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Several things stuck out to me today from the Gospel and the homily.
1 – Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert (Luke 4:1). Our priest said that he’s been to the desert in the Holy Land and unlike the desert in the southwestern United States which has cactus and lizards, there is NOTHING in the desert in the Holy Land. Or so it seems. Know what IS in the desert there? GOD because God is everywhere. The Spirit led Jesus to the desert so that he wouldn’t be distracted by other things and so that he could become detached from worldly things and be unified with God. Similarly that is why the Spirit leads us into the sacrifices of Lent – so that we can lessen the noise and distractions in our lives, so that we can become detached from worldly things, and so that we can be more unified with God. Jesus chose to go to the desert because he was following the Holy Spirit. Similarly we choose to embrace the sacrifices of Lent because we are following the Holy Spirit.
2 – Jesus’ temptations mirrored those faced by the Israelites in the desert. But unlike the Israelites of the Old Testament who failed the tests, Jesus resists the temptations. Both enter the desert after passing through the ‘waters of baptism’ (the Red Sea and the river Jordan). Then the Isrealites grumble before the Lord because they are hungry. They say they would rather be back in Egypt (Exodus 16:3). In Luke 4:2 Jesus is also hungry. But He trusts in God and quotes Scripture saying that ‘one does not live by bread alone’ (Luke 4:4). The Isrealites lack trust in God and when Moses is on the mountain communing with God, they fear they have become leaderless and they make a golden calf to worship (Exodus 32). Satan’s second temptation is he asks Jesus to worship him, the devil (Luke 4:7). But Jesus doesn’t worship a false idol. Lastly the Isrealites test the Lord God at Massah (Exodus 17) and they don’t trust God to give the promised land to them and are fearful of the giants living there and grumble against the Lord (Numbers 13 & 14). But when Satan tells Jesus to jump off the temple because angels will protect him, Jesus does what the Israelites do not and he does not put the Lord to the test (Luke 4:12).
3 – We like to think “of course Jesus was able to resist Satan’s temptations, he’s God.” But actually Jesus was fully human too. And even his humanity was able to resist the temptations and he gives us a blueprint for resisting temptation too. How does Jesus do it? He quotes Scripture. And by knowing Scripture and having it embedded in our mind and heart, we can conquer temptation too. In fact, if we knew Scripture we would know 1 Corinthians 10:13 “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
To read the first Sunday of Lent readings yourself please click https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030622.cfm
What struck out to you? What did you learn? What did the Holy Spirit reveal to you? Please share in the comments.
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