Gospel Reflection for the 1st Sunday of Lent – February 26th By Fr Brian Maher OMI
Matthew begins today’s Gospel telling us that Jesus was “led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” Interestingly, Mark begins his account of the temptations of Jesus using a different verb. In Mark, “Jesus is driven by the Spirit into the desert…” Mark’s word is stronger and more urgent, implying that Jesus had no choice but to take this time alone with God.
But why, I wonder? What happened to Jesus at this particular moment in his life that resulted in him being ‘led’ or ‘driven’ into the desert?
Sadly, the Gospels do not tell us. All we are left with are a few ‘clues’ as to why he might have needed this time alone with God. We know, for instance, that it happened immediately after his baptism by John. We also know that at his baptism Jesus was granted an intense, personal experience of God’s presence to him; “You are my beloved son. In you I am well pleased.” Finally, we know that after his baptism he ceased to be a follower of John; instead, he called a small band of followers to himself and began taking a new message to the small towns and villages of the region.
Putting these clues together we can see, I think, that Jesus had reached a major cross-roads in his life. He had an important decision to make regarding his own future. It would be easy to stay with John the Baptist, learning from him and sharing his message of repentance and the closeness of God’s Kingdom. Mark tells us that “he came from Nazareth to be baptised”, so it is reasonable to surmise that at this time Jesus was still mainly living at home with Mary, and his brothers and sisters. To become a travelling preacher, moving from place to place instead of having a base in Nazareth and the river Jordan, would be a huge change for him. To take his own message about the Kingdom, rather than supporting John’s message, also meant assuming personal responsibility for everything he said, as well as leadership of his band of followers.
In modern language we might say that Jesus needed a time of ‘discernment’. It would allow him to quietly and prayerfully weight up all that had happened to him, reflecting on the advantages and disadvantages of staying where he was or moving out on his own, and gradually, listening to God speak to him, coming to a decision regarding his future direction.
Jesus was, in fact, doing exactly what we do when we have an important decision to make. Marriage, starting a family, moving out of, or back into, home, vocation, work, buying a house, retirement and so on are but some of these decisions. All mature advice tells us to make these decisions slowly, with support and guidance, and plenty of reflection. For a Christian this includes prayer and listening to God speaking in our hearts.
It is quite reasonable to suppose that Jesus felt the call of God within him, a call to take the coming of God’s Kingdom to his people, showing them that it was a Kingdom of unending love, peace, joy and forgiveness. As a committed and practising Jew, he has well aware of the wanderings of Moses and his people in the desert for forty years before finding their way to the Promised land. It was, therefore, into the desert he went to wander, pray, reflect and spend time with God.
The Gospel tells us that he “was led into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” This is probably not intended in a literal sense. It would be nonsense to image him saying to himself, “I must go into the desert to allow the devil to tempt me.” Temptations are not things we invite on to ourselves. They happen, intrude, impose themselves into our minds, usually drawing us away from what is right, good, and virtuous.
For me, it is not only possible, but wonderful to imagine Jesus seeking to pray, reflect, and rest with God, while finding himself again and again distracted by his very human desires for a comfortable life, with security and success.
The temptations faced by Jesus in the desert are, in truth, no different to the temptations we face every day of our lives.
The temptation to “tell the stones to turn into loaves…” is the desire we all have for comfort, an easy life and luxury without effort. It is the temptation to choose selfishness and self-centredness rather than effort, sacrifice and cooperation. How easy life would be if we could have everything we wanted by just demanding it. We need never work or need others to survive. We would live, comfortable in our ivory tower, simply ‘telling’ others what we wanted and expecting to receive it.
It is exactly what we teach our children not to do. “Share”, we tell them. “You can’t have this toy all of the time…” we teach them. “Don’t cry. Sometimes things don’t work out as we want them to…” we encourage them.
Our children learn these lessons, as we all do in our time, but that does not prevent the temptation to choose selfishness, comfort, and luxury without effort, when the opportunities arise.
Why would Jesus not be tempted in exactly the same way? The Gospel’s temptation to turn ‘stones to bread’ is a wonderful, figurative, way of showing us that Jesus, like every one of us, was indeed human.
The temptation to “jump from the top of the Temple knowing that angels would ensure his safety” is another temptation I think we are all aware of in our own lives.
