First Sunday of Lent
There is much to be said about today’s reading. I would like to delve right into the scriptures today. In the first two points I will talk about the reading and in the third point, I would like to provide the practical implications of the readings.
1.It is indeed very surprising that on the very first Sunday of Lent, the theme of the very first reading is about first fruits. What is the feast of the first fruits? Why was it celebrated? What is its meaning for us on the first Sunday of Lent? As the Israelites left Egypt, Moses instructed the people that when they enter the Promised Land they were to bring their first fruits and offer it to God. This meant that when the harvest of barley and wheat was ready to be reaped, the Israelites were to take one sheaf from the standing harvest and bring it to the priest along with other prescribed offerings. This was also applicable to man and beast. The first fruits were always the choicest, the first, and the best of all that was to follow. This was an act of praise and thanksgiving and an act of sanctifying life in its entirety. (Deuteronomy 26:1-11). In this way the Israelites also reminded themselves that everything they were possessed, came from God. It helped the people to keep God in perspective. It helped them keep God in clear focus.
In the strangest way, the reading of the first fruits also takes us to the gospel reading. The fourty days Christ spent in the desert is indicative of his entire life. It is not as if Christ was tempted for fourty days and then he was never tempted again. Scripture says, that the devil “departed from him for a time.” In other words, Christ navigated through life in the same way that he did in the desert. He keeps God in perspective. He keeps God at the center. In times of temptation and in other times, Christ keeps God in focus. In fact, he in consumed by his love for God and God’s love for him. Christ did not just offer first fruits but be became the first fruit as he offered himself on the cross on our behalf.
2.The gospel is about the temptation of Jesus in the desert. However, the reading begins with the words, “Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days.” Remember, that Jesus had been baptized in the water and anointed by the Holy Spirit. Now the same Spirit leads him into the desert. What happens in the desert is crucial. As Jesus is tempted in the very instinctual dimensions of his life – basic bodily appetites, the natural desire for control and power, the human need for success and glory – he must align his spirit with the Holy Spirit. That does not mean that he must lose his identity, but that his spirit must find itself in the Holy Spirit.
For Jesus, this surely must have been a process. The way the story is written, it seems like the temptations happened one after the other within a span of five minutes. I think the temptation was spread out over the fourty days and each time the intensity and the areas that they affected increased. Whereas the first temptation was about hunger, the third temptation could have completely consumed Christ. But over the course of fourty days, Jesus slowly and gradually learns the art of aligning his spirit with the Spirit of God. He learns to see his life only in relation to God. He learns to find himself in God. I am sure Jesus did this throughout his life but today we reflect how his temptations became the battle ground where he learns to align his spirit to the Spirit of God. Toward the end of his life when the devil returned to tempt Christ, he would say, “Father, not my will but yours be done.” And then again on the cross at a moment of feeling abandoned, he would cry out, “Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit” At this point, Jesus’ spirit is completely aligned with the Holy Spirit.
3.In this third point, I want to give the practical dimension of the first two points. Even though we do not celebrate the feast of first fruit or go into the desert for forty days, our fast paced life and multi-faceted life is the perfect location where today’s message can take root. Instead of first fruits may be we can offer the ten best minutes of our day to God in prayer. We can make sure that God indeed gets “first fruits” and not “left overs” of our time, energy and financial resources. And then, we have fourty days to align our spirit with that of Jesus. Sometimes it is possible for us to reduce Lent to mere abstinence – giving up things we like. The real Lenten project is to enter the process of aligning our sprit with the Holy Spirit. The real Lenten project is to find ourselves in God. The real Lenten project is to see our life only in relation to God. This is a “process.” There are no shortcuts. We have to consciously enter in the practice of aligning our spirit to that of Jesus. I am suggesting that each of us pick one area where we face constant temptation and in this area we strive to align our spirit with the Spirit of Jesus. So, if we you are tempted overindulgence, or gossip, or pornography, or laziness, or indiscipline, or impatience, or resentment, or unforgiveness, or prejudice, then do what Jesus did. Face the temptation and do not run away from it. Then reflect what Jesus would do if he had to face this temptation in the desert. You will find your spirit resisting. But then gradually over fourty days undertake the task of aligning your spirit with the Spirit of Jesus. We too must constantly pray like Jesus, “Father, not my will but yours be done.” At the end of our life, like Jesus, may we be able to say, “Father into your hands I commend my spirit.”
- Fr. Satish Joseph