FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT 2023

I SUNDAY LENT, 26 FEBRUARY 2023, GEN 2. 7-9, 3. 1-7; ROM 5. 12-19; MATTHEW 4. 1-11 Pivot: Tempted and Tested and Proved! Indicative: The Lord himself was tempted. This fact shows not his weakness but his solidarity with us. Thereby he also shows us the way to overcome them 1. The question of temptation is not centred on the number, sequence, or time of temptations. What is most important to note is that Jesus also was subjected to temptation. Hence, temptation is a human reality, part of human life, and fragility. To be tempted in itself is not wrong. And we need not feel uneasy or ashamed of being tempted, as some do. But what to do? How to face it? This is what matters. 2. According to St Francis de Sales, there are three phases in every temptation; proposal, entertainment, and consent (yielding to). The temptations of Jesus would be the model/sample of temptations. The devil knows how to play with human psychology (the ego). He provokes the false self-pride, challenging, "If you are the Son of God". The three temptations are rather surface level with more basic underlying inclinations First Temptation: “Change stones into bread and satisfy your hunger” Two underlying temptations: 1) Using God-given power /gifts for lesser motives, self-interests, mere material/physical 2) Giving priority to the material/physical over the spiritual Our task is to confront and overcome the temptations as Jesus did: 1) Refuse to use God-given talents for lesser gains. Jesus does not use his divine power to satisfy his hunger, to bring out physical satisfaction. He is hungry, and it appears perfectly legitimate to use his power to alleviate his hunger. But Jesus makes discernment among the priorities. He discerns that it is not worth using his higher power for something lower. 2) Give priority to the spiritual (Word of God) - man does not live by bread alone. What nourishes a person is not the material but the spiritual. How often and how easily do we use our God-given talents, capacities, and resources, for self-interests or wrong ends or lower motives, or shallow profits? How many times do we readily give more importance to the physical and material concerns, over and above the spiritual? Second Temptation: “Throw yourself down from heights and God will send His angels and protect you unharmed” The underlying temptations: 1) Test God, 2) Show/display power, 3) Craving for recognition/cheap popularity; seeking self-glory Jesus confronted these temptations and overcame them: 1) Trust God 2) No making show/display of power 3) No craving for recognition but humility; only seeking God’s glory Very often we want and pressure God to act quickly in our favour, to grant us favours. We want Him to work wonders and miracles. We want Him to intervene immediately and spectacularly. If not, we easily become impatient, dissipated, and also are shaken in our faith. It is not sure, when people pray, whether it is asking Him to do our own will and plans, or surrendering to His holy will. How many of our intercessions and petitions are directed mostly to temporary, temporal, and material benefits and worldly gains? How many of us really pray for growth in holiness and goodness, in virtues and values? How often do we use even the spiritual occasions for self-projection and self-promotion? Third Temptation: “Bow down and worship me and I will give you power over everything in the world” Underlying temptations 1) The temptation here is to dethrone God from one’s heart, from the centre of life 2) To be disloyal to God (defection) 3) Pressure/attraction of material/worldly riches, power, position 4) Short-cuts (Jesus was to win/save the world by the way of the cross) How Jesus overcomes these temptations: 1) He ever enthrones God, only God at the centre: Nothing can be on the throne, can be at the centre, nothing can replace God on the throne of heart; Only God is the master and Lord. All worship and all serving/surrender to him alone 2) No being dominated or carried away by the worldly allurements and enticements 3) No disloyalty and no defection; never failing, ever faithful to God, come what may 4) No short-cuts for achieving the goal of salvation, but only through the loyal way, the way of the cross As disciples, we also pass through the same road when we are tempted to dethrone God or to take shortcuts for achieving some good. But in the face of some difficulty or adversity, some testing and trying time for the sake of faith or good, how easily we fail in our patience and perseverance! In the face of some worldly gain and immediate advantage, that is clearly contrary to our loyalty to God and Christian values, how fast do we succumb to defection, without a prick