1st Sunday of Lent
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
OLR, NOLA
The
Holy Spirit drives
Jesus into the desert. Why? Jesus is the Son of God and the Son of
Man, the Messiah. Why must he endure 40 days of hunger, thirst, and
loneliness? He doesn't need the discipline to help him repent of his
sins. He is sinless. He doesn't need the time alone with God the
Father b/c he is God the Son. Satan knows who he is, so there's no
need for Jesus to prove his identity to himself or the Enemy. What
makes our question even more interesting and infuriating is that Mark
uses the Greek verb, ἐκβάλλει (ekballei) which means “casts
out.” The same verb used to describe what Jesus does the demons he
encounters in his ministry. So, in the same way that Jesus casts out
demons, so the Holy Spirit casts Jesus out into the wilderness.
There's an almost dismissive or casual sense that Jesus is being
“thrown away,” tossed out like garbage. But to get the full
picture here we need to remember where Jesus is heading next. He goes
to Galilee and begins to preach, “The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Before he can endure his
passion in Jerusalem and die on the cross at Calvary, he must be made
ready. We too must be made ready. And Jesus shows us the way.
We
can think of Jesus' time in the desert in the same way that we think
about his baptism. The Messiah, sinless and unable to sin, doesn't
need to be baptized. Jesus' baptism in the Jordan is God's way of
revealing His Son to us; His way of announcing to the world that His
Christ has arrived. Jesus forty days in the desert didn't need to
happen either; that is, he didn't need to endure all that for his own
sake. He did it for us. He did it to reveal himself – his true
nature and purpose – before he set off to Galilee to begin his
public ministry. What this scene in the wilderness tells us about our
Lord is that though he cannot be properly tempted, he knows
that we can. He knows that the power of the Devil – though real –
is ultimately temporary and deceiving. And he know that when we place
ourselves at the mercy of Father, we will be ministered to by the
choirs of angels. None of this knowing on Jesus' part prevents us
from actually feeling hunger, thirst, loneliness, or pain. Our
knowing that we can be tempted doesn't make enduring temptation any
easier. Knowing the Devil's power is deceptive or that we are
ministered to by angels makes the preparation for our own passion and
death any more pleasant.
BUT
knowing that Christ has gone before us and is with us now, makes any
trial here and now endurable. Knowing that Christ is with us when we
fast, when we pray, when we give what we have to others, knowing he
is with us always and everywhere, that makes our troubles more than
endurable. . .it makes them sacrificial. When do as he did and
speak as he spoke, and when we do and speak in his name for his sake,
we follow faithfully behind, picking up his work and his words, and
we bear witness in the world to the love that made it possible for
him to die on a cross for us. His forty days in the wilderness with
Satan and the wild beasts was our preparation, the preparation of his
future body, the Church, to carry on with his ministry. And, thanks
be to God, we do not minister alone. The same spirit that drives
Jesus into the desert, the same spirit that saw the angels minister
to him, and the same spirit that set the apostles to fire at
Pentecost is the same Holy Spirit that binds us together now in the
Church.
Make
these forty days of Lent a time for preparation for your own passion
and death. It may sound a bit morbid. But think: death
misses no one; no one gets out of here alive.
Take this season to heart and spend the time necessary to dig deep
into your relationship with God. He loves you. Do you love Him? If
there is sin in your life that prevents you from receiving His love,
confess it, repent, and believe the Gospel! If there is temptation
pestering you, name it and face it. Call on the Holy Spirit for help.
That's His job. If you are attached to something that has become a
god, an idol for you, sacrifice it – make it holy by giving it up.
Fast and pray. There is no better way to see the deceptive power of
the Enemy than through the eyes of fasting and prayer. Give what you
have to others. There is no better way to destroy the power of
attachment than to surrender whatever it is you believe you can't
live without. Jesus did it all before us, he did it all for us. And,
now, it's our turn to prepare. Prepare well. “This is the time of
fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand.”
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