Holy Saturday, April 8: “Passion of Temptation”
Hebrews 4: 15: “We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One Who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”
Jesus being one hundred percent God did not make overcoming temptation any easier, because that one hundred percent man part of His nature kept coming into play. It had to be that way; being impervious to temptation would have rendered the Incarnation pointless. And undoubtedly His biggest temptation was not to eat leavened bread during Passover, or to spend private time with the divine Mary Mag. It was to call down those legions of angels in Gethsemane, or to demand that His cup pass from Him. Again, to refuse his Passion would have negated any benefits of His Incarnation. But He refused that temptation to reject His cup, and today we still venerate His Passion.
