Father Koch: A real Jesus encounters a real Satan in the desert
March 7, 2025 at 10:05 a.m.
Jesus encounters a real Satan and real temptation in the desert. After having fasted in the wilderness for forty days, Jesus is hungry and, no doubt, focused on the resolve as to what he needs to do now. It is at that moment that Satan makes himself known to Jesus by offering the challenge, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” The combination of these two temptations no doubt makes them the most difficult of all to overcome. The temptations to doubt and self-gratification plague all of us. Many of us are inclined to doubt both the reality of God and of Satan. Both of these are dangerous paths.
After 40 days in the wilderness Jesus was hungry. This is the most vulnerable moment in Jesus’s life that is recorded in the Gospels until we read the account of his torture and execution. The weakness that was brought on through this intense fasting made him, as it does any one of us, susceptible to temptation and to doubt.
Satan pounces on this moment. He suggests to Jesus that maybe he isn’t the Son of God. Afterall, that would be completely unheard of, standing completely outside of human experience. Sure, the pagans had some ideas of gods who appeared to be human, but there was no equivalent in Judaism. Jesus was unquestionably a faithful observant Jew. He knew the Scriptures and the traditions that interpreted and applied them to his daily life. Even the appearance of Satan, in whatever form that took in this moment, would have been startling. Perhaps, as with the voice he heard at his Baptism, it was a powerful interior moment. At his baptism the voice was signified by the appearance of a dove. The desert was replete with snakes and other more dangerous creatures. The impact of the moment must have been startling.
The immediate following temptation to turn stones into bread stands as a very real temptation. A bit of bread would have taken the edge off his hunger, but would also have left him desiring more, beginning a cycle of ravenous eating. Jesus wanted nothing to do with this. To attempt to turn stones into bread would have done one of two things. It would either have failed, therefore removed the belief that he was the Son of God; or it would have succeeded, and shown Jesus that he could use the privileges of divinity for his own aggrandizement.
The following temptations hit much deeper.
During this 40-day period Jesus has been reflecting on the plan of salvation and the ministry on which he was about to embark. In human terms, Jesus would be seen as a failure. Yes, he will attract some large crowds, but ultimately, most of them will either just turn away or actively seek to have him killed.
He will grow a core band of followers – the men and women who accompany him at stages along the way, and an inner circle of 12 whom he will instruct in a more clear and ardent way. Yet, even they will not remain loyal to him, and one of them will be proximately responsible for his eventual arrest.
Apparently conceding now that Jesus believes that he is the Son of God, Satan challenges his relationship with God. He then opens another door of doubt questioning whether or not God is truly present and active in his life. If you jump off the mountain will God send his angels to rescue you? Are you really that important? Could not God just raise up someone else to take your place? This is powerful. Why don’t you test God to see if He really loves you? Jesus turns this aside by reflecting on the Scriptures; one should never challenge or test God’s love and mercy.
With the images of the horror of his crucifixion fresh in his mind, Satan then challenges Jesus to turn aside from the Kingdom of God and instead to reign in his Kingdom – a Kingdom of this world, where Jesus would reign supreme in ways that even the Roman Empire could not have imagined. This would, though, be a Kingdom of Satan, and Jesus would be totally subject to him instead. Again, Jesus rebuked Satan, it is here that his true life of sacrifice for the salvation of the world begins.
The temptations of Jesus were real experiences for him – do any of them sound familiar to you?
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.
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Jesus encounters a real Satan and real temptation in the desert. After having fasted in the wilderness for forty days, Jesus is hungry and, no doubt, focused on the resolve as to what he needs to do now. It is at that moment that Satan makes himself known to Jesus by offering the challenge, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” The combination of these two temptations no doubt makes them the most difficult of all to overcome. The temptations to doubt and self-gratification plague all of us. Many of us are inclined to doubt both the reality of God and of Satan. Both of these are dangerous paths.
After 40 days in the wilderness Jesus was hungry. This is the most vulnerable moment in Jesus’s life that is recorded in the Gospels until we read the account of his torture and execution. The weakness that was brought on through this intense fasting made him, as it does any one of us, susceptible to temptation and to doubt.
Satan pounces on this moment. He suggests to Jesus that maybe he isn’t the Son of God. Afterall, that would be completely unheard of, standing completely outside of human experience. Sure, the pagans had some ideas of gods who appeared to be human, but there was no equivalent in Judaism. Jesus was unquestionably a faithful observant Jew. He knew the Scriptures and the traditions that interpreted and applied them to his daily life. Even the appearance of Satan, in whatever form that took in this moment, would have been startling. Perhaps, as with the voice he heard at his Baptism, it was a powerful interior moment. At his baptism the voice was signified by the appearance of a dove. The desert was replete with snakes and other more dangerous creatures. The impact of the moment must have been startling.
The immediate following temptation to turn stones into bread stands as a very real temptation. A bit of bread would have taken the edge off his hunger, but would also have left him desiring more, beginning a cycle of ravenous eating. Jesus wanted nothing to do with this. To attempt to turn stones into bread would have done one of two things. It would either have failed, therefore removed the belief that he was the Son of God; or it would have succeeded, and shown Jesus that he could use the privileges of divinity for his own aggrandizement.
The following temptations hit much deeper.
During this 40-day period Jesus has been reflecting on the plan of salvation and the ministry on which he was about to embark. In human terms, Jesus would be seen as a failure. Yes, he will attract some large crowds, but ultimately, most of them will either just turn away or actively seek to have him killed.
He will grow a core band of followers – the men and women who accompany him at stages along the way, and an inner circle of 12 whom he will instruct in a more clear and ardent way. Yet, even they will not remain loyal to him, and one of them will be proximately responsible for his eventual arrest.
Apparently conceding now that Jesus believes that he is the Son of God, Satan challenges his relationship with God. He then opens another door of doubt questioning whether or not God is truly present and active in his life. If you jump off the mountain will God send his angels to rescue you? Are you really that important? Could not God just raise up someone else to take your place? This is powerful. Why don’t you test God to see if He really loves you? Jesus turns this aside by reflecting on the Scriptures; one should never challenge or test God’s love and mercy.
With the images of the horror of his crucifixion fresh in his mind, Satan then challenges Jesus to turn aside from the Kingdom of God and instead to reign in his Kingdom – a Kingdom of this world, where Jesus would reign supreme in ways that even the Roman Empire could not have imagined. This would, though, be a Kingdom of Satan, and Jesus would be totally subject to him instead. Again, Jesus rebuked Satan, it is here that his true life of sacrifice for the salvation of the world begins.
The temptations of Jesus were real experiences for him – do any of them sound familiar to you?
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.