i don’t know about you, but I have been watching with disbelief and horror the events unfolding in the Ukraine as Russia invades it, causing wanton destruction and killing both soldiers and civilians without any compunction. It is, tragically, just the latest reminder that, ever since Cain slew Abel, there are those among us who do not respect the rights of others and will do anything they can to get their way. We see the same scenario playing out between Israel and Palestine and China and Taiwan. We are, once again, faced with recognizing one of the biggest temptations we humans have: the temptation to try to be like God and make our own rules, to disregard others and think only of ourselves. I’m sure we are all united in prayer for the safety of the Ukrainians and a return to peace in that region.
The terrible battles in Ukraine are large scale examples of the battles each of us fight in our own lives as we are tempted to take life into our own hands and play God or give in to the temptations placed before us. Remembering the lesson Jesus taught us last week about removing the beam in our own eyes, let us turn our attention, as we begin the season of Lent, to today’s readings which give us two very clear messages that will help us on our journey through Lent and, indeed, through life, to keep us from getting caught up in similar evil behavior in our own lives. In our readings today we hear again who God is and who we are called to be as his children. In today’s gospel account, we are called to face the reality of the devil in our midst and to turn to God as we battle the temptations of the devil. Unfortunately, we don’t usually take seriously the reality of the devil and that the devil can tempt us. In fact, I suspect that most of us don’t even think very often about the devil. And yet, every year on the first Sunday of Lent, we hear the account of the devil tempting Jesus.
We first hear from the Book of Deuteronomy with an account of Moses reminding his people about the mighty works of God, how he built up Abraham’s descendants into a “nation, great, strong and numerous” and then how he freed them from the oppressive power of the Egyptians and brought them into a “land flowing with milk and honey.” That’s who God is. He has created us out of his great love and he cares for us, even when we wander far from him, as the ancient Israelites did so often. Rather than being grateful to God, they turned to worship false gods – we all remember the story of the Golden Calf. They rebelled against Moses and his successors and made alliances with pagan nations, tempted with instant gratification rather than putting their trust in God and following his commands. That’s the first message for us today: God has created us so that we can share in his infinite love; he loves everyone equally, infinitely, and he calls us to do the same.
The second message is this: we are called to worship God alone and to trust in his providential care for us. The role of the devil is to tempt us, to test us in order to see whether we want to respond to God’s invitation to love him – or not. Just as the devil tempted our Lord, he tempts us. So, let’s examine today’s Gospel account. It begins with a line that we often overlook: “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.” This introductory statement is very important. Jesus had just been baptized in the Jordan River and was graced with the presence of the Holy Spirit. His heavenly Father had just given him great assurance, telling him, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” And then notice, it is the Spirit who now leads him into the desert for forty days. Certainly, that Spirit never parted from him in that lonely desert, but instead inspired his prayer and accompanied him in his time of temptation. As we see throughout the Gospels, Jesus was often found in prayer; it was his time to commune with his heavenly Father, to discern and obey his Father’s will, and to prepare himself for whatever lay ahead of him. You can easily understand why Jesus taught his disciples to pray with the words that we will say very shortly: “thy will be done, thy kingdom come.” That was Jesus’ daily prayer, I’m sure; it should be ours, as well.
Central to our faith is the belief that in Jesus, God has dwelt among us and, while sinless, Jesus shared our human experience in all its achievements and struggles, including temptation. Throughout his ministry, Jesus confronted a variety of life’s temptations. Today, we hear him come face to face with Satan, the one who presents those temptations and leads us to their sinful consequences. In three different yet related encounters, Satan tempts Jesus to renounce his identity as a Son of God and choose the convenient compromise or indulgence of following the devil.
And, as we hear this morning, the Holy Spirit led him into the desert “to be tempted by the devil.” As I mentioned a moment ago, it is the devil’s job to tempt us all. After all, God’s love is given to us freely and he wants us to freely respond in love to him. If there were no temptation to turn us away from God, our love wouldn’t really be a free choice, would it?
Sustained by only grace and prayer, Christ encounters the devil. And, as we heard in today’s gospel, the devil tempts him three times. Knowing that Jesus is hungry after fasting for 40 days, the devil taunts him to turn stones into bread to satisfy his physical needs. Jesus refuses, admonishing the devil that “one does not live by bread alone.” We don’t hear it in today’s Gospel but, as we heard in the Responsorial Psalm, that phrase, taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, ends with “but from every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus may have been physically hungry but was filled with the life-giving words that he had received during his time of prayer.
The devil then asks Jesus to worship him, claiming that he will give him all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus refuses, reminding the devil of the First Commandment that “you shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve.” After all, the devil only has the power that God has given him over the kingdoms of this world and Jesus wants to be part of God’s eternal kingdom, not the devil’s, which will come to an end. Finally, the devil invites Jesus to prove that he is the Son of God by throwing himself down from the highest point of the Temple because angels will guard him. Jesus refuses, countering, “you shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.” Each time, sustained by the Spirit and with a command of God’s revealed word, Jesus, human just as we are, can resist temptation.
As we begin, once again, this sacred season of Lent, I invite you to reflect on this important Gospel message; as I mentioned a moment ago, it’s so important that we hear it at the beginning of every Lent. Like Jesus, we have all been baptized and have received the strength of the Holy Spirit. And, like Jesus, we have been and will be tempted by the devil – that’s his job! It’s so easy to be tempted to be concerned only with our physical needs that we forget to take time for prayer and reflection. It’s so easy to worship the devil or any other false god: wealth, comfort, success, power. And, who here hasn’t tested God by falling short of what we know he has called us to do only to think to ourselves that God will understand and come to our aid.
Remember that one of the reasons why God became man was to give us an example of how we should live as we prepare to be with God forever in heaven. Like Jesus – God made man – we can resist the devil’s temptations by relying on the same things that gave Jesus strength against evil. Like Jesus, we need to cultivate an ever-deeper prayer life and a close communion with our heavenly Father. Like Jesus, we need to turn to sacred Scripture where we can hear God speak to us. Like Jesus, we know that we can rely on the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit for strength when we are weak.
The 40 days of Lent are given to us each year as a time of preparation and purification. As we are given such a large-scale example of what terrible results self-serving actions can lead to in Ukraine, we prepare, by turning away from our sinful ways, to join in celebrating our Lord’s Resurrection, which came after he offered himself in sacrifice for our sins. Let us purify ourselves through communion with God so that we can overcome the devil’s temptations – they are real and we will all face them! Then, at Easter, we will sing ever more joyfully that Christ has conquered sin and death and given us the way to eternal life, to that place that Moses described so deliciously in today’s first reading, a “land flowing with milk and honey.” That’s where God, who is all love, longs for us, his children, to join him for all eternity!