Word to the Wise
Sunday, March 6, 2022 - 1st Sunday of Lent - C
[Deut 26:4-10; Rom 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.....[Luke]
The temptation of Jesus in the desert is a familiar scene to us. We all experience temptation in our personal and cultural "deserts." But one of my happiest assignments was to be director of the Catholic student center at the University of Arizona (1977-80) and I grew to love the Arizona desert with its big cacti and desert creatures! I had to redefine my understanding of "desert." The Bible points to both desert and ocean as boundless emptiness where a person is brought face to face with his/her self and needs and fears. Jesus' forty days and nights in the desert echoed the forty years of wandering by the Chosen People in the desert of Sinai. Their fidelity to God was severely tested and they failed spectacularly with the Golden Calf. Jesus' fidelity to his mission is severely tested by the realization that he could meet his physical (bread from stones), financial ("all the kingdoms of the world") and "protective" needs ("He will command his angels concerning you...") by his own power. In short, the temptation to phoniness, selfishness and security faced him in the desert, all of which would mean being false to his identity as Son of God, filled with the Spirit at the baptism by John the Baptist just before this trial!
Lent invites us to journey into our inner desert. That desert is not necessarily a hostile place but it can be hostile if not respected. In that desert we are faced with OUR needs and wants - our selfishness and greed. The desert will hit us where we are weakest - sex, substance, wealth, security, love...! It is when we begin to see that God is with us that our temptations can be fought and overcome. The prophet Hosea puts it beautifully when speaking of God's relationship to Israel: "I will lead her into the desert and there I will speak to her heart!" [Hosea 2:14]. Are we afraid to go into the desert and confront temptation? Are we afraid that God might speak to our hearts and lead us away from those temptations to which we cling? Jesus was tempted to be "phony" to his identity and mission. We received our identity and mission at our baptism. How true are we to that identity and mission as sons and daughters of God? Can we face both the beauty and dangers of our deserts? Jesus promises us, as the voice in the Burning Bush told Moses in the desert of Midian, "I will be with you." [Exodus 3:12] AMEN