The Trial and the Test(2)
The Trial and the Test (2)
Last week, we spoke about “the trial and the test” at the beginning of the talk about the temptation of Christ on the mountain, and our talk then was about the principle of the trials that God allows us to face, to test our love for Him and our steadfastness in Him.
And today, we want to speak about the first temptation on the mountain. The Holy Bible says about the Lord Christ: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterwards hungry. And the tempter came to Him and said: If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread… But Jesus answered and said to him: ‘It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and therefore the Holy Bible says: “In that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted”…!
The person who is tempted has compassion on those who are tempted. And sometimes, there are forms of “spiritual pride,” meaning that a righteous person, knowing about himself that he has not fallen into a certain sin, mocks those who fall into that sin… or despises them—or judges them—or speaks ill of them…
For example, a person whom the devil of anger has never tested, you find him very troubled by those who become angry. Yet if God permitted this very person to be exposed to this temptation… perhaps he would collapse. This person, if he were exposed to the temptation, would have compassion on others who face temptation and would show them kindness!
So those who are tempted feel for the tempted… and they understand their circumstances. For this reason, we see that the Lord Christ did not rebuke Mary and Martha when He found them weeping for the death of their brother Lazarus… although weeping and sorrow are opposed to the spirit of faith!
But you, do not wait until you are tempted in every sin so that you may have compassion on the tempted; rather, you ought to have compassion on them from within yourself. And the Apostle Paul says: “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, and those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also”…
The Lord Christ experienced our bodily nature and resembled us in all things except sin, and He knows our reality well…
From several angles:
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He knows our true nature because He is the One who created it, and therefore He knows the truth of His creation…
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And He knows our true nature because He is “the Hypostasis of Knowledge.”
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And He knows our true nature because He took a nature like ours, and “by experience,” He tasted this nature with all its characteristics, except for sin…
And therefore, He was taken into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil!!
Some people imagine that monks who go into the wilderness are fleeing from the world. But the reality is the opposite: those who live in the wilderness face temptations harder in their nature than the temptations of the world.
I want to say that temptations exist at all times and in all places. But if there is temptation, there is also help from God…!
Temptation is half the truth… and the help of God is the other half of this truth!
And if any of you faces temptation, let him not be troubled, but let him remember that the Lord Christ Himself was also tempted. But Christ was tempted and faced temptation with steadfastness, strength, and confidence. The temptation did not shake Him, nor did it trouble Him, but He passed through it in a wondrous victory. The devil tempted Him, but He was able to triumph over the devil and defeat him.
And the Lord Christ—in His defeat of the devil—did not wound the devil with a single word… but defeated him with gentleness and calm… and answered him with eloquent, aware responses that defeated the devil!
The Holy Bible says that the Lord Christ remained tempted for forty days and forty nights… and at the end—when He was afterward hungry—the tempter came to Him. Meaning that the tempter seizes the opportunity. And here, the opportunity of hunger, which the Lord Christ felt, was a suitable circumstance for the devil, and he hurried to seize it… for he knows that times of hunger are exhausting, and he must exploit them…!
There is spiritual hunger… and bodily hunger… “spiritual hunger” is felt by a person who has abandoned his prayer, his readings, his meditations, and his worship; then the tempter approaches him… And there is “bodily hunger,” like that which the Lord Christ felt.
And when the devil approaches a “hungry person,” the devil has no mercy… He is empty of mercy, and even if he pretends to have it, he is pouring poison into honey!
The devil said to Christ: “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread…” and he pretended to sympathize with His hunger… as if he were offering Him advice!
And how many are the pieces of advice offered to us by the devil… so beware of them. The devil sometimes delights in setting himself up as a spiritual guide for many and offering spiritual advice… exactly as when—for example—a person goes to pray at night when he is tired and sleepy, then the devil comes and “advises” him that God does not accept such a prayer…!
Sometimes the devil comes to you in the form of a dear friend to offer you advice… and he did that with the Lord Christ Himself, when he came to advise Him—through the mouth of Peter on the day Peter said to the Lord: Far be it from You to deliver Yourself to the cross; and Christ replied to him saying: Get behind Me, Satan!
For it was the devil who was speaking through the mouth of the Apostle Peter at that time!
How many endless pieces of advice and guidance the devil offers… He tempts the spiritual through spiritual advice… and tempts philosophers with philosophical advice… and so on…
For he wants to gain—at any cost—some people… and he does not despair of anyone… even the Lord Christ Himself… the devil approached Him to tempt Him in the form of advice… when he said to Him: “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread…”
And in this phrase, notice that the devil fully understands the meaning of “Son of God” in relation to the Lord Christ… He is His only Son, the Creator, able to turn stones into bread!
