FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
10 MARCH 2019
Saint
Luke reports that when Jesus emerged from his baptism in the waters of the
Jordan, the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. Then a voice came down from heaven, “You are
my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
Today, that same Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the desert for forty
days. Moses had led his ancestors
through the desert for forty days in their journey from Egypt to the Promised
Land. He had spent forty days on Mount
Sinai accepting the law. Elijah had
journeyed forty days in the desert to renew the Covenant after his people had
abandoned it. The desert is a place of
death, forcing those who traveled through it to focus only on the essentials of
survival. The desert is a place of
testing, where people must make a choice whether they trust God or not.
In the
desert, Satan tests Jesus. He tempts
Jesus to use his relationship as the Son of God to turn stones into bread,
knowing that Jesus is famished and vulnerable after fasting in the heat for
forty days. Responding to Satan’s taunt,
Jesus quotes Deuteronomy to assert that his mission is not meant for his own
comfort. Then Satan tempts Jesus to
worship him in return for gaining power over all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus responds to the second temptation by
quoting Deuteronomy to assert that authentic power belongs only to his
Father. Finally, Satan quotes Psalm 91
(our responsorial psalm today) to tempt Jesus to put his own ego before
everything else. Jesus quotes from
Deuteronomy for the third time, convinced that his mission is not about what he
wants to do, but rather what his Father wants him to do.
The Holy
Spirit has led us into the desert of Lent, encouraging us to strip away what we
do not need to focus on our relationship with God. That stripping away happens when we are
serious about embracing the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and
almsgiving. In this desert, we become
more aware of the ways in which Satan tempts us to move away from trusting in
God alone. Satan wants us to believe
that seeking sensual pleasure is the central force of our lives. As the father of lies, Satan knows that food
and drink and sex are not bad in themselves.
But he also knows that there is no room for God when we seek those
things alone to satisfy us. Satan wants
us to seek the lure of power by having as much control as possible over other
people, instead of trusting in God’s power.
Satan wants us to put our ego in the center of everything, drawing
attention to ourselves and our own needs, instead of putting God at the center.
We are as
vulnerable to these temptations as Jesus was in the desert. That is why we hear these readings on the
First Sunday of Lent. Saint Luke wants
us to know that the Spirit will empower us to resist temptation, as the Spirit
empowered Jesus. Jesus did not need to
prove that he is the Son of God. He
opened himself completely to the Spirit’s power and resisted every
temptation. That is not true for us. We give in time and time again, doing damage
by our bad choices and affecting our relationship with God and with each
other. That is why our prayer, fasting,
and almsgiving are penitential. If we
can strengthen our will by fasting from small things, we allow the Spirit to
empower us to resist the temptations to not trust in God.
Saint Luke
says that Satan departed from Jesus for a time.
Satan will be back to tempt him in the Garden of Gethsemani. He will tempt him through the crowds at
Calvary to come down from the cross to prove that he is the Son of God. Jesus will resist all temptations to prove
his special relationship with the Father.
He will be completely faithful to his mission as the Suffering Servant
who will save us by his death and resurrection.
We pray to resist Satan’s temptations to doubt the will of God in our
lives as we journey through this desert of Lent to celebrate his victory at the
Sacred Paschal Triduum.
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