Moralia in Job 1458

Delivered to the people in the basilica of Saint John which is called Constantinian, on the first Sunday in Lent. 'At that time, Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit, to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward he was hungry. And the tempter, coming, said to him: If you are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Who answering said: It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him upon the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him: If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down. For it is written: He has given his angels charge concerning you, and in their hands they shall bear you up,'

'lest you dash your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him: Again it is written, You shall not tempt the Lord your God. Again the devil took him up into a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and said to him: All these will I give you, if falling down you will adore me. Then Jesus said to him: Depart, Satan; for it is written, You shall adore the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.' It is wont to be doubted by some by what spirit Jesus was led into the wilderness, on account of that which is subjoined: 'The devil took him up into the holy city.' And again: 'He took him up into a very high mountain.'

But truly and without any question it is fittingly understood that he is believed to have been led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, so that his own Spirit might lead him thither, where the malignant spirit should find him for tempting. But behold, when it is said that the God-man was taken up by the devil either into the high mountain or into the holy city, the mind recoils, and human ears are aghast to hear this. Yet we recognize that these things are not incredible, if we also weigh other things done in his case. Certainly the devil is the head of all the wicked, and the members of this head are all the wicked. Was not Pilate a member of the devil? Were not the Jews persecuting and the soldiers crucifying Christ members of the devil?

What wonder, then, if he permitted himself to be led onto the mountain by him, who permitted himself even to be crucified by that one's members? It is therefore not unworthy of our Redeemer that he willed to be tempted, who had come to be slain. For it was just that he should thus overcome our temptations by his temptations, just as he had come to overcome our death by his own death. But you must know that temptation is enacted in three ways: by suggestion, by delight, and by consent. And we, when we are tempted, for the most part slip into delight, or even into consent, because, propagated from the sin of the flesh, we carry within ourselves also that whereby we endure the struggles. But God, who, incarnate in the womb of the Virgin, had come into the world without sin, endured nothing of contradiction within himself.

He could therefore be tempted by suggestion, but the delight of sin did not gnaw at his mind. And therefore all that diabolical temptation was outside, not within. But if we look at the very order of his temptation, let us weigh by how great a magnitude we are freed from temptation. The ancient enemy raised himself against the first man, our parent, in three temptations, because he tempted him namely by gluttony, by vainglory, and by avarice; but in tempting he overcame, because he subjected him to himself through consent. By gluttony indeed he tempted, when he showed the forbidden food of the tree, and urged him to eat. By vainglory he tempted, when he said: 'You shall be as gods' (Gen. 3:5). And by the advancement of avarice he tempted, when he said:

'Knowing good and evil.' For avarice is not only of money, but also of loftiness. For rightly is it called avarice when eminence is coveted beyond measure. For if the seizure of honour did not pertain to avarice, Paul would by no means have said of the only-begotten Son of God: 'He did not count it robbery to be equal with God' (Phil. 2:6). But in this the devil drew our parent to pride, in that he incited him to the avarice of loftiness. But by whatever ways he laid low the first man, by those same ways he succumbed to the second man when tempted. For by gluttony he tempts when he says: 'Command that these stones be made bread.' By vainglory he tempts when he says: 'If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down.'

By the avarice of loftiness he tempts when he shows all the kingdoms of the world, saying: 'All these will I give you, if falling down you adore me.' But by the same ways he is overcome by the second man, by which he had gloried in having overcome the first man, so that, taken captive by the very entrance, he might go out from our hearts by that access through which, admitted, he had held us.

But there is another thing, dearly beloved brethren, that we ought to consider in this temptation of the Lord: that when tempted by the devil, the Lord answered with the precepts of sacred eloquence; and he who by that word which he was could have plunged his tempter into the abyss, did not display the power of his might, but gave only the precepts of divine Scripture — that he might furnish us an example of his patience, so that as often as we suffer anything from wicked men, we may be roused to instruction rather than to vengeance. Weigh how great is the patience of God, and how great our impatience. We, if we are provoked by injuries or by any harm, moved by fury, either avenge ourselves as much as we can, or threaten what we cannot do.

