March 6th 2022  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 ...

 

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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.

 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. The three temptations of Jesus in the desert show us the pathway to freedom from sin

As always on this first Sunday of Lent we read of the Lord’s battle against temptation in the desert. The key for interpreting this Gospel is given to us by the opening prayer which speaks of this period as a time of conversion, a passage from darkness to light, from a self-referential existence to a life of love. Conversion involves a battle in which we are led out of a condition of slavery. As Jesus says in Chapter 8 of John’s Gospel, those who commit sin are slaves to sin. We don’t stop sinning with a simple act of the will, since sin is an ingrained habit, a vice. We cannot overcome it by ourselves. Pride, jealousy, lust, gluttony, or whatever it may be, are overcome by following the same path that Jesus follows when he is confronted by the three temptations in the desert. But how are they relevant to us? Who among us is tempted to eat a stone for bread, or throw himself from the pinnacle of the Temple, or to exercise dominion over the world? However, in actual fact, these three tests do indeed show us the way to liberty.

 

2. Temptations, tests, are necessary, because they lead to deeper conversion. In moments of extremity we are invited to not content ourselves with banal solutions but to make a leap of faith in God.

In Luke’s account, it is the Holy Spirit who leads Jesus into the desert, into the place where he will be tempted by Satan. Temptations are necessary because it is only when something is tested that we discover if it is real or not. Every relationship – friendship, betrothal, marriage – needs moments of verification. Paradoxically, it is when our faith is put to the test that it is deepened and more radical conversion occurs. In the desert, Jesus arrives at the extremity of hunger. No human body can sustain a fast of that sort and Jesus wants to eat. It is at this point that the temptation arrives whereby things – even stones - become a function of my appetites. Satan says, “If you are the Son of God, turn this stone into bread”. If he is really the child of the Father, then – according to Satan – it should be manifested by his changing the stone into bread, as if divine sonship was all about satisfying an appetite at a moment of extreme need. Jesus, however, turns the thing on its head. It is at this extreme limit that one is invited not to live on bread alone but on every word that comes from God. Similarly, it is at the moment of limit that one becomes a true friend, a true parent, a true spouse, a true Christian. In times of extreme necessity, our hearts have the possibility not stoop to banality but make a leap of faith in God.

 

3. It is in moments of extreme need that we have the opportunity to abandon ourselves as children to the Father. In Christ, sharing his sonship, that we can be transformed by these difficulties.

It is precisely because Jesus is Son that he does not content himself simply with bread. Because he is Son, he does not fling himself from the Temple expecting the Father to adjust to his whims in order to save him. Because he is Son, he does not bow to the powers of this world. There is only One, in fact, to whom he will bend. This is the pathway of conversion. In these difficult moments we become children of God. It is important to be attentive, however! Conversion is not simply about determined acts of the will on our part. Jesus has gone into the desert for us, and it is only with him and in him that we can respond to the Father as his children. Only in Christ do we discover a unique key for resolving the issues of our appetites, our possessiveness, the absolutisation of our own ideas and solutions. It is no longer about relying on our own powers, but walking with and through Christ, sharing in his sonship. We tend to be preoccupied with what we need to do, but this Lent what is more essential is what God is doing in us. As we go about our daily tasks and challenges this Lent, let us abandon ourselves in Christ to the Father. By his power we can begin to be transformed.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

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.

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