Word to the Wise
Sunday, March 9, 2025 - 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 story of the temptation of Jesus in the desert, as recounted in the Gospel According to Luke, works on many levels! The temptation follows Jesus' baptism in which the "holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased." That same holy Spirit would lead Jesus into the desert for forty days to be tempted by the devil. Jesus' trinitarian identity is first affirmed and then tested. The location and number of days recalls the 40 years of Israel's wandering in the desert and their testing, which they often failed. Jesus would triumph, not just on a human level of resisting temptation, but on a cosmic level, for he defeats the power of evil, the devil!
On another level, in the context of Lent, the three temptations invite consideration. Hunger, after a fast of forty days, reflects the power of bodily desire, which Lenten fasting and abstinence addresses. Wealth reflects the power of consumer goods and political domination. Trust in God reflects our ultimate need of God without cheapening it by something like defying the law of gravity by jumping off a building! In varying degrees, all humanity is subject to these temptations which run completely against Jesus' teachings as well as his mission of salvation. We, who by baptism and confirmation are entrusted with his message and mission, are given this annual period of 40 days to reflect, just as Jesus, on the challenges to our integrity as Christians. We can ask the three questions that I often ask when preaching retreats: What do I need to start doing? What do I need to stop doing? What do I need to keep on doing? Can we come out of the desert, in the same Spirit, a better Christian for the testing? AMEN
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