Behold, the Lord bore the adversity of the devil, and answered him nothing but words of gentleness. He spared him whom he could have punished, that this might grow to his praise all the higher, if he overcame his enemy not by destroying, but for the time by enduring. But it is to be noted what is subjoined: that, the devil withdrawing, the angels ministered to him. From which what else is shown but the twofold nature of one person? Because he both is man whom the devil tempts, and the same is himself God to whom the angels minister. Let us therefore recognize in him our nature, because unless the devil discerned this one to be man, he would not tempt. Let us venerate in him his divinity, because unless he existed as God above all things, the angels would in no way minister to him.

But because the reading suits these days — for we have heard of the forty days' abstinence of our Redeemer, who are beginning the season of Lent — it must be discussed by us why this very abstinence is kept for the number of forty days. For Moses, that he might receive the law, fasted a second time for forty days (Exod. 34:28). Elijah abstained in the wilderness for forty days (1 Kings 19:8). The very author of men, coming to men, took absolutely no food for forty days (Matt. 4:2). Let us too, as far as we can, strive in the yearly season of Lent to afflict our flesh through abstinence.

Why then in abstinence is the number forty kept, unless because the power of the Decalogue is fulfilled through the four books of the holy Gospel? For ten multiplied four times rises to forty, because we then accomplish the commandments of the Decalogue when we assuredly keep the four books of the holy Gospel. From which something else too can be perceived. For in this mortal body we subsist from four elements, and through the pleasures of that same body we act contrary to the Lord's precepts. Now the Lord's precepts have been received through the Decalogue. Because therefore through the desires of the flesh we have despised the commandments of the Decalogue, it is fitting that we afflict that same flesh ten times four. Although concerning this season of Lent there is yet another thing that can be understood.

For from the present day up to the joys of the Paschal solemnity there come six weeks, of which the days indeed become forty-two. From these, while six Lord's days are subtracted from the abstinence, there remain in the abstinence no more than thirty-six days. But while the year runs through three hundred and sixty-five days, and we are afflicted for thirty-six days, we give, as it were, the tithes of our year to God — so that we who have lived to ourselves through the year we have received, may mortify ourselves to our Author in his tithes through abstinence. Wherefore, dearly beloved brethren, just as you are commanded in the law to offer the tithes of your goods (Lev. 27:30, ff.), so strive also to offer him the tithes of your days.

Let each one, as far as strength suffices, mortify his flesh and afflict its desires, slay its base concupiscences, so that, according to Paul's voice, it may become a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1). For it is both a sacrifice and living when the man both does not fail from this life, and yet slays himself from carnal desires. The flesh, when merry, drew us to fault; when afflicted, let it lead us back to pardon. For the author of our death, through the fruit of the forbidden tree, transgressed the precepts of life. We therefore who fell from the joys of paradise through food, let us rise again to them, as far as we can, through abstinence. But let no one believe that this abstinence alone can suffice for himself, since through the prophet the Lord says:

'Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen?' — subjoining: 'Break your bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the wanderers into your house; when you see the naked, cover him, and despise not your own flesh' (Isa. 58:6, 7). That fast, therefore, God approves, which lifts up to his eyes the hands of alms, which is done with love of neighbour, which is seasoned with piety. This therefore that you withdraw from yourself, bestow on another, so that from that whereby your flesh is afflicted, the flesh of your needy neighbour may be restored. Hence indeed the Lord says through the prophet: 'When you fasted and mourned, did you fast a fast unto me? And when you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?' (Zech.

7:5, 6). For he eats and drinks for himself who receives the nourishment of the body — which are the common gifts of the Creator — without the needy. And each one fasts for himself if what he withdraws from himself for a time he does not bestow on the poor, but keeps to be offered afterward to his belly. Hence through Joel it is said: 'Sanctify a fast' (Joel 1:14; 2:15). For to sanctify a fast is, with other good things added, to show forth an abstinence of the flesh worthy of God. Let anger cease, let quarrels be lulled to sleep. For in vain is the flesh worn away, if the soul is not restrained from its depraved pleasures, since through the prophet the Lord says: 'Behold, in the day of your fast your own will is found.'

'Behold, you fast for strifes and contentions, and strike with the fist impiously, and demand back all your debtors' (Isa. 58:3). For he indeed who demands back from his debtor that which he gave does nothing unjust; but it is fitting that whoever macerates himself in penitence should forbid himself even that which justly belongs to him. Thus, thus is that which we have done unjustly forgiven us by God when we are afflicted and penitent, if for the love of him we relax even that which justly belongs to us.