FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT (2023)

Readings:

Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7

Psalms 51:3-6, 12-14, 17

Romans 5:12-19

Matthew 4:1-11

We begin the Sundays of Lent with the tale of two Adams: one from the beginning of time, the other from the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.  After living for thousands of years under the original curse that drove Adam and his wife out of Eden, Jesus the Son of God, and the ‘new’ Adam, begins God’s plan, laid out from time immemorial, to renew the dignity of mankind that was lost in Eden.

For the chauvinists out there it is worth noting that the just-created woman is the one who chats up the serpent, is the first to eat from the forbidden tree, and the one to persuade her husband Adam that he too should eat from the tree.  Perhaps Adam should have been happier with the company of the just-created animals!  Forever more, it is Adam’s name that will be associated with the “original” sin, not that of his chatty wife Eve.

In any case, as our second reading from Romans tells us, through the first Adam’s transgression “sin entered the world, and through sin death, and thus death came to all men (people), inasmuch as all sinned.”  Romans then spells it out: “if, by the transgression of the one, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ,” the new Adam.  It is “through the obedience” of Jesus, “that the many will be made righteous.”

On this first Sunday of Lent, the Church always begins with the story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert, a story that appears in all three synoptic (similar) gospels, something that gives testimony to it’s importance for the early church.  Mark’s version, which will be proclaimed next year, is a much abbreviated version that clearly used a source other than the source that Matthew and Luke had available to them.  

Matthew tells us that “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.”  There is a very real sense that this temptation is looked upon as a necessity before Jesus can begin His public ministry, and there is a necessity that we who begin our Lenten journey hear the story proclaimed.  This encounter with the devil displays the triumph, not just limited to Satan, but over the sin and death that afflicts all humankind.  Jesus will not be moved by pangs of hunger.  Jesus will not turn His ministry into a side show where angels keep Him from injuring Himself.  Nor will Jesus succumb to the very human trait of acquiring power.  No, Jesus, unlike the first Adam, will be obedient to God’s will, God’s plan for all humankind.  It is that complete obedience which will make up for the “disobedience of the one man,” and thus restore humankind to its original innocence.

For us on this first Sunday of Lent, Jesus gives us the ultimate example of what success over temptation looks like.  While this is the major account of Jesus’ temptation, we should not be confused and think that it was the only time Jesus was tempted.  His embrace of our full humanity means that the devil tempted Him throughout his earthly life. In His last days Jesus was tempted to feel that he was not up to the task God the Father had set before Him, but after prayer He gained the courage to obediently accept God’s plan.  We too, through prayer and adherence to the word of God which Jesus preached, can fight off the temptations of the devil to be something other than the person God created us to be.  Let us shout “Get away, Satan!,” whenever temptation comes our way, that our lives might truly show that we worship and serve the one God who truly makes us strong, and who enables us to overcome temptation whenever it may come.

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT (2023)

Readings:

Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7

Psalms 51:3-6, 12-14, 17

Romans 5:12-19

Matthew 4:1-11

We begin the Sundays of Lent with the tale of two Adams: one from the beginning of time, the other from the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.  After living for thousands of years under the original curse that drove Adam and his wife out of Eden, Jesus the Son of God, and the ‘new’ Adam, begins God’s plan, laid out from time immemorial, to renew the dignity of mankind that was lost in Eden.

For the chauvinists out there it is worth noting that the just-created woman is the one who chats up the serpent, is the first to eat from the forbidden tree, and the one to persuade her husband Adam that he too should eat from the tree.  Perhaps Adam should have been happier with the company of the just-created animals!  Forever more, it is Adam’s name that will be associated with the “original” sin, not that of his chatty wife Eve.

In any case, as our second reading from Romans tells us, through the first Adam’s transgression “sin entered the world, and through sin death, and thus death came to all men (people), inasmuch as all sinned.”  Romans then spells it out: “if, by the transgression of the one, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ,” the new Adam.  It is “through the obedience” of Jesus, “that the many will be made righteous.”

On this first Sunday of Lent, the Church always begins with the story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert, a story that appears in all three synoptic (similar) gospels, something that gives testimony to it’s importance for the early church.  Mark’s version, which will be proclaimed next year, is a much abbreviated version that clearly used a source other than the source that Matthew and Luke had available to them.  

Matthew tells us that “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.”  There is a very real sense that this temptation is looked upon as a necessity before Jesus can begin His public ministry, and there is a necessity that we who begin our Lenten journey hear the story proclaimed.  This encounter with the devil displays the triumph, not just limited to Satan, but over the sin and death that afflicts all humankind.  Jesus will not be moved by pangs of hunger.  Jesus will not turn His ministry into a side show where angels keep Him from injuring Himself.  Nor will Jesus succumb to the very human trait of acquiring power.  No, Jesus, unlike the first Adam, will be obedient to God’s will, God’s plan for all humankind.  It is that complete obedience which will make up for the “disobedience of the one man,” and thus restore humankind to its original innocence.

For us on this first Sunday of Lent, Jesus gives us the ultimate example of what success over temptation looks like.  While this is the major account of Jesus’ temptation, we should not be confused and think that it was the only time Jesus was tempted.  His embrace of our full humanity means that the devil tempted Him throughout his earthly life. In His last days Jesus was tempted to feel that he was not up to the task God the Father had set before Him, but after prayer He gained the courage to obediently accept God’s plan.  We too, through prayer and adherence to the word of God which Jesus preached, can fight off the temptations of the devil to be something other than the person God created us to be.  Let us shout “Get away, Satan!,” whenever temptation comes our way, that our lives might truly show that we worship and serve the one God who truly makes us strong, and who enables us to overcome temptation whenever it may come.