The 1st Sunday of Lent is a powerful reminder of who we are. Jesus is led into the desert after His baptism in the River Jordan. There in the wilderness, and for 40 days, He is tempted by the Devil. He is a descendant of Adam and through fighting against temptations, He overturned the disobedience of Adam. As the 2nd Reading reminds us that sin entered human history through one man and now the new Adam will bring grace and give life to humanity.
The Gospel’s Temptations represent the 2nd Adam’s resolve to stand against Satan. Whereas the 1st Adam folded on account of pride, Christ showed humility through dependence on God. “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”.
Reflecting on Christ’s Temptations in the desert is a good start to Lent. Our experience playing with plasticine reveal a certain innocence or naïveté of modernity. In a description that we have been given regarding the synodal process of how the Church can face the world, the assumption is that humanity or if you like, the People of God, is like plasticine, pure matter to be moulded into whatever the image of the Church that we desire.
Alas, the Temptations remind us that matter is not that amoral or neutral. Just like the plasticine that we roll on the table to shape or to form, they pick up a lot of dirt from the surface. The point is, we are not innocent because nature and humanity have been tainted by sin. This is a reality that we have to accept if Lent were to mean something. Will-power alone is not enough to make something out of us. Instead we are sinners and we carry within us the rebellion that despite the best of intentions, we sometimes do not behave according to what we are supposed to.
Our misguided motivations are represented by the three Temptations. Gluttony or materialism. Vanity or pride. Power or idolatry. We are tempted always towards one of these sins. Sometimes when people come for confession, they lament that they are afflicted by repeated sins. I would simply ask them, “Would you prefer to have another sin?”.
It sounds like I am making fun of them but no. The grass is greener yonder meaning that at times we feel as if ours is the only sin which is so heinous. Truth is, if you are not greedy, then you might be vain. Each one of us struggles with our favourite sin. And most of our other sins pivot around the main sin we have, greed, pride or idolatry.
Thus, the desert symbolises purification. In the wilderness bereft of our usual comforts we learn to recognise and be aware of what our main sin is and to resolve, with the grace of God, through confession and the Eucharist, to overcome it. Sometimes, our pet sin changes over time. It is said that a young priest or religious will struggle with sins attached to the vow of chastity or if not, the vow of poverty. But over time the predominant drive will evolve. Older religious or priest will recognise that their sin is not chastity and it may not be vanity. Rather it is disobedience. The older a priest or a religious gets, the less a he or she wants to obey. It is the sin of pride. When we grow older and more set in our ways, we tend to be cocksure about our knowledge etc.
The Temptations illustrate or reveal a human condition that has been tainted by Original Sin. Weakened, we are prone to sin. Man is both a spiritual and a bodily being. Animals are basically bodily or corporeal by nature. They cannot be tempted by the Devil because they do not possess a rational soul capable of recognising, choosing or rejecting good or evil. What the Devil may do is to use animals or anything of the material world but he cannot tempt them. Only human beings can be tempted in the moral and spiritual sense because we possess an intellect which is able to discern right from wrong, good from evil.
Thus, the Devil like a roaring lion goes about prowling and looking for souls to devour. We should not let our guards down. Depending on our weakness he will target us. The more resolute we are, the more relentless he will be. We should never be discouraged because we have the example of Christ.
In the desert, He showed us the way to overcome temptation. He prayed and He fasted. These are two out of the three pillars of Lent. We pray to strengthen our relationship with God. We pray because the surest way to eternal life is to recognise our dependence on God. We fast because our appetites are unruly. Fasting tames our desires by delaying gratification. Self-denial is not self-hatred. It is learning to love oneself according to the right measure. In fact, self-denial may also help us to love others in ways which are appropriate to them. Actually, a statement about loving others sounds alien to ears schooled or socialised by “the greatest love of all is to love yourself”.
In summary, the experience of Christ in the desert teaches an existential truth that firstly, we are fundamentally dependent on God. The sooner we learn it, the better. Secondly, the love of others, which is the 3rd pillar of Lent is realised through self-discipline and self-denial. The greatest love is not how Whitney Houston characterised it, to love yourself. The greatest love is witnessed through Christ’s laying down His life for sinners. At the end of 40 days, Jesus was exhausted but He was not abandoned. He was attended to by the angels. That is our assurance and consolation. In conclusion, Lent has to be exasperating or vexing or overwhelming. Like I have joked about it. Meat tastes better on Friday because the more sinful an act is, the more delicious it feels. The more we want to abstain, the more we are tempted to eat meat. Despite the relentlessness of the devil’s attacks, we will never be forsaken by God because He will not test us beyond our limits.
