First Sunday of Lent
Lent did not begin well for me. I decided that I would abstain from meat all the fourty days Lent. So on Monday before Lent I decided that my fat Tuesday would indeed be fat. Since Monday was my day off, I decided to cook the most sumptuous lamb shank. In fact, my fat Tuesday began in earnest on Monday night as I dug into my delightful culinary creation. I am not sure what went wrong but by Tuesday morning I was sicker than a sick dog. My fat Tuesday was anything but fat. I spent most of fat Tuesday in bed. In fact, fat Tuesday seemed like Ash Wednesday. I think that for my sins God struck me a day earlier than everybody else.
Humor aside, as I was praying about what Lent should be for me this year, I was already planning that even though I wanted to abstain from meat, the ‘giving up’ would not be the focus of this Lent. In fact, as I said in my homily on Ash Wednesday, focus on the ‘giving up’ trivializes Lent. Lent is about far greater things. Lent is about transformation. Lent is about trying to become more and more Christ-like.
That bring us right to the gospel reading. No other passage in Scripture better captures the essence of Lent more than the fourty days Christ that spent in the desert. Whereas today’s gospel reading tells us that Jesus went was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted, it was clearly about so much more. I want to draw our attention to some deeper messages of Jesus’ time in the desert and draw three practical implications for our own fourty days.
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Temptations can lead us to the Mountain. I am not sure if you have realized this but, Jesus’ temptations began in the desert but ends on a mountain. In the Bible, the mountain is the meeting place with God. It is a place for God’s revelation. It is no surprise, then, that the last temptation on the mountain top is about worship. On the mountain top – the meeting place of God and humanity – Satan invites Jesus to worship him. Jesus banishes Satan by saying, “The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.” But here is the deeper point of the story. If Jesus had succumbed to the first temptation, Jesus would have never made it to the top of the mountain. This can be applied to the entire life of Jesus. Just as Jesus’ temptation ended on the mountain, Jesus life ended on the top of the mountain. Calvary was the greatest revelation of God. But Jesus would not have gotten up to this mountain either, if all his life he did not dealt rightly with his temptations. In other words, Jesus’ temptations became a way for him to get closer to his God. Here, then is the practical implication for us. Whether we want it or not temptations will come our way. One way to make Lent more meaningful would be to look our temptations as opportunities for spiritual growth. Instead of looking at our temptations as a problem, they could be opportunities to transform ourselves, to get up to our mountain, to be closer to God, to become more like Christ.
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What if Jesus had Given in? Today’s gospel reading has to be read in the context of the first and second readings. Perhaps only then can we understand the implications of the choices Jesus made in the desert. In today’ second reading Paul says, “Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned.” Paul was referring to the first sin, the account of which we heard in today’s first reading. However, Paul ends with the words, “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous.” Of course, Paul is talking about Christ who by his obedience to God, his rejection of Satan in the desert and on cross made salvation possible for us. In other words, both and Adam & Eve’s choice to sin and Christ’s choice to reject sin had huge implications. Can you imagine the implications if Christ had given into the temptations? So then, here is the practical implication. Whether we give into temptation like Adam and Eve, or whether we gain mastery over sin like Christ, it has huge implications for us and those around us. Sin is never a private act. Sin affects our church, our family, our friends and us. In the same way, holiness affects our church, our family, our friends and us. The hope is that during Lent we can train ourselves to be like Christ so that the rest of the year too, we will make Christ-like choices.
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What did Jesus Do in the Desert? Unfortunately, scripture does not tell us what happened during Jesus’ fourty days in the desert. The gospel tells us that he was led by the spirit to be tempted by the Devil. But the temptations are an account of what happened after the initial fourty days. We have little detail of what happened before the temptations, except that Jesus fasted. Let me offer one possibility. Perhaps, the answer lies in the words, “At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert….” Because Jesus was as human as he was divine, he was not without the freedom to give into the temptations. I think during those fourty days, Jesus took his time to completely align his spirit with the Holy Spirit. If the work of salvation must be accomplished, Jesus must so align his spirit with God’s Holy Spirit that, his humanity would not become a stumbling block for God. In many ways, this is what Lent is all about for us as well. Lent is not merely about giving up things. Lent is about getting the bigger picture. Lent is about getting our spirit to align with God’s Holy Spirit. Lent is about getting our spirit so much in alignment with the Holy Spirit that when Lent is over, we can deal with temptations the way Jesus did. Lent is about preparing our lives for the saving power of God.
As my fat Tuesday experience taught me, lent is more than about food and drink. It is about becoming more Christ-like. As we come for the food and drink that Jesus offers in the Eucharist, let our lives become more like him. Let our temptations lead us to the top of the Mountain. Amen.
- Fr. Satish Joseph