In Temptationem Domini Nostri Iesu Christi

Homily on the Temptation Our Lord Jesus Christ and Savior went out into the desert, arming himself against the devil; for his is the voice that says: No one can seize the vessels of the strong man unless he first dares to bind the strong man, and then he will seize his vessels. So he brings humanity, and the creature which he put on, into the desert, making the body a weapon against the demons, engaging it in the victory over the devil. And pay close attention: when he was contending, he nowhere showed the face of his dignity. But if you wish to make known to the devil that he is not dealing with the Son of God and Only-begotten, but with the man […] and what the devil says to all ears: If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves. But the Savior, concealing his dignity and putting forward the economy (for everywhere this was his purpose, to show himself contending and this fallen one being crowned), says to him: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds through the mouth of God. He contends as from the person of humanity. For if he were speaking about his dignity, he would have said: The Son of God shall not live by bread alone. But wishing to show the man as victor and him contending and bringing the prizes of victory to him, he says: Man shall not live by bread alone; and I am a man, he says, and I have no need of bread; for the word of God is sufficient to nourish.

See the evil one. The devil acts through reasonings, but Christ through scriptures, indicating the difference between the church and heretics: heretics are dialecticians, the church is faithful. Then the Son of God said that if these stones become bread, it would follow by reasoning; but it befits the Son of God also to transform. The Savior, preferring truth to reasoning, comes to the testimony of the scriptures and says to him: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds through the mouth of God. After this, when the devil was refuted, he too turns to the scriptures and says to Jesus, having brought him up to the pinnacle of the temple: If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from above; and after this: Do not be struck, he says, for this is written. See how the devil uses others' weapons, and keep these things in mind: it is written that he will command his angels concerning you and they will lift you up on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone. Say, devil, and the rest. Do you not recognize the sequence? Why do you hide like the heretic, bringing forward what agrees with his own mind, but concealing the sequence through which his own refutation is interpreted? It is written that he will command his angels concerning you and they will lift you up on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone. Read also what follows: You will step upon an asp and a basilisk and will trample a lion and a dragon. But since the prophecy is against the devil, he does not bring forward what is against him, but what is thought to be in his favor.

The Saviour said to him: “It is written: ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Many think that he was saying to the devil himself, “Do not tempt me, the Lord your God,” and they wish to apply the saying to the dignity of the Only-begotten. But we do not accept it as referring to his dignity—not denying his dignity, but confessing his power. It is not from this that the Only-begotten is shown to be Lord God; for there are countless testimonies proclaiming his dignity, but now he speaks from the perspective of humanity. Since he said, “Throw yourself down from above,” let us see whether he does not do injustice… It is written that he will give orders to his angels concerning you. From the perspective of humanity he says, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God,” meaning, “It is written for me, the man, not to tempt God. I do not throw myself down so as not to tempt God; I do not tempt, I do not test whether he is able to help or not; this is alien to piety.” He says these things not from his dignity, but from his human aspect; but I am also a man and I am righteous and I do not tempt God.

For the righteous never tempt God, but bear the necessity that comes upon them; and even if God wishes to tempt them, they accept it. For did those who were rescued from the fiery furnace or from some other trial cast themselves in, tempting God? Did Daniel say, “Cast me into the den of lions,” or did the three youths say, “Cast us into the furnace of fire; for God will rescue us”? For if He had handed over those who trusted in Him, it was their carelessness that armed them, not piety that prepared them. Nebuchadnezzar answered the three martyrs, saying, “At whatever hour you hear the sound of the trumpet, the pipe and the cithara, the sambuca and the psaltery, the symphony and every kind of music, fall down and worship the image.” When he said this, he added, “And who is the God who will deliver you from my hands?” The martyrs say, “Let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods and we do not worship the image you have set up; for there is a God who is able to deliver us.” And they did not say, “who will deliver,” but “who is able.” See the pious intention. He is able to deliver; but if He does not wish, we do not for that reason deny our piety. For we bear witness to the capable one by our intention, we do not tempt; we bear witness to the power, we do not legislate for the power. I know that He is able; but I do not constrain His intention. There is a God who is able to deliver us; and if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods and we do not worship the golden image you have set up.

