Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Profession of Faith 137 become the Father’s beloved son in the Son and “walk in newness of life”: 238 Let us be buried with Christ by Baptism to rise with him; let us go down with him to be raised with him; and let us rise with him to be glorified with him. 239 Everything that happened to Christ lets us know that, after the bath of water, the Holy Spirit swoops down upon us from high heaven and that, adopted by the Father’s voice, we become sons of God. 240 Jesus’ temptations 538 The Gospels speak of a time of solitude for Jesus in the desert immediately after his baptism by John. Driven by the Spirit into the desert, Jesus remains there for forty days without eating; he lives among wild beasts, and angels minister to him. 241 At the end of this time Satan tempts him three times, seeking to compro- mise his filial attitude toward God. Jesus rebuffs these attacks, which recapitulate the temptations of Adam in Paradise and of Israel in the desert, and the devil leaves him “until an opportune time.” 242 539 The evangelists indicate the salvific meaning of this mys- terious event: Jesus is the new Adam who remained faithful just where the first Adam had given in to temptation. Jesus fulfills Israel’s vocation perfectly: in contrast to those who had once provoked God during forty years in the desert, Christ reveals himself as God’s Servant, totally obedient to the divine will. In this, Jesus is the devil’s conqueror: he “binds the strong man” to take back his plunder. 243 Jesus’ victory over the tempter in the desert anticipates victory at the Passion, the supreme act of obedience of his filial love for the Father. 238 Rom 6:4. 239 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio. 40, 9: PG 36, 369. 240 St. Hilary of Poitiers, In Matth. 2, 5: PL 9, 927. 241 Cf. Mk 1:12-13. 242 Lk 4:13. 243 Cf. Ps 95:10; Mk 3:27. 628 394 518 397 385 609