The Baptism of Christ and His Temptation

 St Mark Chapter I : Verses 9-13

The Baptism of Jesus

Christ's Baptism. J-J Tissot. 

[9] And it came to pass, in those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

[10] And forthwith coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit as a dove descending, and remaining on him.

[11] And there came a voice from heaven: Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

[9] Et factum est : in diebus illis venit Jesus a Nazareth Galilaeae : et baptizatus est a Joanne in Jordane.

[10] Et statim ascendens de aqua, vidit caelos apertos, et Spiritum tamquam columbam descendentem, et manentem in ipso.

[11] Et vox facta est de caelis : Tu es Filius meus dilectus, in te complacui.

Notes

9. In those days. Either an indefinite formula referring to St J ohn’s preaching, or more probably a reference to the days of our Lord’s hidden life at Nazareth, which ended when He attained His thirtieth year. 

Nazareth. A small despised city on the southern slopes of Galilee. Can any thing of good come from Nazareth ? (St John i. 46).

in the Jordan. One local tradition points out an ancient ford, near Succoth, as the spot where Jesus was baptized, another refers it to a ford near Jericho. The latter was easier of access.
10. forthwith — immediately ; both favourite words of St Mark. This adverb, as employed by St Mark, does not always express uninterrupted sequence.
He saw the heavens opened. “He” refers to Jesus Himself, but St John also saw the rent in the heavens, and probably the people present perceived the miracle.
opened. Literally “ rent ” or “ torn.” The same word is used to express the rending of the rocks at our Lord’s crucifixion.
11. a voice from heaven. During our Saviour’s lifetime a miraculous
voice was heard three times : —
(a) At His Baptism : Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased.
(b) At the Transfiguration : This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him.
(c) In the Temple during Holy Week : I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

Verses 10 and 11. Note the explicit mention of the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. God the Father spoke from Heaven. God the Son stood in the river. God the Holy Ghost descended “in bodily shape as a dove.”

HOLY, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna in the highest. 
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
SANCTUS, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis. 
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis.

Nazareth

A small town  of Lower Galilee, situated about midway between the Sea of Galilee  and the Mediterranean, lying on the southern slope of a hill. The rocks tower up almost  perpendicularly behind the town, and a hill is  pointed out called  “the Hill of Precipitation,” as the spot where the Nazarenes tried to cast our Lord down.  St Mark refers to it as our Lord’s own country (vi. 1).  He also tells us that  Jesus could not do any miracles there, only that He cured a  few.... and He wondered because of their unbelief.

Notes

10. heavens opened. It was not an instantaneous clearing up of the sky, as when after rain the sun shines forth, but “ a sudden brilliant light, apparently proceeding from the uppermost clouds, indicating that the Holy Ghost and the voice came from the heavens themselves.”

he saw the heavens opened. Who saw the heavens opened ? Evidently Jesus Himself. “The heavens were opened to Him” (Matt. iii. 16), and St John the Baptist also witnessed the miracle, for we read, “I saw the Spirit coming down” (John i. 32). It is questioned as to whether the multitude saw the heavens opened.

I. Reasons against.

(1) The gospel mentions only our Lord and His precursor as witnesses of the miracle.

(2) The gospels assert that St John was to give testimony of the miracle, but this would have been superfluous if the people had seen it.

II. Reasons for.

(1) It is the more common opinion that all witnessed the miracle.

(2) It would have needed a second miracle to prevent the people from seeing what was evident to the senses.

(3) The threefold miracle of —

(a) The heavens opening,

(b) The Holy Ghost descending in visible form,

(c) and of the voice from heaven, had for object to confirm Christ’s mission, and hence needed to be seen.

(4) Only those who were present at the baptism of Jesus could have seen the miracle, and they were but few compared with the inhabitants of Judea, to whom St John could give testimony.

he saw, etc. St Luke adds a detail, “Jesus also being baptized and praying, heaven was opened” (iii. 21). Note how all our Lord’s important actions were accompanied with

prayer, e.g. —

The calling of the twelve Apostles (St Luke vi. 13).