We all like to be noticed. It gives us value and worth and self-esteem; it allows us to “love ourselves”, as the Gospels tell us is good and important. But pushed too far it becomes naked ambition, success at any cost, and seeking the limelight, the spectacular, every time. It leads, in fact, to pride and arrogance, where we trample on others, seeing them as no more than ‘rivals’ in our never-ending desire for notice and success.
Jesus was a ‘healer’. He had the ability to restore sight and speech and health to the sick. How easy it would have been for him to become a show-man – with the help of his disciples producing extravagant healings and miracles. Wherever he went he would have been popular and liked and even needed. Those healed would want to thank him, those watching might be asked to pay a denarius or two for the privilege of seeing his dramatic shows. Wealth, popularity, ‘red carpets’ were all possible for him.
Isn’t this exactly what Herod asked Jesus to do when he was on trial for his life? “…I have heard so much about you…” Herod said, delighted, we are told, to see him, “…I hear you perform all kinds of miracles. Do one for me and I will let you go.” Imagine the temptation Jesus faced at that moment. He could save his own life, continue his work of healing and teaching, and have a new friend in Herod… – and all for one small miracle!
To throw himself from the top of the Temple and land safe and sound would be a spectacular and dramatic thing to do. It very aptly sums up the very real temptation Jesus must have faced to put himself at the centre of everything he did.
Finally, the temptation “to have all the Kingdoms of the world if you fall at my feet and worship me” is an interesting one.
He was being offered endless wealth and power for the small cost of giving up his beliefs, values, and morality. For Jesus, as for us, it would mean colluding with evil in order to gain wealth.
Isn’t it so easy for us to ignore or “not see” the evil that surrounds us? For instance, how easy it is to spot the wonderful bargain we are offered and simply ‘not see’ or ‘not notice’ that the item be bought was probably stolen! Or, how easy it is to convince ourselves that taking stuff from our place of work is really OK, because our employers are “far better off than me!”
Jesus could easily have overlooked the hypocrisy of the Pharisees or the double standards he saw all around him. He could have said nothing or simply ‘not noticed’ what they were doing. His life would have been easier, he would have avoided the trouble he knew was coming if he spoke out. Put very simply, by remaining silent, by doing nothing, he would have become part of the hypocrisy he was condemning…but he would have lived!
The Gospels were written from stories and memories of those who knew Jesus intimately, who were his friends and in whom he confided. They walked the roads with him, they watched the decisions he made and saw how easy it would have been to make easier, more popular, choices.
They knew the temptations he faced every day and they saw the battle he fought every day to remain true to himself and his mission. His final shout at the devil, “…Be gone, Satan…” sums up the courage, bravery, and faith he had throughout his life.
Today’s Gospel is our Gospel. The temptations of Jesus are our temptations. They were not once-off temptations, faced by Jesus in the desert, overcome, and then gone forever.
No, Luke finishes his account of the temptations with these words, “…the devil left him, to return at another time.” These are frightening words. Even Jesus, a person who walked with God, who lived an exemplary life, who wore himself out doing good for others, was subject to temptations, and had to fight them anew each time they came.
Jesus was led into the desert to pray and spend time with God. While there he was tempted by the devil, not once but many times. Like all of our most dangerous temptations he was not tempted with anything he could not achieve. Everything he was tempted to do was possible for him. That makes them so much harder to put aside.
Lent is our time in the desert with Jesus before we celebrate the great mystery of Easter.
If we are searching for “something to do” this Lent, one option would be to think about the temptations that Jesus faced, because they are our temptations too, and look for practical ways we can overcome our own temptations, just as Jesus had to do.
Temptation one: To be selfish and self-centred. To be impatient, intolerant, angry and demanding. Temptation two: To be proud and arrogant. To allow ambition to control us. To trample on others. And temptation three: to collude with evil. To do nothing when we know we should do something. To ‘only see’ what we want to see!
Two weeks working on each temptation brings us to Easter.
It is more difficult that giving up sweets, sugar, ‘drink’, etc. but it is putting ourselves beside Jesus in the desert, entering into his temptations and our temptations together.
How real and how wonderful a way that might be to meet him, Risen from the Dead on Easter Sunday morning.
Many thanks,
Brian
If you have any comments, questions or thoughts on this scripture reflection, please feel welcome to email me at b.maher@oblates.ie
| Gospel | Matthew 4:1-11 |
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