Luke 4:1-13
In the first epistle of John, which is a series of instructions on how to live a holy life, John writes “ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.” Another translation of this passage is perhaps a little more approachable: “Do not love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world, you do not love the Father. Everything that belongs to the world—what the sinful self desires, what people see and want, and everything in this world that people are so proud of—none of this comes from the Father; it all comes from the world.”
John Paul II in several of his weekly talks that came to be known as Theology of the Body, referred to this passage often, especially when he was describing the fall of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were not souls temporarily residing in human bodies; they were really rational animals. It was never God’s intention to create souls that lived for a while in a meat suit and then spent eternity as kind of a ghost. God’s intention for human beings is reflected in the creed we say every Sunday: “I believe in the resurrection of the Body.” Jesus demonstrated in his own resurrection the nature of the resurrected body -- He could be in more places than one; he could pass through walls; he could know what other people were thinking -- and yet, he could be seen and heard and touched. Our destiny is not to be spirits but to be perfected human beings who will live forever in God’s presence.
John Paul said that in the beginning these two rational animals, Adam and Eve, received supernatural grace allowing them to make choices that were not conditioned by their emotions or their animal natures. In the book of Genesis, it says “They were naked but not ashamed”. In short, everything was in the proper order, mind over body, reason over emotion. They were given everything they needed to become what God wanted for them. But then we read about the first sin, the original sin. It’s sad that this seems to be blamed on Eve, because Adam was standing right there as well. But in the account of the first sin, Eve first experiences the lust of the eyes -- she sees the fruit pointed out by the serpent and senses that this would be really good to eat. She then gives in to the lust of the flesh, and chooses to taste the fruit. Finally because she rationally and deliberately disobeys God’s command, she experiences the pride of life -- her will over God’s. And remember, Adam is there, who because he was given dominion over all the beasts of the earth, could have simply ordered the serpent to get out of there, did not; and he accepted Eve’s invitation to eat of the fruit. Adam is as guilty as Eve. And in the next scene, God goes looking for Adam and asks him why he is hiding. He replies, “Because I was naked.” and God replies, “Who told you you were naked?” And the rest is history. John Paul says that the supernatural protection was withdrawn; now we are subject to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, and these encompass everything in our human nature that causes us to sin.
YOu will note that in the story of the temptations of Jesus, the devil begins by tempting him with the lust of the flesh -- turn these stones into bread. Satan thinks that Jesus is most vulnerable because he is starving. The second temptation is the lust of the eyes -- Satan shows Jesus the whole world and offers it to him. And the third temptation is the pride of life -- if Jesus were to go to Jerusalem and jump off the highest building in town, and not plunge to his death, everyone would listen to him; he’d be a rock star.
And of course Jesus turns down these temptations, quoting scripture. The devil appealed to what he thought was Jesus’ human nature; Jesus demonstrated that his nature was like that of Adam and Eve before the fall, he was like us in all things but sin.
That’s the reason Jesus is God made man. Not primarily to show us the best way to be, but by living in our nature, reforming it, restoring it to the way it was meant to be. You and I have been baptized. Not just a symbol, but a promise by God to assist us in overcoming those parts of our nature that lead us to sin. As we embark upon lent, let us look at our own sins and try to recognize how the lust of the flesh, the lust of our eyes, and the pride of life bring us to sin. And we might even make use of John’s passage to examine our own consciences before confession, and make every effort to overcome those parts of our human nature that lead us away from God, just as Jesus did.
Here's another translation, easy to remember: “All the things the world can offer to you—the attraction of pleasure, the passion to have things, and the temptation to think the world revolves around you—do not come from the Father. These are the rotten fruits of this world.”
