February 14^th 2016.  First Sunday of Lent

GOSPEL Luke 4:1-13

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL Luke 4:1-13

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness, being tempted there by the devil for forty days. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. Then the devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone.’

Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and said to him, ‘I will give you all this power and the glory of these kingdoms, for it has been committed to me and I give it to anyone I choose. Worship me, then, and it shall all be yours.’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says: You must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.’

Then he led him to Jerusalem and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said to him ‘throw yourself down from here, for scripture says: “He will put his angels in charge of you to guard you,” and again, “They will hold you up on their hands in case you hurt your foot against a stone.” '

But Jesus answered him, ‘It has been said: You must not put the Lord your God to the test.’ Having exhausted all these ways of tempting him, the devil left him, to return at the appointed time.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The people of Israel were purified for forty years in the desert before entering the Promised Land. And when they did enter, as the first reading on Sunday states, Moses declared that they must always keep their priorities in order, offering the best of themselves continually to God. Lent too is a journey of purification, a journey out of ourselves, away from our egos. The temptations of Jesus described in the Gospel story are temptations to go in the opposite direction, temptations to use things, people, and even God himself in service of our own ego. The first temptation is to turn stone into bread. How often we try to misuse things so that they satisfy our appetites! We don’t care what the real value or the real identity of a thing is so long as it can be used to satisfy me. The second temptation is to acquire power and authority in earthly terms. We wish to control people and structures so that they serve my wishes. The third temptation is to use God to further my own projects and wishes. I don’t seek to follow the will of God. I “pray” and cajole and make bargains that he will aid me in promoting my interests. All of these temptations are filled with deceit. They promise everything and give us nothing. For if we use things for our own ends and do not appreciate their real value, then we not only lose those things, we also lose ourselves. If I go after power and authority in the service of my own ego, then I am really an abject slave to something else. My power and freedom are completely illusory. My real master is Satan. And if I try to use God to further my own interests, then God will be unable to save me. Salvation involves abandonment to the will of God. A God who obeys me is not a God that can save me.

Like the Israelite’s journey in the desert, Lent is a journey in which we move out of our own egos.

The first Sunday of Lent is always dedicated to the account of the temptations of Jesus in the desert, but the first reading from Deuteronomy gives us an important key by which to interpret the journey of Lent on which we are about to embark. In this first reading, we are told of an act that the Israelites must undertake before they can enjoy the land that has been promised to them. The Israelites have been liberated from Egypt and have undergone a journey in the desert before entering the land of Canaan. Now they are asked to take the best of everything that they possess and offer it up, to place it in the hands of the Lord and say, “It is yours!” Like the journey of the Israelites, we are undertaking an austere journey, the journey of Lent, a beautiful and significant passage out of our own egos. This is the real journey that we are on. Fasting, prayer and almsgiving are all instruments that serve to bring us out of ourselves. In the book of Deuteronomy, the Israelites offer the first-fruits because they see the paternity of God in the fact that they have been led into this land of milk and honey. This is what the Israelites are really saying: “I see you Lord; I see your providence in all things”.

The temptations of Satan are a journey in the opposite direction: a journey away from the true meaning of things and God, and into my own dark ego.

And of course the temptation of humanity is to do exactly the opposite! The temptations of Jesus recounted in the Gospel underscore this point. I want to take the stones and turn them into bread, to instrumentalize things so that they satisfy my appetites; to see the world as something that exists to serve my wish for power and affirmation; to consider God as someone whose job it is to facilitate my whims - if I throw myself from the pinnacle of the Temple, he ought to save me. These temptations represent a journey in the opposite sense – a journey from things and God towards the ego, instead of vice-versa. This Gospel is filled with unfathomable meaning, but there is no doubt that it speaks of the way that things that are good in themselves can be utterly corrupted.

Satan tempts us to think that objects exist to satisfy my desires, that power should be usurped to give me control over everything, and that God should be used to bring my projects to fruition.

If we have a hunger, according to Satan’s suggestion, then we should order that things change their identity in order to satisfy that hunger. Things ought to exist in function of my appetite. The fact that this thing is a stone is of no interest to me. All I care about is that it should become bread for me. We desire to transform things, to make them into something else so that they can be useful for us. In the second temptation, Satan encourages us to strive so that the kingdoms of the earth become our possession. The powers and authority of this world are to be usurped so that they can be at my service. I must be the master of my destiny so that all things can contribute towards my good. In the third temptation, the pinnacle of the Temple represents religion in its highest form. Satan suggests that God must obey my caprices. If he is really my father, then, like a spoiled child, I should be able to do what I want and he must comply with my initiatives. If I have had this bright idea, or this ambitious project, the Lord must assist me in bringing it to fruition.

What is the problem with all of these temptations? All of their promises are deceptive. Things lose their true value if I use them for my own ends. Power in the service of my ego involves being a slave to something else. Using God to further my own ambitions means losing God completely. A puppet God that obeys me cannot save me!

None of these suggestions or initiatives of Satan lead to anything genuine or worthwhile. Man does not live by bread alone. We are more than our appetites. Even if I were to turn the stones into bread, bread would not be able to bring me true life. What I need is to have an unbroken relationship with God. If things do not have their proper sense and nobility, then it is of little use that they bring me satisfaction. By making things objects of my desire, I not only lose the true value of those things, I also lose myself. In the second temptation, Satan promises great power, but it is interesting that to obtain this power one has to first prostrate oneself before evil. You think you have power but you are really the slave of something else. The authority and the sway that you believe you possess have really been robbed from somewhere else. Satan says, “Go on higher!” but it is a trap in which you really sink down further. Power involves making a lot of compromises. Any power that is exercised in function of one’s ego is in reality a trap. And in the third temptation, the fact of trying to utilize God for my own benefit causes us to lose God himself. When God is placed under me, he is no longer God. A God that obeys me can no longer save me! While I put God to the test, he cannot redeem me. These are the snares of the human condition - things, relationships, ideas. All of them can become our masters. Deceiving us into thinking that they are giving us more, they are really impoverishing us, sending us into the emptiness of our own solitude.