My dear friends in Christ, today is the first Sunday of Lent year C. Last Wednesday the holy mother church invites us to embark on a journey, the journey of lent, which is a journey towards Easter. Lent is a period the holy Mother Church encourages us to pray, to fast and to exercise charity to the less privileged in the society. Today’s gospel reading revolves around Christ’ moment in the desert, his fasting and prayer and finally his victory against the tempter. After his baptism in the Jordan, Jesus was led in the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. There he fasted, prayed and was famished. He was tempted by the devil to change a stone into bread, to become the political Messiah of Jewish expectations, and to jump down from the pinnacle of a temple, something spectacular, magical and sensational. But in all, Jesus prevailed against him. Bible scholars interpret the graphic temptations of Jesus described by Matthew and Luke as a pictorial and dramatic representation of the inner struggle against a temptation that Jesus experienced throughout his public life. The temptation story depicts Jesus as obedient to his Father’s will, refusing to be seduced into using his Divine power or authority wrongly. Each of the three temptations, according to the Fathers of the Church, represents an area in which humans regularly fail: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the heart, and the pride of life. The temptations Jesus endures in the wilderness remind us of his continuous spiritual battles during his earthly mission. The devil seeks every opportunity to take him down, but did not succeed. As baptized members of Christ’ mystical Body, we should know that no servant is greater than the master. The same tempter will continue to tempt us to disobey God’s commandments and lose our friendship with God.
This gospel narrative challenged us to resist every temptation that comes our ways. Like Jesus, every one of us is tempted to seek sinful pleasures, easy wealth, and a position of authority, and is drawn to the use of unjust or sinful means to attain good ends. Jesus is our model for conquering temptations through prayer, penance, and the effective use of the ‘‘Word of God” in Scripture. Temptations make us true warriors of God by strengthening our minds and hearts. God will not allow us to encounter any temptation that is beyond our strength. And so, during Lenten period, the church encourage us to stand firm on our faith, to resist every evil tendency with prayer, penance, and reading of the scripture. Knowledge of the Bible prepares us for the moment of temptation by enabling us “to know Jesus more clearly, to love him more dearly and to follow him more nearly, day by day, “as William Barclay rightly puts it. We need to grow in holiness every day of our lives, learn to resist temptation as Jesus did, try the best possible as we can to stay united with God, and try our best to forgive, make reconciliation with those that hurt us, and to do charity to the needy in the society. As we begin this faith journey with Jesus, may the Holy Spirit guide us, empower us against any stronghold that stands our way. Let us resist the devil and he will run away from us.