ACC ~ Luke 4 v1 - 2

WHY SATAN WAITS TO TEMPT JESUS

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Why didn’t Satan tempt him before his thirtieth year? He tempted Jesus because a definite sign of Christ’s divinity had not yet been given from heaven. He appeared modest like others, and he had not received any obvious homage in the presence of his people. Satan refrained from tempting him until the beginning of this event. When he heard, “Now, behold the Lamb of God is coming,” and “This is he who takes away the sins of the world,” [1] Satan was astonished. Yet he waited until Jesus was baptized to see if he would be baptized as if he needed to be baptized.

Then he saw the splendor of the light that appeared on the water, the voice that came from heaven. Then Satan knew that he who fulfills every need had gone down into the water and that he had not come to baptism as if he needed to be baptized. Satan reflected and said to himself, “As long as I have not tested him by combat through temptation I will not be able to identify him.” But it was not fitting that the Benefactor should resist the will of him who had come to tempt him. For, not knowing how to tempt him, Satan did not dare approach him. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 4.4-5. [2]

[1] Jn 1:29.

[2] ECTD 85-86**.

LED BY THE SPIRIT INTO THE WILDERNESS FOR FASTING

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: “He was led, therefore,” it says, “in the Spirit in the wilderness forty days, being tempted of the devil.” What is the meaning of the word led? It signifies not so much that he was led there as that he dwelt and continued there. …

He dwelt therefore in the wilderness in the Spirit, that is, spiritually. He fasted, granting no food whatsoever to the necessities of the body. I imagine someone may immediately object to this: And what harm, then, did it do Jesus to dwell in cities constantly? And in what way could it benefit him to choose to inhabit the wilderness? He did not lack one good thing. And why, too, did he fast also? Why was it necessary for him to labor? He does not know what it means to have a depraved desire. For we adopt the practice of fasting as a very useful expedient, by which we kill pleasure and attack the law of sin that is in our bodies [1] and completely destroy those emotions which lead on to fleshly lust. But why did Christ need to fast? The Father slays the sin in the flesh by his body. He kills the motions of the flesh in us. He has abolished sin in miserable beings—in us. What kind of fasting could he need in anything that concerns himself? He is holy, undefiled by nature, wholly pure and without blemish. He cannot experience even the shadow of a change. COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 12. [2]

[1] 1 Cor 9:27.

[2] CGSL 85-88**.

ADAM GOES FROM PARADISE TO THE DESERT; CHRIST FROM THE DESERT TO PARADISE

AMBROSE: It is fitting that it be recorded that the first Adam was cast out of Paradise into the desert, [1] that you may observe how the second Adam returned from the desert to Paradise. … Adam brought death through the tree. Christ brought life through the cross. Adam, naked of spiritual things, covered himself with the foliage of a tree. [2] Christ, naked of worldly things, did not desire the trappings of the body. Adam lived in the desert. Christ lived in the desert, for he knew where he could find the lost. With their error canceled, he could recall them to Paradise. …

So Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, is led into the desert for a purpose, in order to challenge the devil. If he had not fought, he would not have conquered him for me. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 4.7, 14. [3]

[1] Gen 3:23-24; 1 Cor 15:45.

[2] Gen 3:7.

[3] EHG 115-16, 119**; CSEL 32 4:142-43, 146.