The Three Faces of Evil

The desert was scorching and the hot wind blew with a salty and alkaline tang that seemed to make you more thirsty than you were. This was the place that John the Baptist had known, but he was gone now. It was a long time: forty days and forty nights: the same time as that during which Moses remained on Sinai and the people of Israel succumbed to temptation. It was a long time: after the first temptation in the garden. The snake had slithered into the garden a long time ago to tempt Eve and Adam. And now the Great Tempter had returned not to the garden for it was gone now but to the desert where he had tempted so many after Adam and Eve. And he was always a liar. You will not die, he said, but they did. Make the golden calf, rebel against God, he won't do anything to you and now he dared to come before the Redeemer to tempt him, to draw him away from his mission and the will of the Father. Eat of the tree - it looked so good to Eve. Eat the bread you have made with your miraculous powers. What can be the harm in that? Jesus was very hungry. What's wrong with a little bread to nosh on? Miracles are for others, not himself. And so right at the beginning of his mission of healing the devil tried to divert him away from the true use of his powers- to heal and to save. “It is written:
One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God.”
Jesus is aware of the importance of the second part of his mission: teaching. He is the Word of God, sent forth to teach. He tries to teach the devil the truth. The Father of Lies backs away and tries another strategy.
As if he were aware of the coming suffering of Jesus, he mocks Jesus' trust in the Father by quoting back at Jesus the great psalm of trust and confidence in the Lord.
Throw yourself down. Your whole mission here is suicide anyway. Get it over with quick. Unlike the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 6:16, Jesus refuses to "test" God by demanding from him an extraordinary show of power.
The Father of Lies tries another lie: I will give you all the kingdoms of the world. Ah, the temptation of politics and power. How many have so recently spent fortunes and principles and time to be No. 1! Jesus is already the King of Kings and he must be crowned with his crown of thorns. The worship of Satan to which Jesus is tempted is probably intended to recall Israel's worship of false gods. His refusal is expressed in the words of Deuteronomy 6:13. The devil left and the angels came. The devil had been one of them, but he had rebelled and now was in a permanent state of rebellion.
The angels ministered to Jesus in the desert as they had at his conception, his birth and his baptism, and now like the prophet Elijah, they helped him on his journey to the mountain of God.
Let us partake today of the Bread of Angels.