Homily: 1st Sunday of Lent - Temptations in the desert

Down in the school this year, the sixth graders and I had the luxury and the blessing of being able to spend almost two months studying the book of genesis.  When we spent 30 minutes just on the first verse of genesis, they knew they were in trouble. 

In just a few verses from our first reading we read an account of both the origin of man as well as the origin of man’s sin—what we call original sin.

We truly had humble origins.  Man was formed from dirt, from the earth.  In Latin, the word for earth or soil is humus, from this word we get the word, humble, which means, down to earth, and also human, which means the one formed out of the earth.  To be a humble human is to remember that our life comes from God, that God gives us all we need to live a life in harmony with His own.

Eve forgets her humble origins when she believes the lie of the serpent.  He tells her that she isn’t good enough, that God has been withholding something from her, and that she needs to disobey God in order to be happy. 

The serpent, the devil, has told that same lie to every human since: that you can't be happy unless you disobey God's commandments.  

The saints are those who recognize the serpent for what he is: a liar who makes empty promises. 

What are the serpents in your life?  Is there a voice urging you to grasp at some forbidden fruit?  Is there a voice telling you that obeying the teaching of the Church is foolish?  I know many young people who listen to a voice telling them that they are not beautiful enough; they cannot be happy if they do not look like the models in the magazines.  So they starve themselves or hurt themselves in order to achieve this lie.  The serpent says we can’t be happy unless we have the fashionable pair of jeans, the new video game, the new tv. 

What do we do when the serpent whispers in our ear?  Well, what does Jesus do in the Gospel today? 

The Spirit led him out into the desert.  To the biblical imagination, the desert is always that place of testing, a place where we encounter our inner demons.  There, in the desert, Jesus, like Eve, encounters the devil.  He is tempted three times.  And these three temptations correspond to three very real temptations in our own lives.

First Jesus is tempted, “if you are the son of God, turn these stones into bread.”  After 40 days in the desert with no food, that’s a real temptation.  I’m usually hungry about 40 minutes after the last meal. 

Our desires for food, comfort, and pleasure, good in themselves.  But the temptation is to find our happiness in these things alone, to divorce our bodily desires from our identity as children of God.  The devil tempts us to separate all of these desires from our identity as followers of Christ.  Food, comfort, pleasure, leisure & entertainment are all to be guided by our faith.

Which is why Jesus responds, “man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”  God’s word is meant to direct our entire life, the bread we eat, our leisure activities. 

One of our Lenten practices strengthens us against this temptation to misuse earthly goods.  We practice Lenten fasting to recall that our happiness is not found in merely satisfying earthly hungers, but by engaging in the practices of our Faith.

What was the second temptation?  If the first temptation corresponds with pleasure, the second temptations has to do with power.   The devil tempts Jesus by taking him atop the temple of Jerusalem.  Remember, no place in Jewish life was more central and important than the temple: economically, politically, culturally, religiously.  History is dominated by people who desired to wield power over the lives of others.  The devil’s famous line in John Milton’s Paradise Lost is “it is better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.”  Yet Jesus and the Saints preach the opposite: that it is better to serve God than to be king of the world. 

Jesus teaches us not to seek the seats of power but the places and opportunities for service.  We are not meant to lord power over others.  This is a real temptation: for an employer to lord power over his employees, for a wife to dominate her husband or a husband to dominate his wife.  The strong are not meant to lord power over the week, but to become their servants.

Our Lenten practice of almsgiving combats the temptation of hoarding power.  When we give alms we serve rather than enslave.

Thirdly and finally,  the devil takes Jesus to this high mountain and says all this I shall give you if you worship me.  The temptation here isn’t so much about power, but about glory, honor, and admiration, to be the one in the spot-light.  We enjoy when others notice us.  Yet it is a real temptation to be the one to share the juicy piece of gossip.  We are tempted to jealousy when others get the attention and you do not.

This is one reason why for centuries the celebration of Mass took place with the priest and the congregation facing the same direction, towards the tabernacle.  Because the Mass isn’t about the personality of the priest, but our worship directed towards God. 

To combat the devil, Jesus says, “the Lord, your God, shall you worship”.  Our destiny is not found in getting others to worship us but to worship God. 

This is why our Lenten practice of prayer, and daily prayer is so important. When we pray, when we truly pray, we transfer our attention from ourselves, to God.  Our petty self-preoccupation is transformed into loving adoration for the one who made and saved us.

The point of this Gospel story isn’t just to teach us that the devil is real.  We know the devil is real.  We know there are real temptations to ignore our faith.  We see the effects of sin on the daily news and the divisions in our families. 

This story shows us that the devil doesn’t get the last word.  Temptation can be overcome when we cling to the Word of God.  St. Peter says, resist the devil and he will take flight.  Many times, we get into trouble because we put up no resistance.   We do well to imitate Jesus in those moments of temptation, to look at the temptation right in the eyes, to look the serpent right in the eyes and so, “No, I will not sin because I am a Christian.” 

This Lent, we practice fasting, almsgiving, and prayer in order to strengthen our resolve for doing God’s will, of turning our hearts a way from earthly pleasure, power, and glory, and to recall that our true happiness is found in communion with Jesus Christ and humbly following God’s plan for our lives for the glory of God and salvation of souls.