1st Sunday of Lent
By Fr. Victor Feltes
When people in Confession confess failing to trust God, I note that humanity has struggled with this since the beginning. In the Garden of Eden, the demonic serpent suggested that Adam and Eve shouldn’t trust God. The Lord God had warned and forbidden them from eating from one particular tree, but they saw that “the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.” The woman and man thought they had a better plan than God, so they grasped at and ate the fruit from that tree. Great evils and painful regrets followed. St. Paul writes how “through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death.” Yet “just as through the disobedience of the [first Adam] the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of the [new Adam] the many will be made righteous.” Because of the Fall in the Garden, Jesus Christ endures the devil’s temptations in a desert.
Satan hopes to divert the Messiah away from God’s plan to another path. Jesus was very hungry, so the devil said, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” But the miracles of bread the Father wished Jesus to perform were not just for himself or for an earthly life of ease. Jesus refuses to turn stones into food, but he would go on to change bread into his Flesh for the eternal life of the world. Then the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem, tempting him to choose a trial at the temple free of suffering and death, saying, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, (for God will protect you).” But human redemption would not come without Christ’s Sacrifice. Finally, the devil took Jesus to a mountain top and showed him the world’s magnificent kingdoms, promising, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” But Jesus absolutely rebukes him and rejects his invitation to compromise with evil. Jesus Christ would inaugurate his reign as King of the Universe upon the throne of the Cross.
Jesus achieves God’s purposes for his life and enters into his glory because he entrusts himself to the will of his Heavenly Father. At the beginning of this Lenten season, consider where you cling to your own ways, grasping at hoped-for happiness, against the will of God who wishes for your greatest good and happiness. If you don’t know already where you are resisting God, with your time, your money, your pleasures, your relationships, or your devotions, the Holy Spirit can show you, if you let him. You do not have to change your ways all by yourself, for Jesus Christ is near at hand to help you, but he waits for your permission. The first woman and man thought they had a better plan than God, and were left filled with regrets. Let our Lord accompany and strengthen you against temptation, so that you may share in his triumphant glory.
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