ACC ~ Luke 4 v3 - 4

GLUTTONY CAPTURED THE FIRST ADAM

ORIGEN: Mark and Luke say that Jesus “was tempted for forty days.” It is clear that during those days the devil first tempted him from a distance to sleep, apathy, cowardice, and other such sins. Then, since he knew that Christ was hungry, the devil came closer to him and attacked him openly. Notice what he does. He had heard, both from John and from the voice that came from above, that “this man is a son of God.” [1] He did not know that “the Son of God” had become man, for God concealed the inexpressible incarnation from him. So he assumed that Christ was a man who was pleasing to God because of his virtues. He was also jealous of him because of this honor just as he had been jealous of the old Adam. He was eager to cast this man down, just as he had cast Adam down. So he approaches Jesus and introduces the first temptation, that of gluttony, through which he had also captured the first Adam. Since there was no food anywhere, because the whole region was a desert, he knew that bread would satisfy Christ’s hunger. He himself does not produce bread, because Christ was not going to take it from the enemy. But he commands him to make bread from the stones that he points to. Look at Satan’s wiles and great wickedness—he tried to keep Christ from knowing his plot. He did not simply say, “Turn the stones into loaves of bread,” but he prefixed it with, “If you are a son of God.” He did this to show that he wanted this act done to prove that Christ is a son of God. For he was thinking that Christ would be provoked by his words and offended by the suggestion that he was not a “son of God.” He thought that Christ would not recognize the deception and, as a man who has power from God, turn the stones into bread. Then, when he saw the bread, he would yield to his stomach, since he was very hungry. But the devil did not escape the notice of him who “catches the wise in their craftiness.” [2] Christ answered him and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,’” and the rest, because he knew the devil’s villainy. He did not perform the sign that the devil sought, because he worked his signs to help those who saw them. FRAGMENTS ON LUKE 96. [3]

[1] See Jn 1:34.

[2] 1 Cor 3:19.

[3] FC 94:165-67.

JESUS SAYS NEITHER “I CAN” NOR “I CANNOT

” CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Satan said, “If you are the Son of God, bid this stone become bread.” He approaches him, therefore, as an ordinary man and as one of the saints, yet he had a suspicion that possibly he might be the Christ. How, then, did he hope to learn if this was the case? He reasoned that to change the nature of any thing into that which it was not would be the act and deed of a divine power. For it is God who makes these things and transforms them. “If he does this,” said the devil, “certainly it is he who is expected to subvert my power. But if he refuses to work this change, I am dealing with a man. I will set aside my fear. I am delivered from danger.” Therefore it was that Christ, knowing the monster’s plan, neither made the change nor said that he was either unable or unwilling to make it. Rather, the Lord shakes him off as annoying and meddlesome, saying, “Man shall not live by bread alone.” He means this: If God grants a man the ability, he can survive without eating and live as Moses and Elijah, who by the Word of the Lord passed forty days without taking food. If, therefore, it is possible to live without bread, why should I make the stone bread? He purposely does not say, “I cannot,” that he may not deny his own power. Nor does he say, “I can,” lest the devil, knowing that he is God, for whom alone such things are possible, should depart from him. Observe, I beg you, how the nature of man in Christ casts off the faults of Adam’s gluttony. By eating we were conquered in Adam, by abstinence we conquered in Christ. COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 12. [1]

[1] CGSL 88**.

JESUS DEFEATS SATAN WITH THE WORD OF GOD

AMBROSE: So, look at the arms of Christ with which he conquered for you, not for himself. For he who showed that stones could, through his majesty, be changed into bread by the transformation into a different nature, teaches that you must do nothing at the devil’s behalf nor for the purpose of manifesting virtue. At the same time, learn from the temptation itself the ingenious cunning of the devil. The devil tempts that he may test. He tests that he may tempt. In contrast, the Lord deceives that he may conquer. He conquers that he may deceive. For if he had changed nature, he would have betrayed its Creator. Thus he responded neutrally, saying, “It is written, ‘That man lives not by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” You see what kind of arms he wields, to defend humanity, surrounded and protected against the inducements of appetite, against the assault of spiritual wickedness. [1] For he does not wield power as God—for what good would that be to me? So, as man, he summons common help for himself, so that eager for the food of the divine Word, he neglects the body’s hunger and obtains the nourishment of the heavenly Word. Eager for this, Moses did not desire bread. [2] Eager for this, Elijah did not feel the hunger of a long fast. [3] For he who follows the Word cannot desire earthly bread when he receives the essence of the heavenly Bread. [4] There is no doubt that the divine surpasses the human, as the spiritual the physical. Therefore he who desires true life awaits that Bread which through its intangible substance strengthens human hearts. [5] At the same time, when he says, “Man lives not by bread alone,” he shows that the man is tempted, that is, his acceptance of our flesh, not his divinity. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 4.19-20. [6]

[1] See Eph 6:12.

[2] Ex 24:18.

[3] 1 Kings 19:4.

[4] Jn 6:32, 50.

[5] Ps 103:17.

[6] EHG 121-22**; CSEL 32 4:148-49.

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