Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. That signals the start of Lenten Season for the One Holy Catholic Church. In today’s Mass, the priests are already wearing purple, the color of Lent. I am stunned by the Lenten spirit and how I come across the seasonal overtones in the series of Gospel Readings. Now I will give the reflection for the First Sunday of Lent with reference to the Liturgical Readings for today.
Christian Art of Resistance
I am not a perfect Christian. I have flaws. I am a sinner. It is only because of the salvation offered by Christ that I am given access to heaven. Accepting Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord means everything. However, my acceptance of Jesus as Savior and Lord does not mean I stopped sinning. Once in a while I fall into temptation and then repent, then I will fall again and thus I will realize how abundant the forgiveness of the Lord is. Still, this abundance of grace is not an excuse to sin again and again. That would imply that we are not maturing. Though Christians are not expected to be 100% holy, we must try our best to be one. We cannot be sinless but we can sin less as the cliché suggests.
Sins can be avoided when in the first place we avoid temptations and psychology can help us in doing so. Rechanneling our attention so we may not spend time premeditating sins. Temptations are always about planning in the mind and plunging to human emotions. That sin begins in the mind and heart is most often true. For example is assault to enemy or at the most, killing a foe. It will take time to plan an assault but in planning it, the person also becomes full of hatred and wrath. We must ask the Lord to purify our minds and hearts and also to deliver us from instanced when we can be tempted. A person must be given appropriate ministries. When one always thinks of God and rejoices in God, most likely is one remote from sinning.
Temptation is all around. Even when one is busy working for God’s kingdom. There are competitions among pastors and parishes. Temptation to withdrew and backslide. There can also be temptation to steal the money of a Christian organization or to cheat financial documents. One may get jealous of one another and get mad. Two persons in the ministry may quarrel because of personality differences.
Each one of us has a weakness. There is no Christian strong enough to resist temptation all by himself/herself. We need Jesus. We need the Word of God. Jesus quoted the Bible to throw out the devil. Even the persons closest to Jesus always give into temptation. In one instance, two brothers are requesting to sit at the right and left of Jesus in heaven. Peter always wants to safety himself and always avoids annoyance and challenging situations. Judas traded Jesus in exchange of 30 silver coins. We can see ourselves in anyone of them. We can also see our favorite temptations in today’s Gospel Reading. I did fell into those three temptations.
Sometimes in our hunger and thirst, we become insensitive to the needs of others. It is not about turning store into bread, we can’t do that, that we are tempted. It is about our fear of being left with no provision at all. We hoard our goods at the expense of leaving others empty handed. The first temptation is the “temptation of greed” rooted in human’s animalistic nature. Jesus was tempted to turn the stone into bread. A desperate act! And so the devil thinks Jesus will do that? That is so cheap! But Matthew is pointing to all of us. When we are in a rush, we lose our sense of dignity and do anything in exchange of body satisfaction. Remember Jesus’ words, we do not live to eat, rather we eat to live and living is not simply subsisting.
Have you dreamt of being in the television, in front of the camera? To someday be at the center stage? To be envied buy a generation? While there may be nothing wrong with that, we cannot discount the desire of one’s heart to be on top and if you are using people or stepping on people only to reach that dream of yours, then that is wrong. The second temptation to Jesus is another cheap proposition from the devil. It is the temptation to reach ambitions and to treat others as lesser beings. Jesus needs not to prove anything because he is God. My gosh! To jump from a tower and let the angels catch him, how cheap? Again, Matthew is pointing to us. We are the ones always tempted by pride and projection. We want to be famous. I remember when I still don’t know the Lord yet, I always want to be famous and to be known by others. Now I understand that I am a child of God and I need not prove anything to highlight my dignity and worthiness. I am special in the eyes of God.
The third temptation is the “temptation to supremacy” which is shown vividly in the attempt of the devil to deceive Jesus by the riches and grandeur of the world. It is an abusive type of kingship that the devil wants to ensnare us. Again, the temptations to Jesus are only allegories of how the devil is lurking over us. Those who are in power are always trapped to embrace this kind of leadership where the supreme has no recognition of limitations and no commitment to responsibility. This is a hallow promise . what can one benefit from having more than what is enough?
Self-containment? What is really behind this third temptation? Honestly, I do not know. I have no answer. I cannot guess. Maybe there is nothing at all. People are consumers we want to consume the world and to contain it in our hands. When market provides a need, we want to consume it and so the devil wants to lure us and fool us using these stuffs. Prosperous business, technological organization, accumulation of weapons, and politics… all are fake kingdoms. Only the kingdom of God is everlasting. The devil and even the fallen nature of man seduce us to the folly of worldly domination so that we forget we are only servants of the real Master. We call god our Lord, our Master. We are owned and we were bought in a huge price. Let us not think we are masters and reaffirm our servant hood.
And that is why it is called the Good News, because Jesus was able to overcome the temptations, all of them. We may fall into temptations, and God made room for our mistakes but Jesus showed us a way to deal with temptations. We are then challenged to grow. We are then challenged to grow. Jesus is here to help us.
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