Baptism and Temptations

This Sunday was the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. We heard the Gospel of Mark 1:7-11. Hence, I was expecting next week to be about the temptation of Christ in the desert.

After all, the stories are paired together in Mark 1:7-13 and Matthew 3:13 - 4:11.

They are found together in Luke as well, though Luke inserts the geneology of Christ between the Baptism and Temptation accounts. (Luke 3:21-22 / geneology / 4:1-13)

Also, knowing that we are in Year B, I thought we might hear Mark 1:12-13 -- two quick verses about the temptation! -- "Well," I thought, "maybe we'll hear John's version." He also has an account of the Baptism, in a round-about way, through the witness of John the Baptist:

And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove,
and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me
to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and
remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen
and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

But, John omits the Temptation story! Instead, on the testimony of John, two of his disciples leave him and follow Jesus, and segues into the Call of the Apostles.

And, yet! In Matthew 17:2-23, Jesus rebukes Peter:

Get behind me, Satan!

(This is a response to Peter's fear of Jesus' death in Jerusalem.)

At this point, I search for "Borromeo CCC" and find something like this:

BAPTISM AND TEMPTATION (535-540)

“Can you be baptized in the way I must be baptized?”

Mark 10:38, referring to the Cross

“Because Jesus himself is without sin and has no old life to bury, his acceptance of baptism is an anticipation of the Cross.”

Pope Benedict XVI, On the Way to Jesus Christ

Details of Christ's Baptism:

1.Jesus allows himself to be counted among sinners (Mark 3:7)

2.Jesus is identified by John the Baptist as the “Lamb of God”

3.The Father's voice delights in the obedience of His Son

4.The Spirit rests on Jesus

5.The heavens, closed by Adam's sin, are opened

Jesus is the new Adam who remained faithful just where the first Adam had given in to temptation.

Satan in Genesis 3

"Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"
"You will not surely die.”“

“You will be like God."

Satan in Matthew 4

“Command these stones to become loaves of bread."

"Throw yourself down, [so the angels will catch you.]”

"I will give you] the kingdoms of the world!”

Jesus' reply

"'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

''You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

"Be gone, Satan! 'You shall worship the Lord your God"

From BXVI:

“To consider ourselves, the needs and desires of the moment to be more important than God is – that is the temptation that always besets us.”

Pope Benedict XVI, On the Way to Jesus Christ