Christ was tempted in order to show us how to overcome temptations.
“Lent commemorates the forty days Jesus spent in the desert in preparation for his years of preaching, which culminated in the Cross and in the triumph of Easter. Forty days of prayer and penance. At the end: the temptations of Christ, which the liturgy recalls for us in today's Gospel."
“The whole episode is a mystery which man cannot hope to understand: God submitting to temptation, letting the evil one have his way. But we can meditate upon it, asking our Lord to help us understand the teaching it contains."
“Jesus Christ being tempted... Tradition likes to see Christ's trials in this way: our Lord, who came to be an example to us in all things, wanted to suffer temptation as well. And so it is, for Christ was perfect man, like us in everything except in sin. After forty days of fasting, with perhaps no food other than herbs and roots and a little water, he feels hungry - he is really hungry, as anyone would be. And when the devil suggests he turn stones into bread, our Lord not only declines the food which his body requires, but he also rejects a greater temptation: that of using his divine power to solve, if we can express it so, a personal problem."
“In the second temptation, when the devil suggests Jesus throw himself off the temple tower, Christ again rejects the suggestion to make use of his divine power. Christ isn't looking for vainglory, for show. He teaches us not to stage God as the backdrop for our own excellence. Jesus Christ wants to fulfill the will of his Father without anticipating God's plans, without advancing the time for miracles; he simply plods the hard path of men, the lovable way of the Cross."
“Something very similar happens in the third temptation: he is offered kingdoms, power and glory. The devil tries to extend to human ambitions that commitment which should be reserved wholly for God; he promises us an easy life if we fall down before him, before idols. Our Lord insists that the only true end of adoration is God; and he confirms his will to serve: ‘Away with you, Satan; it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and serve none but him’."
Our Lord really wanted to undergo the test in his human nature without using his divine omnipotence. In his struggle he only used the means which we can also use, so that the example of his victory may be profitable to us. The Gospel for today's Mass gives us a powerful reason for staying firm and serene, keeping our calm when we are tempted. As St Gregory the Great points out, the Lord, who came to conquer our death by his own death, likewise overcame our temptations by his own temptations.
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