Daily Gospel Reflection for March 9, 2014

Today's Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11

“He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry.”

I’ve often wondered how these three temptations felt to Jesus. Were all of them equally tempting to him? Did he have any desire to show that the angels would save him if he threw himself down from the Temple? Was it important to him to have vast wealth and worldly power?

It seems like the first temptation offered by Satan would be the hardest to refuse. Jesus was fully human. He hadn’t eaten in forty days and forty nights. Of course he was hungry! Satan asked him to turn those stones into bread, and Jesus had the power to do it.

It seems like such a little thing. Surely God, His Father, doesn’t want him to be hungry. Would it really be so bad if he just fed himself? He’d be much stronger and able to resist other, bigger temptations after eating something.

I wonder if our sin is like that, too. We can avoid the really big, bad stuff, but the little everyday things are the hardest ones to overcome. I can see those big things coming a mile away and get ready for them. But the ones that sneak up on me? Hungry. Tired. Grouchy. Gossip. Complain. Have a totally negative attitude.

Those are much, much harder for me to avoid.

Jesus knows what it felt like.

Ponder:

What are the tiny areas you need to watch out for in your day today? How can we pray for you to be on guard for those?

Pray:

Lord, please help me to steer away from the tiny temptations in my life as well as the big ones, and help me to ask your forgiveness when I mess up.

Copyright 2014 Abbey Dupuy