Today is the first Sunday of Lent. Lent is a 40-day period which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends before the celebration of Paschal Triduum excluding Sundays. ‘Forty’ is a number often associated with intense spiritual experiences. God caused it to rain for forty days and forty nights to cleanse the earth (Gen 7:12). The Israelites were in the wilderness for forty years. Moses spent forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai (Ex. 34:28) and Elijah journeyed forty days and forty nights to Mount Horeb (1Kgs 19:8). Christ also spent 40 days in the wilderness praying and fasting in preparation for his years of preaching which will culminates on the cross and in the triumph of Easter. During these forty days, we are called to return to the Lord with all our heart, with fasting, mourning and rending our hearts not our garment. It should be a time of penance and interior conversion. The Gospel reading explained how Jesus Christ was led into the wilderness, after fasting for forty days and forty nights; and how he was tempted by the devil in the desert. The question therefore is, what does this temptation meant to Jesus? The temptations came immediately after his baptism. At his baptism he received a mission from the Father, the mission was to inaugurate the Kingdom of God. The temptations from the devil were an attempt to distort that mission. But Jesus was determined to be faithful to the mission entrusted to Him by His Father. The temptation of Jesus was not a once-off event, but continued throughout his ministry. The same is applicable to us. Some of us think that they have reached a stage when they will be beyond temptation. Jesus never reached that stage. Neither did the saints.
Let us examine the three temptations of Jesus Christ: if you are the son of God, command this stone to become bread. And Jesus replied with Deut. 8:3 saying that Man shall not live by bread alone. The statement is a short lesson on God’s priorities for our lives, teaching us that physical needs are not our greatest needs. The Word of the Lord is a more essential sustenance for life than bread. Obedience to his Word is something for which we should “hunger and thirst” (5:6). Jesus refuses to prioritize the cravings of his body over the higher obligation to do the will of his Father in all circumstances. The second temptation, the devil took Jesus and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me. Jesus replied with Deut.6:13, it is written you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. Bowing before Satan would be just such an act of idolatry and Jesus will have no part of it. Jesus is being offered short cut to achieving his messianic objectives. Which means kingly power and international glory can be his without any humiliation or torment. In exchange, Satan wants nothing less from Jesus than a brazen act of apostasy and idolatry. Jesus refused to serve himself rather than his mission from the Father and has decline the challenge to test the goodwill of his Father. The third temptation is, he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here; for it is written, “He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you, and ‘On their hands they will hear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone”. Jesus replied with Deut. 6:16 “You shall not tempt the Lord your God”. The third temptation is essentially a challenge to the trustworthiness of God.
Satan wants Jesus to subject his Father’s promise to verification. Instead of trusting in the Lord’s care, which is the real message of Ps.91, the devil urges him to certify the truth of Scripture by making a daredevil’s leap from the sanctuary. Such an attempt to manipulate God into action is presumptuous. God will not be forced to prove himself at our bidding. The actions of Jesus by refusing to yield to the devil is in contrast to what happened in Exodus 17:1-7; At Massah, the Israelites had grown so weary and irritable that some demanded God give proof to his presence among them. Failing to trust, they dared to put the Lord to the test. Jesus will not make the same mistake. Jesus Christ will not turn his own experience of testing into a pretext for testing the Father. My dear brothers and sisters, it is imperative to note that Temptation arises from our own desires. The person who yields to temptation is a victim of seduction, lured and enticed by personal desires. When one allows these evil desires to flourish through impure, angry, greedy, or resentful thoughts, the natural result ensues: desire conceives and brings forth sin. Evil desires that are allowed to flourish lead to evil actions. Often times, we are enticed and lured by our evil desires, becoming a victim of the force that wells up deep within to trap and ensnare. Let us look at the temptation of Jesus, the devil is pretty clever and makes an offer of bread, power and safety that are hard to refuse. He knew Jesus Christ was very hungry after fasting for forty days and forty night, he decided to test him with his longing of his heart. Have you ever noticed that when you try to set aside a time to pray, something always come up? All of a sudden, you remember some assignment you want to do or some person you should talk to or better still you want to quickly check something on your phone. The devil will do almost anything to keep you from praying. Many families often tell me about the challenges they go through on Sunday Morning, getting ready for Mass. Do you think that these things are coincidence? Not at all! The devil wants to attack us at the throat, to take away our voice- so that it will be impossible for us to call out to the Lord.
The triumph of Jesus in the wilderness is much more than a personal victory. It is also a triumph for the people of God, for everyone seated in this church this morning. This is because Jesus overcomes temptation with his human will. He could have vanquished the tempter with his divine might, but this was not his chosen approach. Instead Jesus faced his trial in a human way, in full solidarity with humanity. Jesus never ceased to be the Son of God but he won the battle as a man. This temptation has practical implications for us Christians. For each time the devil made his suggestions, Jesus unsheathed “the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17). It was the knowledge of Scripture and his commitment to live by its message that aided him in the fight. For this reason, familiarity with scripture should be an essential part of our lives as Christians. It is a powerful weapon for the struggles of the spiritual life. The second implication is that Jesus can empower us to remain faithful in times of testing. Having endured the wilderness ordeal, he is no stranger to the pressures of human temptation. The letters to the Hebrews affirmed the truth when it’s says: “Because he himself was tested through what he suffered; he is able to help those who are being tested” (Heb. 2:18). These words invite us to turn to Jesus for grace and inner strength in times of need. My dear friends in Christ, Jesus went into the desert to pray and he was able to discern the will of God for himself. we too can set aside a quiet place and time to be alone with God daily. A time to distance ourselves from the many noise and voices that bombard our lives. As we journey with the Lord during this Lenten season, let us use this period to ask for the grace of God so that we can withstand the temptations of the devil and to pray ourselves for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