Thus the righteous did not tempt God, but when misfortune was brought upon them, they received it and enjoyed the benefit unexpectedly. Therefore the Savior says on behalf of humanity: "You shall not tempt the Lord your God." By adding this, he showed that the word is not directed against the demon, but the name pertains to the economy: "It is written: 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God'; I do not tempt God." So he took a second arrow along with the first and departed. Or rather, he did not depart, but remained in his shamelessness; for it is characteristic of evil to persist in its own madness. He takes the Lord again to a very high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory in an instant of time. How did he show them? For while all things are possible for God, how was it feasible for the devil to show them? For it does not say: "Jesus saw." For he who encompasses all things could, standing in one place and one corner, see everything. But I ask how the devil showed the kingdoms. For if someone were to go up to a high place and see all the cities, he sees the properties turning in their midst. How then did the devil show such great and manifold variety in an instant of time? For it is easy for the devil to transform himself for evil; for if he transforms himself into an angel of light, much more can he do so into visible illusion.

Then he says: "All these I will give you if you fall down and worship me." Thus, because he was speaking to humanity. So he presents the third temptation and says: "All these I will give you if you fall down and worship me." Even if the devil's words are bitter, they are instructive—not for the speaker but for us who hear: "if you fall down and worship me." Therefore, is it not the case that you cannot worship without first falling? "All these I will give you if you fall down and worship me." He promises a fall, then a gift. The Savior, dissolving the measure of his madness, says to him: "Go, Satan." And the voice of God is a sentence: "Go, Satan." For it is written: "You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him alone." And the devil departed from him. A voice drives him away. Just as he then cast his sons, the Jews and God-fighters, backward by a voice (for when they said, "Where is Jesus?" he says to them, "I am," and the voice cast them all backward), so also to the devil: "Go, Satan." And the word thrust him out and cast him backward.

And the devil departed from him until a time. This is written for our security. Since everywhere through the image he assumed, leaving us a pattern of conduct, he teaches you: when you wrestle with the devil and conquer, do not fall into carelessness, but know that he rises again after the victory. Often, then, when appetite or desire or some other passion naturally assails us and grapples with us as in a wrestling match, the mind, bearing a strengthened reasoning, has overcome the passion. And the same one who conquered is now defeated by another assault. Therefore we must not fall into carelessness, but know that the victory is for a time and the carelessness is for a time. The victory over the passions is temporary; as long as we are in the world, we both conquer and wrestle. The perfect victory is at the end of the contests. For this reason Paul, though conquering, was not careless, but was anxious about the future and said: "Thus I run not as if uncertainly, thus I box not as if beating the air, but I blacken my body and enslave it, lest after preaching to others I myself become disqualified." But when he had run to the end of the contests and was about to be crowned, he said: "I have fought the good fight, I have completed the race, I have kept the faith.

Thus, brothers, the completion of struggles is the completion of life. And do not think that a man is crowned before his end, as the Scripture says: Do not call a man blessed before his death. The Savior is perfect in all things: deceit did not dwell with him, deceit did not live with him, wickedness did not accompany him. He says of himself: Tell this fox, today and tomorrow I perform signs, and on the third day I am perfected. If Christ called his own death a perfection, who imagines perfection before death? And he departed until a time, and then angels came and served him. The end of ascetic practice is to be served by angels. What the devil introduced evilly and untimely, the benevolent one immediately taught. For the devil said that he would give orders about you to his angels. You introduced it untimely, but God introduced it timely and economically, so that it might be shown what end awaits those who struggle. Angels came and served him. Whom? The form of humanity, the one who trampled the demons, the one who trod upon the asp and the basilisk, the one who mounted the lion and the dragon. For if he himself had not first trampled, he would not have given us the power to tread upon the lion and the dragon.

The first struggle is against demons. Since Moses and Elijah stood for forty days, Moses fasted, not to accomplish something; but Christ accomplished it. For Moses did not separate the demons by fasting, nor did Elijah fast to overthrow the devil. Rather, Jesus took charge of the matters and accomplishes them, as he said beforehand. The master of the law and the prophets presented Moses and Elijah; the master of the evangelists presented Peter, John, and James. And one cloud forms as a type of the church. Having noted that, I will introduce that the living voice which Moses spoke, the Father confirmed on the mountain, saying: This is my beloved son; listen to him. For Moses proclaimed beforehand, saying: The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you like me; listen to him. Moses said: listen to him; and the Father: listen to him, to show that grace did not violate the law, but fulfilled the law, not insulting Moses, but fulfilling his word.

Not by need but by law and prophet receiving the king of truth. For just as images of a king are honored before his arrival, but after the king appears, every aspect of the image is idle and the name is transferred, so it is with the prototype: before Christ, law and prophets were active; after Christ, the things of truth shine and the things of the fathers are idle. The things of divinity shine, in which we are all to be saved, in Christ himself, to whom belong glory, power, and honor unto the ages of ages. Amen.