The Transfiguration (St Luke ix. 29).

The Agony in the garden (St Matt. xxvi.).

 

as a dove. “In a bodily shape as a dove ” (St Luke iii. 22). It was not a real dove, but a miraculous appearance, which signified the coming of the Holy Ghost. “ The Dove of God bore witness to the Lamb of God.”

Note. — St Mark gives a very brief summary of the baptism of our Lord. From the three Synoptic writers we learn the following details : —

(1) Jesus came from Galilee to be baptized (St Matt. iii. 13).

(2) Jesus was baptized after all the people were baptized (St Luke iii. 21).

(3) St John hesitated about baptizing Jesus (St Matt. iii. 14).

(5) After His baptism, Jesus prayed (St Luke iii. 21).

(6) Jesus saw the heavens open (St Mark i. 10).

(7) The Holy Ghost descended in bodily shape (St Luke iii. 22). 

The Temptation of Christ

Satan tempts Christ in the wilderness. J-J Tissot

[12] And immediately the Spirit drove him out into the desert.
[13] And he was in the desert forty days and forty nights, and was tempted by Satan; and he was with beasts, and the angels ministered to him.

[12] Et statim Spiritus expulit eum in desertum.

[13] Et erat in deserto quadraginta diebus, et quadraginta noctibus : et tentabatur a Satana : eratque cum bestiis, et angeli ministrabant illi.

Notes

12. The Spirit drove him. “The Holy Ghost who dwelt in all His fulness in our Lord, influenced Him to act energetically but at the same time freely.” Cf. “led” by the Spirit (St Matt. iv. 1., St Luke iv. 1).
out into the desert. A local tradition points to Quarantania, a district north-west of Jericho, as the scene of our Lord’s fasting and temptation.
13. forty days, etc. Satan ( = adversary) perhaps tempted our Lord the whole forty days, but with greater violence at the end.
with beasts. A detail peculiar to St Mark.
The district of Quarantania was infested with wild-boars, foxes, leopards, wolves, etc. This closes St Mark’s brief mention of the Temptation.
Angels ministered. They supplied our Lord’s bodily wants.
St Mark defers the account of St John’s imprisonment, which is related with his martyrdom in chap. vi. 17-29.

V R S N S M V - S M Q L I V B are letters found on the medal of St Benedict (AD 480-548). They are the initial letters of a Latin prayer of exorcism against Satan:

Vade retro Satana! Nunquam suade mihi vana! Sunt mala quae libas. Ipse venena bibas!

Begone Satan! Never tempt me with your vanities! What you offer me is evil. Drink the poison yourself!

Additional Notes

The temptation and fast of our Lord in the desert was a solemn preparation for His public life. It was thus that Moses the lawgiver and Elias the prophet had fasted. The second Adam began His work by triumphing over Satan.

13. forty days, etc. This number is frequently mentioned both in the Old and in the New Testament. The fast of Lent, which is of apostolic tradition, is in memory of our Lord’s fasting in the desert. Canonical penances were often imposed for a period of forty days. The fast of our Saviour is not mentioned by St Mark. Theologians are generally of opinion that our Lord experienced the pangs of hunger only when the forty days “ were ended” (St Luke iv. 2).

Duration of the Temptation. St Mark says, “ he was in the desert forty days, and forty nights, and was tempted by Satan.” St Luke adds, “ he was led by the Spirit into the desert for the space of forty days ; and was tempted by the devil ” (iv.). Some writers think our Lord was tempted during the whole period, but that the temptations increased in violence towards the end ; others opine that our Lord was subjected to temptation only at the close of the forty days.

the tempter coming , said to him (St Matt. iv. 3). The sacred writers seem to indicate that the devil took the form of a man, since—

(a) he approached our Lord,

(b) he asked Jesus to adore him,

(c) he took Him to the Holy City,

(d) and to the high mountain.

