Shortcuts to the Kingdom
March 9, 2025 The reference to the temptations of Jesus are found only in the three Synoptic Gospels (not in John’s Gospel). And each liturgical year they always come at the beginning of the Lenten season (Mathew in Year A, Mark in Year B, and Luke in Year C) , perhaps so that we contemplate on what are the temptations in our life and accordingly consciously work towards overcoming those. Since Mark’s Gospel, considered the earliest of the four Gospels, has a very brief reference to the temptations, it is quite likely that the story of temptations in Mathew and Luke were part of the oral tradition among the early Christians. But t he fact that the Church decided to include the reference to the temptations in the New Testament implies that the Church accepted that Jesus did face temptations. And one could also surmise that the Gospel of John probably did not include the reference to temptations because the idea that the Word of God could b...
