FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT A

[cappie]

Today on the First Sunday of Lent we have two of the most powerful and evocative stories in the Bible. 

First is the account of Adam and Eve  in paradise  and along comes this snake with a smooth line and some new ideas. Next thing you know, temptation triumphs, all is lost, and the man and the woman are left with fig leaves, regrets, and a sour after-taste. Then, in a powerful contrast, Jesus is driven from his baptism into the wilderness—which is just about as far from paradise as you can get. There, unlike Adam and Eve who were surrounded by ease and plenty, Jesus is exhausted, starving, and alone as he struggles with his time of temptation and challenge.

What makes the story of Adam and Eve a true story is not that it describes accurately something that happened a long time ago. What makes the story of Adam and Eve a true story is that it describes exactly what life is like here and now—it tells the truth, not just about them, but about us. Over and over, we find ourselves just like them—forced to decide what to do with something which, on one hand, looks really good, seems useful and popular, and that just might teach us a thing or two—but which, on the other hand, we strongly suspect is not what God thinks best for us. And we have to choose.  

Notice again what’s going on in Jesus’ temptation. He has fasted and prayed for a long time—for as long as it takes—that’s what “40 days” means—and he’s famished. He’s exhausted, worn out, from the weather and the loneliness and the effort it takes to sustain something like this.

He’s not at his best. This is when the temptations hit Jesus,  strength and energy were all gone.

We know about this, too  when we face strong, or compelling, or addicting, or beautiful, or just plain hard, temptations and we have run out of resources.

No matter how strong we were to start with, we are pulled instead along lines that are against our will but defined by our appetites and our ego. it’s a matter of being empty. That’s where Jesus was—he was famished; and he was tempted, really tempted.

Look at what happens: Jesus does not say one word of his own. Instead, he quotes scripture in a simple and straightforward way that is unlike how he uses scripture virtually anywhere else in the Gospels.

Jesus has no words, no resistance, no strength of his own—he’s simply holding on to the Father and letting the Father’s words and the Father’s mind come through him.

Jesus’ response to the tempter is not a victory of personal, spiritual strength. Instead, his victory is the gift that comes from surrender. (Now, think again about Adam and Eve.)

Doubtless, his time in the wilderness gave Jesus a stronger and more disciplined relationship with the Father; and as a fully-human being, he had to pay attention to such matters, just like we do. But it also gave him something else, something more, something we see in his story of temptations.

His time in the wilderness gave Jesus the insight and the courage to surrender, and so to depend, not on his own best efforts, but on an emptiness that can only be filled by the Father, and that can only be filled by a gift of grace.

Several months after this all happened, Jesus said to his disciples: when you are handed over to your enemies, “Do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you at that time.” Imagine that Jesus could taste the dust of the desert and hear again the voice of the tempter and remember that hunger that reached out even to the stones around him. He knew what he was talking about. 

At the end of the day, the spiritual life is never about us, about what we can and cannot do. At the end of the day, it is always about God, and about God’s gifts—gifts of grace, gifts that do not fail.             

 

 

[BarbTherese]

1 hour ago, cappie said:

s. Over and over, we find ourselves just like them—forced to decide what to do with something which, on one hand, looks really good, seems useful and popular, and that just might teach us a thing or two—but which, on the other hand, we strongly suspect is not what God thinks best for us. And we have to choose.  

Just been through similar to the above.

1 hour ago, cappie said:

Several months after this all happened, Jesus said to his disciples: when you are handed over to your enemies, “Do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you at that time.”

Thank you, Cappie.  Your homily has clarified a verse that was quite dark and obscure to me.