ was, and Christ knew the devil knew who He was. He could also see very clearly into somebody’s soul, as when He rebuked Peter immediately after Peter’s messianic declaration, for trying to talk Him out of the cross.
But until He passed that first major test, I think even Christ might have been, for lack of a better term, a shade ambivalent.
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Blessed1934
Guest
I think that Satan temps everyone. We have to not give in to those temptations.
Jesus could have very easily given in to those temptations, like someone said
he was also human as well as Divine and that is why he also felt pain as we do.
Jesus did not give in to him and this is why we try to live by his example.
It had to be so hard for him being so hungry, he could have easily given in.
BUT he didn’t! It is truly hard sometimes not to give in to temptation because it
is certainly all around us. When we are tempted we should always try to remember
the Good Lord and follow his example.
God Bless,
Linda
Jesus could have very easily given in to those temptations, like someone said
he was also human as well as Divine and that is why he also felt pain as we do.
Jesus did not give in to him and this is why we try to live by his example.
It had to be so hard for him being so hungry, he could have easily given in.
BUT he didn’t! It is truly hard sometimes not to give in to temptation because it
is certainly all around us. When we are tempted we should always try to remember
the Good Lord and follow his example.
God Bless,
Linda
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