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Linking the three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness with the three major lusts outlined in 1 John 2 has a long history in Christian preaching.  Here is an example from Augustine’s second homily on 1 John, with some bullet points for clarity:

These three (temptations) there are, and you can find nothing whereby human cupidity can be tempted, but either by the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. By these three was the Lord tempted of the devil. (Matthew 4:1-10)

• By the lust of the flesh He was tempted when it was said to Him, “If you be the Son of God, speak to these stones that they become bread,” when He hungered after His fast. But in what way repelled He the tempter, and taught his soldier how to fight? Mark what He said to him: “Not by bread alone does man live, but by every word of God.”
• He was tempted also by the lust of the eyes concerning a miracle, when he said to Him, “Cast yourself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning you: and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone.” He resisted the tempter, for to do the miracle, would only have been to seem either to have yielded, or to have done it from curiosity; for He wrought when He would, as God, howbeit as healing the weak. For if He had done it then, He might have been thought to wish only to do a miracle. But lest men should think this, mark what He answered; and when the like temptation shall happen to you, say also the same: “Get behind me, Satan; for it is written, You shall not tempt the Lord your God:” that is, if I do this I shall tempt God. He said what He would have you to say. When the enemy suggests to you, “What sort of man, what sort of Christian, are you? As yet have you done one miracle, or by your prayers have the dead been raised, or have you healed the fevered? If you were truly of any moment, you would do some miracle:” answer and say: “It is written, You shall not tempt the Lord your God:” therefore I will not tempt God, as if I should belong to God if I do a miracle, and not belong if I do none: and what becomes then of His words, “Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven”?
• By “pride of life” how was the Lord tempted? When he carried Him up to an high place, and said to Him, “All these will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” By the loftiness of an earthly kingdom he wished to tempt the King of all worlds: but the Lord who made heaven and earth trod the devil under foot. What great matter for the devil to be conquered by the Lord? Then what did He in the answer He made to the devil but teach you the answer He would have you to make? “It is, written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.” Holding these things fast, you shall not have the concupiscence of the world: by not having concupiscence of the world, neither shall the lust of the flesh, nor the lust of the eyes, nor the pride of life, subjugate you: and you shall make place for Charity when she comes, that you may love God. Because if love of the world be there, love of God will not be there.

Hold fast rather the love of God, that as God is for ever and ever, so you also may remain for ever and ever: because such is each one as is his love. Love earth, you shall be earth. Love God, what shall I say? You shall be a god? I darenot say it of myself, let us hear the Scriptures: “I have said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High.” If then you would be gods and sons of the Most High, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all the things that are in the world, is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world:” (1 John 2:15-17) i.e. of men, lovers of the world. “And the world passes away, and the lusts thereof: but he that does the will of God abides for ever, even as God also abides for ever.”

Another gem from Jerome’s Homilies on the Psalms, this time Psalm 84 (from here):

“How lovely are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!” The sole ambition of some people is to possess property; others long to be enriched with the wealth of the world; still others wish to hold prominent places at conventions and be esteemed among men. But for me, there is only one longing: to see Your eternal dwelling places. To me, those are the lovely dwelling places where the virtuous and not the vicious congre­gate. “My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord.” This is my one desire, this my only love, that I may see Your courts. Notice the order. First, he longs for the taber­nacles, tents without a foundation and easily portable. A tent, moreover, is always on the move, folded up and carried hither and thither. Courts, on the other hand, although certainly not houses, do have a kind of foundation, and from the court we enter the house. Our psalmist, therefore, at first longs for a tabernacle, and then afterwards pines and yearns with love to see Your courts; and when he is in Your court, then he cries out: “Happy they who dwell in your house!”

The Tree of Life has been a topic of special interest to me since I made the connection with the lignum vitae (The Tree That Grows in Heaven.)  Here is Jerome’s linkage of Psalm 1 with the other allusions to the tree, from his Homilies on the Psalms (from here):

