Homilies on Luke

Fragments

FRAGMENTS ON LUKE 95· Luke 4·5 This is what we can understand about the Lord's temptation: when he learned the Evil One's intention, he went into the desert and was willingly hungry.' The Evil One thought that, if Christ were hungry, he could deceive him with food, as he had deceived Adam. And, again in accord with the Evil One's intention, Christ went up to the pinnacle of the temple. The Evil One said, "If I could also bring him up to the mountain, I would show him 'all the kingdoms of the earth."'2 It follows that Christ went up willingly. Thus too, long ago, God beheld the Evil One thinking this: "If it were possible for a snake to speak, I would approach the first couple through a snake to deceive them." God agreed to this, and allowed his own creature to speak. So too, in the case ofJob, God agreed to the destruction of a great deal of property, since the Evil One thought this: "If my plan were agreed to, I would prove that Job's virtue is false, for he only appears to be virtuous because of his wealth." For, the dialogue in that passage has great power because of its clarity; Scripture expresses its intent by the way it arranges the discourse. Mark and Luke say thatJesus "was tempted for forty days."3 It is clear that during those days the devil first tempted him 1. Origen is concerned with free choice and with exploiting all its possibilities, even to the point of defending the devil's freedom and God's allowing him to use that freedom. 2. Lk 4.5. 3. Mk 1.13 and Lk 4.2. 165 166 ORIGEN from a distance4-to sleep, acedia,' cowardice, and other such sins. Then, since he knew that Christ was hungry, the devil came closer to him and attacked him openly. Notice what he does. He had heard, both from John and from the voice that came from above, that "this man is a son ofGod."6 He did not know that "the Son ofGod" had become man, for the ineffable Incarnation was concealed from him. So, he assumed that Christ was a man who was pleasing to God because of his virtues .7 He was also jealous of him because of this honor,just as he had beenjealous of the old Adam; he was eager to cast this man down,just as he had cast Adam down. So he comes near and introduces the first temptation, that ofgluttony, through which he had also captured the first Adam. And, since there was no food anywhere, because the whole region was a desert, he knew that bread would satisfy Christ's hunger. He himself does not produce bread, because Christ was not going to take it from the enemy. But he commands him to make bread from the stones that he points to. And-behold his wiles and his great wickedness-he tried to keep Christ from knowing his plot. He did not simply say, "Turn the stones into loaves of bread," but he prefixed it with, "Ifyou are a son of God."sHe did this to show that he wanted this act done to prove that Christ is a son of God. For, he was thinking that Christ would be provoked by his words and offended by the suggestion that he was not a "son of God." He thought that Christ would not recognize the deception and, as a man who has power from God, turn the stones into bread. And then, when he saw the bread, he would yield to his stomach, since he was very hungry. 4- Origen wants to distinguish the forty days during which Jesus fasted and was tempted (Lk 4-2) from the three specific temptations that Luke narrates (Lk 4.3-12). So, he first has the devil at a distance, and then nearer to Jesus. 5. "Acedia," which means "discouragement," "restlessness," "ennui," and the like, is often mentioned by monastic authors as a vice, particularly of monks. It figures in the catalogues ofthe seven deadly sins in antiquity and the Middle Ages. 6. Cf. Jn 1.34, which has "the Son of God," with the definite article. Here Origen quotes tlJe words without the article, but in the phrase that follows includes it, to distinguish "a son of God" from "the Son of God." 7. Origen makes the devil an Adoptionist. 8. Lk...