Word to the Wise
Sunday, February 21, 2010 - First Sunday of Lent
[Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13]Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."
The first line of today's gospel scripture sets the scene but its meaning requires that we be aware of the world and culture in which Jesus lived - a world filled with "spirits" of all kinds, good and evil. We are told that Jesus is returning from the Jordan where he was baptized by John and filled with the Spirit and identified as God's beloved Son in whom God is well pleased. This is equivalent to the announcement we would hear at a boxing match, "And in this cornerrrrrr........" The evil spirits come to contest the power of Jesus at the very outset of his ministry. Who will be in charge? Who is more powerful and how shall power be used? The "temptations" all concern abuse of power. There is the "snap your fingers and feed yourself" temptation. There is the "unlimited spending account" temptation. Finally there is the "make God your errand boy" temptation! The evil spirit hounds Jesus like an investigative journalist, probing every motivation, determined to find fault. At every turn, Jesus refuses to become an unfaithful Son. His power drives away evil spirits and heals! Abuses of power are nothing new to us. The abuses of power by political, business, moral, religious, and celebrity figures are common stories in the media (which itself is not immune to abuse of power). Lent offers us an opportunity to ask ourselves about our own "power" and how we use or abuse it. Every relationship - great and small - carries with it the exercise of power: power to love or power to manipulate for our own selfish purposes. The danger of power is fundamentally the danger of selfish gain. The more "powerful" we become the less accountable we feel. At baptisms I remind young parents of the power they have over their child and the consequences of that power for the child's ability to love and be loved. As we cheer on Jesus in his contest with the demon of evil, we should not lose attention to our own battle. If by baptism we are God's beloved children, we are called to the same fidelity, and we can be sure it will be tested. AMEN
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