“He is like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade” There are many who interpret these words very simply to mean that just as a tree, if planted near water, will take root and grow and not wither away because it has enough moisture, so in like manner one who meditates on the law of God will derive strength and life from his meditation. This is their simple interpretation. But we shall combine spiritual things with spiritual things and read of the tree of life that was planted in Paradise, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This tree of life was planted in the Garden of Eden and in Eden there rose a river that separated into four branches. Likewise we read in Solomon – if one accepts that book as Solomon’s, for he speaks there of wisdom (Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God) – so then, as I was saying, where Solomon says: “She is a tree of life to those who grasp her” he is speaking of wisdom. Now, if wisdom is the tree of life. Wisdom itself, indeed, is Christ. You understand now that the man who is blessed and holy is compared to this tree, that is, he is compared to Wisdom. Consequently, you see, too that the just man, that blessed man who has not followed in the counsel of the wicked-who has not done that but has done this-is like the tree that is planted near running water, is. in other words, like Christ, inasmuch as He “raised us up together, and seated us together in heaven” You see, then, that we shall reign together with Christ in heaven; you see, too, that because this tree has been planted in the Garden of Eden, we have all been planted there together with Him.

“He is like a tree planted near running water” Indeed, it is from that fountain-head that all rivers take their rise. “That yields its fruit in due season” This tree does not yield fruit in every season, but in the proper season. This is the tree that does not yield its fruit in the present day, but in the future, that is, on the Day of Judgement. This is the tree that bears blossoms now, that buds forth now, and promises fruits for the future. This tree bears twofold: it produces fruit and it produces foliage. The fruit that it bears contains the meaning of Scripture; the leaves, only the words. The fruit is in the meaning; the leaves are in the words. For that reason, whoever reads Sacred Scripture, if he reads merely as the Jews read, grasps only the words. If he rends with true spiritual insight, he gathers the fruit.

“And whose leaves never fade” The leaves of this tree are by no means useless. Even if one understands Holy Writ only as history, he has something useful for his soul. We read in the Apocalypse of John (a book which, although rejected in these regions,we ought nevertheless to know, because it is accepted and held as canonical throughout die West, and in other Phoenician provinces, and in Egypt, for the ancient churchmen, including Irenaeus, Polycarp, Dionysius, and other Roman expounders of Sacred Scripture, among whom is holy Cyprian, accept and interpret it): “Behold, I saw a throne set up, and one Lamb and a tree alongside a river, and on both sides of the river was that tree.” This means that the tree was both on this side and on that side of the river. “And this tree” he says, “bore fruit and was yielding its twelve fruits for the year according to each month. And it had leaves, too, and the leaves for the healing of the nations”.

“I saw” he says, “a single throne set up” We believe in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that is true, and that they are a Trinity; nevertheless the kingship is one. ”I saw a single throne set up, and I saw a single Lamb standing in the presence of the throne” This refers to the Incarnation of the Saviour. Scripture says: “Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” – “And there was a fountain of water corning forth from beneath the middle of the throne.” Notice that it is from the midst of the throne that there issues forth a river of graces. That river does not issue forth from the throne unless the Lamb is standing before it, for unless we believe in the Incarnation of Christ, we do not receive those graces.

A tree, he says, one lofty tree had been set up. He did not say trees, but only one tree. If there is but one tree, how can it be on both sides of the river? If he had said, I saw trees, it would have been possible for some trees to be on one side of the river and other trees on the other side. Actually, one tree is said to be on both sides of the river. One river comes forth from the throne of God-the grace of the Holy Spirit-and this grace of the Holy Spirit is found in the river of the Sacred Scriptures. This river, moreover, has two banks, the Old Testament and the New Testament, and the tree planted on both sides is Christ. During the year, this tree yields twelve fruits, one for each month, but we are unable to receive the fruits except through the apostles. If one approaches the tree through the apostles, he must receive the fruit; he gathers the fruit from the Sacred Scriptures; he grasps the divine meaning abiding within the words. If, therefore, one comes to this tree through the apostles, he gathers its fruit just as we have said. If, indeed, he cannot pluck the fruit, it is be­cause he is still too weak; he is not yet a disciple, but belongs to the throng; he is an outsider, a stranger from the nations. Because he cannot pluck the fruit, he plucks only words, the leaves for the healing of the nations, for it is written: “and the leaves are for the healing of the nations”. One who belongs to the nations, who is not a disciple, who is as yet only one or the crowd, gathers only leaves from the tree; he receives from Scripture plain words for a healing remedy. Briefly, then, the Scripture says; “and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations”; in other words, the leaves are medicine. Why have we digressed on the Apocalypse? Simply because of that tree “that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does prospers.”

We have discussed the happiness of the just man. We spoke of his reward. Because of the three things he did not do and the two things he did do, he was compared to the tree in the Garden of Eden, to Christ, who is Wisdom. We have said all this about the holy man.