and comest Thou to me?” [1] Jesus answering, said: “Suffer it now, for so it becometh us to fulfil all justice.”[2] John obeyed the command, and Jesus was baptized.
Then the heavens were opened; the Holy Ghost descended upon Him in the form of a dove[3], and a voice [4] from heaven exclaimed: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” Thus did the Eternal Father and the Holy Ghost give testimony that Jesus was the Son of God and the Redeemer of the world.
Before commencing His great work, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert[5], where He prayed and fasted forty days[6] and forty nights. Then He was hungry[7], and Satan[8], coming to tempt Him, said: “If Thou be the Son of God[9], command that these stones be made bread.” But Jesus answered: “It is written [10]:
- ↑ Contest Thou to me? In other words: “Thou, the holy One, dost not require my baptism. Thou canst baptize with the Holy Ghost, whereas I only baptize with water. Thou art mightier than I; why should I baptize Thee” ?
- ↑ All justice. Just because I am the Messias, and wish to accomplish the work of Redemption, it behoves me to do everything which God requires of a good Israelite. Thou art called by God to baptize the Israelites, thus preparing them for the New Covenant; therefore, I too desire to be baptized by thee; and it behoves thee to baptize Me, and thus, as it were, to consecrate Me for My public life.
- ↑ A dove. This was no natural dove, but a supernatural vision in the form of a dove, which descended or hovered over His head.
- ↑ A voice. Of God the Father.
- ↑ The desert. Impelled by the Holy Ghost, Jesus went into the desert, namely to a barren ridge of hills, north-west of Jericho, not far from the scene of His baptism, and which is to-day known by the name of Quarantania, or the place of the forty days’ fast (Fig. 68, p. 430). This part is full of caves in the rocks.
- ↑ Forty days. Jesus passed the forty days in a state of great mortification, and in the most intimate communion with His Heavenly Father: His dwelling was a cave, His bed the stony ground, and His only society the wild beasts (Mark 1, 13). He neither ate nor drank, His life being miraculously preserved.
- ↑ Hungry. His hunger was intense and painful, and united to great bodily weakness; yet there was no food to be procured in the desert, with which Jesus could satisfy His hunger.
- ↑ Satan. The devil, concealing his real nature under a human form. He bad heard the voice from heaven which, at the baptism of Jesus, had said: “This is My beloved Son”, but he did not know in what sense Jesus was the Son of God, being ignorant of the mystery of the Incarnation. Yet, at any rate, he suspected that He might be the Messias.
- ↑ The Son of God. If you are really the Son of God, you have only to speak the word, and these stones will become bread, with which you can appease your hunger.
- ↑ Written. In Deut. 8, 3. This passage is taken from Moses’ last exhortation to his people, and the whole passage, taken together, runs thus: “He afflicted thee with want and gave thee manna for thy food, which neither thou nor thy fathers knew: to show that not alone in bread doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.” Jesus quoted the conclusion of this passage, and wished to say: “I suffer hunger willingly; and, as far as concerns My life, mere natural bread is not necessary for Me. God, by His word, can give other food (witness the manna), and His word is powerful enough to sustain man without any food at all.”
