Gospel: Matthew 4, 1 – 11
At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” He said in reply, “It is written: One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.” Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.” Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.
Homily
This year I was very touched as I read the preface for Lent and these words; “Each year you give us this joyful season when we prepare to celebrate the paschal mystery with mind and heart renewed.” The Church calls the season of Lent a joyful season and then tells us why it is joyful. It is joyful because we look forward to the celebration of Easter renewed in heart and mind. The renewal of our hearts and minds is what makes this season joyful for us Christians.
The Church also begins our celebration of Lent with the story of the temptations of Jesus in which the devil tempts Jesus to trade his identity as the Son of God for a false identity based on the acquisition of the three great distractions from God, i.e., pleasure, prestige and power. Human beings are all creatures of habit and over a period of time we become our habits. When our habits take us away from our true identity as sons and daughters of God we lose the joyfulness which is the fruit of authentic fulfillment.
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True sons and daughters of God hold certain essential truths. The first is that this world is not the purpose of our life. This world is not our final destiny. We have something infinitely greater to which we look forward. We lose sight of that sometimes and we begin to act as if we find our true happiness here on earth. We search for true happiness in pleasure, be it in eating or drinking or partying or sex and we justify it by saying that we all have our needs. Jesus dealt with that temptation when the devil presented him with stones to turn into bread. He had his needs. He was hungry. He had fasted for forty days but He subjected his needs however to God’s word. He tells the tempter “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
At times for various reasons, be these reasons circumstances of birth or feelings of rejection, or inadequacy, we hunger for recognition and so often if that recognition does not come we are depressed and angry with ourselves and others. At times we do all sorts of silly things to become the centre of attraction. In short we try to make ourselves the centre of the universe. Unconsciously we put ourselves up against God. We try to make ourselves the centre of our universe instead of having God as the centre. When the tempter tries that trick on Jesus, Jesus refuses to set himself up in opposition to God, He replies “Scripture also says: You must not put the Lord your God to the test.”
At other times we think that we will find happiness in bending others to our will. Our thoughts, our desires, what we want must take precedence over all others. We do this in our homes, our clubs, we see it in governments, and we see it in politicians. How often truth is sacrificed to win a debate, how often people are destroyed to win an election, how often we see power being used to pay back what is perceived to be betrayal. We see it in the way some spouses treat each other, we see it unfortunately in the church. We forget that the Christian leader is characterized by a spirit of servanthood. When the tempter tries to get Jesus into that trap, Jesus replies “Be off, Satan! For scripture says: You must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.”
This is probably the worst of the temptations. Jesus rejects this temptation directly and harshly, “Be off, Satan” he says. I suppose this is the temptation which is most anti-God and the greatest threat to our identity as sons and daughters of God. We don’t just want to be the centre of the universe for ourselves, we want to take the place of God and decide what must be done to the lives of others. It was for this sin that Lucifer was thrown out of heaven. He wanted to be like God. It is interesting that when the temptations are conquered Jesus finds peace “The devil left him, and angels appeared and looked after him.”
We too can find the happiness and peace that we desire but we find it as Jesus did in recognizing our true identity as sons and daughters of God and holding on to that identity by the habits which we build in our lives.
Today then we celebrate those who have found their true happiness in their identity of sons and daughters of God by building the habits of holding on to God’s word, in having God as the centre of their lives and in leading others through servanthood. There are many models for us. All the saints, those to whom have we devotions, those whose names we carry they all found and held on to their identity as sons and daughters of God. Like the saints if we try during Lent to find our true identity we will arrive at Easter with minds and hearts renewed, and Lent will be joyful for it is the renewal of our hearts and minds which makes this season joyful for us Christians.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God give us the wisdom this Lenten season to understand that our true identity is to be your son or daughter. Help us to understand that nothing else can give us the happiness which we seek in life. Help us to resist the temptations of this world which seek to tell us something very different. We ask this through the intercession of Mary, our Mother and Jesus your Son. Amen