of conscience or justifying our infidelity in the name of human frailty? When assaulted by some self-gratifying temptations, how easily do we yield and indulge in them? In our family life or work life or personal life or social life, in our plans, decisions, and actions, how often do we deny God the central and primary place, but make money or worldly concerns very central? How often do we compromise on God's ways and values, for the sake of some momentary or monetary gains? Imperative: The greatness of our faith does not consist in not having temptations at all but confronting them and overcoming them with trust in God and surrender to Him, following the example of Jesus (REFLECTION 2 FROM 2022, 06 MARCH Focus: The greatness of Christian life is not to have temptations at all but to face them, fight them, and overcome them 1. In today’s gospel, we have the episode of the temptations of Jesus. They are three. They take place in the wilderness. They happen after forty days of fasting and prayer. And soon after them, Jesus begins his public ministry. We can pick up different indicators from this temptations narrative. 2. One indicator: Temptations are willed or allowed by God. They form part of human life and divine mission. For we are told that Jesus was led by the Spirit to be tempted. Therefore, temptations are quite real in everyone’s life. No one is exempted. One need not feel guilty or ashamed of them. In the light of St Francis de Sales’ teaching, what makes one blameworthy is not having or getting temptations but entertaining, indulging in them, and consenting to them. 3. Second indicator: Jesus is in full solidarity with our human struggle. The fact that even Jesus himself was tempted shows that God partakes in the struggle of human fragility. He became one like us in everything except sin. Jesus is sinless and remains so. Yet this does not exempt him from the struggle to remain sinless. As divine, he is sinless. But as a human, he had to confront the assaults of the tempter. This is what makes him praiseworthy: he remains sinless even amidst a sinful situation. This makes both his divinity and humanity more convincing. His divinity shines amidst humanity and his humanity shines amidst divinity. 4. Third indicator: the temptations of Jesus are summary temptations. This would mean, they are not necessarily literally happened temptations. We are not sure whether Jesus was factually tempted to change stones into bread, to worship Satan to gain the whole world or to jump down from a height. Rather, they summarize the whole life struggle of Jesus. There were always temptations to use his divine power for self-interest, to test God, and to seek worldly riches and powers. 5. Fourth indicator: the temptations of Jesus are allusive to Israel in the OT (cf. Deut 8.3; 6. 13, 16). The first temptation about food alludes to Israel in the desert, how they grumble and complain about food and drink. The second temptation alludes to how Israel was allured by the world, the material possessions, and false gods time and again. The third temptation alludes to how Israel adamantly tests God despite all his numerous mighty works. 6. Fifth indicator: the temptations of Jesus are suggestive and indicative of our own temptations. In a simple way, the temptations of Jesus can be categorised as physical, social, and material. The temptation to change stones into bread, eat and thus satisfy hunger indicates our frequent temptation for physical things, like food and drink, physical pleasures, and easy and temporary gratifications. The temptation to jump down from the height and remain unharmed indicates our social temptation for name, fame, and popularity through shortcuts. 7. Sixth indicator: the crux of temptations is self-seeking and self-glory. In each of the three temptations, there is seeking self-interests and self-glory. It is in terms of physical satisfaction, material accumulation, and social recognition and domination. So often we are assaulted by these temptations. Just one glance is enough. We can easily see how these three temptations are ruling high. Flesh, power, money, and cheap glory dominate today’s world and the church is no exception. What then are the remedies? Follow the way of Jesus. Let the spiritual sublimate the physical: “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”. Let the trust in God overpower the tendency to test God: “Do not put God to the test”. Let loyalty to God surpass worldly allurements: “You shall worship the Lord your God alone”. Direction: In a life that is constantly attacked and even inflicted by temptations, let us arm ourselves with the weapons of prayer, fasting, and charity. They help us to cling to God, to be self-restrained and unselfishly self-giving