Our Sabbath Scripture Stories – 1st Sunday of Lent – Cycle A

Read or listen to this Sunday’s Mass readings here.

  • Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7
  • Romans 5:12-19
  • Matthew 4:1-11

This morning, Dad called all of his family together for the Gospel reading.  This was the first Sunday in Lent, and a cloak of reflection surrounded the family.

Mom brought in the Lenten cross with one of its candles lit.  Five more candles were waiting to be lit that would mark the passage towards the glorious Sunday of Easter.

“I thought we would do something different this week, Kids,” Dad explained.  “I’m going to read you the Gospel passage from Matthew that tells about the temptation of Jesus in the desert by Satan.  After that, I’m going to have Peter tell us a little bit about temptation.”

Everyone looked up at Peter.  He was home from Franciscan University in Steubenville on his mid-winter break.  Peter was blushing.

“Dad, I shouldn’t have told you about my theology paper … ” Peter said shyly.

Dad was beaming.  “I think it’s great, Peter.  You worked hard on that paper.”

“You see Kids,” Dad continued, “Peter did a paper on the different types of temptation, and he got an ‘A+’ on it!”

“So, it’s not a paper about the Motown group, the ‘Temptations’?” Vincent laughed.

“Cute, Vincent,” Peter chuckled back.  “That will be for my music course next semester!”

Dad opened his Bible and read the passage of Jesus being tempted in the desert.  For 40 days and 40 nights, Jesus fasted.  Then Satan appeared to tempt Him and taunt Him.  Satan even quoted Scripture to Jesus and promised Him riches.  Then Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan!  It is written, ‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.'”  (Matthew 4:10) 

When Dad was finished, he turned to Peter, “Why don’t you explain to us how Jesus was tempted, and how we could also be tempted by Satan?”

Peter started to speak, “I guess you could say that Jesus allowed Himself to be tempted out of love for us and to instruct us.  But, Jesus was perfect, so He could only be tempted externally.”

“What do you mean, Peter?” Lucy asked.

“Well, Jesus had temptations flaring around Him, but did not commit any sin because of it.  That is one of the levels of temptation—being tempted but not sinning.”

“What are the others, Peter?” his mom asked him.

“There are two other kinds of temptation I learned about,” Peter continued.  “One of them is when we internalize, or take a certain delight in, the temptation.  That has sinfulness in it.”

“That could be when we find someone else’s money on the street, and think about keeping it, or how we could spend it,” Dad said.

“That’s one example,” Peter agreed.  “And the third level of temptation is when we willfully go out and do something sinful.  This affects the deepest parts of our soul.”

“But Jesus did not sin in spite of the temptation,” Dad said. “That is a good lesson for all of us.  We can fight and conquer the works of Satan, and Satan CAN be defeated.”

Peter added, “Many people in the Bible were tempted—Adam and Eve, for example—but Jesus shows us that you can successfully overcome temptation.  We have to fight off temptations in our lives and not let some of the temptations of the world affect us.  Jesus shows us that it is possible to do that if we stay focused on Jesus, Scripture, and truth.”

“That was great, Peter!” Vincent offered.  “You did a good job explaining all about temptations!  It will be fun to hear your report about the singing ‘Temptations’ next semester!”

And, with a joyful glance over his shoulder, Vincent moonwalked away!

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How have you been tempted in your life?
What can you do to resist temptation?

Would you prefer a print a copy of this story?

Cycle A, 1 Lent, SSSDownload

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