First Temptation, (a) Place : the desert, (b) Nature : “ If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread ” (St Matt. iv. 3). Satan tempts our Lord —

(i) to satisfy His hunger by wrong means,

(ii) to ostentation of His divine power,

(iii) to distrust of God’s providence.

The devil probably wished to find out whether Jesus was the Son of God.

(c) Our Lord's answer. — “ It is written, not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God ” (St Matt. iv. 4), Jesus uses the “ sword of the Spirit,” i.e. the sacred Scriptures, to defeat the tempter. By His reply Jesus —

(1) vindicates God’s honour, which the devil had indirectly attacked.

(2) He gives the devil no answer touching His own divinity.

(3) He teaches us how to resist temptation.

The words not alone in bread doth man live are quoted textually from Deut. viii. 3, where Moses reminds the Israelites that God could nourish them by other means if He thought fit. The greater number of the Fathers and of commentators incline to the opinion that the devil did not know that Christ was the Son of God. Satan seems to have suspected it, and to have desired an assurance concerning Him.

Second Temptation, (a) Place : “ a very high mountain ” (St Matt. iv. 8). It is uncertain to which mountain Satan carried Jesus. It may have been Olivet, Thabor, Nebo, or a mountain out of Palestine. Our Lord’s vision, “ all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them ” (St Matt. iv. 8), was not merely subjective. Perhaps the devil worked a miracle and caused a visual image of all the kingdoms of the world to pass before Him “ in a moment of time,” for evidently from no mountain would it be possible to see all the kingdoms of the world. In this temptation, Satan appealed to Christ as the Messias, of Whom it is said, “ He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth ” (Ps. lxxi. 8).

(b) Nature. “All these will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me ” (St Matt. iv. 9). This was a temptation —

(1) to ambition,

(2) to avoid suffering and death, which were foretold as the means of acquiring this dominion (see Isaias liii. 2-12).

(c) Our Lord’s answer. “ Begone, Satan : for it is written : The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve.” These words are a quotation from Deut. vi. 13. Jesus shews His indignation when Satan attacks the honour of God, “ Begone, Satan.”

Third Temptation. St Luke puts this temptation last ; St Matthew places it as the second.

(a) Place : the pinnacle of the Temple. “ The devil took him up into the holy city and set him upon the pinnacle of the temple ” (St Matt. iv. 5). These words seem to imply that Jesus allowed Satan to carry Him bodily through the air. We need not be surprised if He permitted Himself to be carried up into a mountain by Satan, since He permitted Himself to be crucified by the members of Satan (St Gregory).

The pinnacle of the Temple is generally supposed to mean some portion of the roof of the Holy Place or of the Holy of Holies, since the rest of the Temple was open to the air.

(b) Nature of the temptation. “ If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written : That he hath given his angels charge over thee, and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone ” (St Matt. iv. 6). This was a temptation to presumption. Notice that the devil uses Scripture in imitation of our Lord, but he misquotes it.

(c) Our Lord’s answer. “It is written again : Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (St Matt. iv. 7). Again Jesus quotes Scripture, and gives Satan no assurance of His divinity.

After the Temptation. (1) The devil being conquered, left Jesus “for a time.” We are not told when he renewed his attacks, but we know that the lonely vigil in Gethsemani was one of the hours of “ the power of darkness.”

(2) angels ministered to him: they supplied His bodily wants. One angel would have sufficed, but the host of angels that waited on our Lord marked His triumph over Satan more completely. The Evangelist does not relate how our Lord returned to the desert, whether by His own divine power or by the ministry of His angels, but we can hardly believe that when Jesus had defeated Satan, He would have allowed the fiend to carry Him back to the desert.

Lessons from the Temptation of Jesus.

(1) To hold no useless parley with the devil.

(2) To use the “sword of the Spirit” when tempted.

(3) To pray with confidence to our Saviour, who was “ tempted in all points ” even as we are, and yet conquered by the same means that we have at our disposal.

(4) To be on our watch even after a victory, knowing the respite is only for a time.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.