2/26/2023 - 1st Sunday of Lent

Ours is a vibrant culture, always in pursuit of happiness.  We think it is always out there and we need to chase after it. We tend to make a spectacle of death, whether it is in the media or our experience of the passing on of a loved in our family. Sin is denied, camouflaged, psychoanalyzed, and repressed—not confessed.  We don’t really sin.  We make mistakes of judgment.  If a popular politician lies, he or she is only being human.  Lent is a time to look hard at such temptations, sins, and their consequences. It is a time that reminds us of the human journey of fall and redemption. Like Adam and Eve, and Jesus, we all face temptations.  

The first reading, taken from the book of Genesis describes the “Original Temptation” – “You will be like gods, knowing what is good and what is evil.” Adam and Eve were given the possibility of making a choice to live for God, dependent upon and obedient to His will, or to say no to God. Man and woman made wrong choices that conflict with their destiny as God created them to live a life of intimacy with Him. Their choices cumulatively weigh against their chance to make right choices, but that does not deprive them of their responsibility and the consequences of pain and death. Every day we relive the ‘Eden temptation’ when we exercise our freedom to choose.

Today’s Gospel teaches us how the “desert experience” of fasting, praying, and soul-strengthening enabled Jesus to confront his temptations successfully and then to preach the Good News of salvation. The three temptations – turn stones into bread (4:3); jump off the Temple pinnacle (4:6); worship Satan (4:9) – demonstrate three kinds of control: material, spiritual and civil. They correspond and challenge three wrong conclusions we can have: 1) those who have material resources are blessed by God; 2) those who have spiritual powers are blessed by God; 3) those who have national power are blessed by God.  These, in turn, correspond to three human-divine bargains most expressed in prayers and rituals: 1) I will worship You if you make me rich; 2) I will worship You if You endow me with magical powers; and 3) I will worship You if You give me political power.  These temptations of Jesus are traditionally treated as archetypes of the temptations we experience: the temptation to satisfy personal needs by material possessions, the temptation to perform miraculous deeds by spiritual power, and the temptation to seek political power and social influence by evil means. But Jesus overcomes all three temptations using the Word of God.

Americans in general do not believe that spirits cause them any problems though with the advent of digital film production the number of horror movie genre has doubled. This cultural conviction that the malicious spirit world is fictional, made the comedian Flip Wilson’s character, Geraldine, so amusing every time she resorted to her favorite excuse: “The devil made me do it!” But Americans do understand power. It is the ‘numero uno’ of our media coverage and even our conversations. We especially understand and resent abuse of power by those who should wield it for the benefit of others. Our obsession with poll numbers and Pew research bears witness to this fascination. Scholars point out that in the Gospels, Jesus wields no power at all except in regard to spirits and demons. The story of Jesus’ refusal to abuse the power He possessed offers Americans something very relevant to ponder. Metánoia, the Greek word used in Matthew for repentance, meant a change of mind which included being sorry for sin and its consequences, and turning away from sinful thoughts, words, and deeds, thus reversing our life-direction from ourselves to God. May God bless our Lenten journey.

Fr Tom Kunnel, C.O.