This phrase—from the devil—in its appearance seems like sympathy and advice, but in its depths it is a demonic trick… he wants to make sure whether Christ is indeed “the Son of God”… and whether Christ would obey the devil… for temptation can reveal all of that… -
Truly, the Lord Christ—the Son of God—could turn stones to bread… indeed, He could bring bread from wherever He willed.
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Indeed, He could even raise from “stones” children to Abraham…!
Christ performed miracles, but He performed them for the sake of people, not for His personal comfort… He did not use His divine power for His personal comfort… for He declared—from the beginning—a very important principle by which He lived throughout His incarnation: that He did not use His divinity for His personal comfort… therefore He became tired, hungry, thirsty, and suffered… and did not use His divinity to avoid any of that… but Christ used His divinity for the good of humanity!
This conduct of the Lord Christ—glory be to Him—is worthy of giving us an idea about every person with authority… does he use it for his personal honor and comfort? Or for others… for the public good?!
Also, notice that the Lord Christ did not perform many miracles except when necessary… for wisdom’s sake… He did not use His authority arbitrarily.
The devil understands “sonship to God” in a wrong way… he thinks it is a form of greatness, dignity, authority… and “showing off power”… so much so that he considered the crucifixion too hard for Christ… and considered it too much that Christ should hunger… while being the Son of God!
The devil did not understand “sonship to God” as a form of sacrifice, love, and giving for others; he understood “sonship to God” as a form of comfort…
But Christ understands “sonship to God” as labor for the sake of others.
From here, the view of God… differs from the view of the devil. -
Christ saw that He did not come to be served by others, but to serve others, and to give His life a ransom for many!
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While the view of the devil was: that the Son of God must be surrounded by miracles and by appearances of greatness, splendor, and comfort!
“If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread”… thus was the first temptation that the devil presented to the Lord Christ…
But Christ did not take the temptation at its verbal appearance, but took it in its reality… for He understands the thoughts of demons and their tricks…
And may you all know the tricks of demons! Study the tricks of demons and train yourselves in them!
The devil trains himself in the weaknesses of humans, and humans must train themselves in the tricks of demons!
Train yourselves to understand the tricks of demons… For the Apostle Paul said about the devil: “We are not ignorant of his devices”!
Many of the saints lived in the wilderness and experienced the tricks of the devil and knew them…!
And the devil does not lack intelligence or cunning… he does not lack strategy, diplomacy, or cleverness, nor does he lack insight or tact… that is the devil…
But you—the child of God—are supposed to understand the tricks of the devil…
And if you were to read the lives of the saints and understand the tricks of demons, you would realize—through experience—the intent of the devil…
Train yourselves in this… for the tricks of the devil were exposed before Christ… when the Lord Christ saw him using “half-truths”…
To eat: that is half the truth. But the other half is: “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”!
The Lord Christ replied to the devil with a verse… to silence him and confound him, for the devil did not argue… and would not argue so as not to expose himself… and he did not reply to Christ!
It is very beautiful that you respond to the devil with verses—as the Lord Christ did—and if you knew the exercise of replying to the devil with verses, you would triumph in many temptations and defeat the devil!
“Mar Oris,” in his book The Wars of Thoughts, gave us examples of the exercise of replying to the devil with verses of the Holy Bible…
The Holy Bible is the word of God, and the word of God saves from many wars, and for this reason “David the Prophet” rejoiced in the word of God, saying: “If Your law had not been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction”…!
We become weak—and fall—when we forget the word of God… because the word of God is powerful, active, and sharper than a two-edged sword…
Make the word of God clear before you, and reply to the devil with the word of God…
Take—from the temptation on the mountain—a lesson in using the verses of the Holy Bible to reply to the devil…
Memorize the verses… and let each of you prepare the verses suitable for his weaknesses, to use them when needed…!
The Lord Christ said, silencing the devil: “It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone… but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”!
For man is body and spirit… and if food is necessary for the body, then the word of God is necessary for the spirit…!
Ask yourselves… do you care in raising your children only for the body… or for the body and the spirit?
Do not forget that you are spiritual beings, for you are a breath that came from the Spirit of God… so care then for the spirit—and the food of the spirit—and remember the saying of the Lord—glory be to Him—“Man shall not live by bread alone… but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”!!
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An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in Watani newspaper on 27-2-1972 AD.
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