Every year on the first Sunday of Lent, the Gospel recounts the temptation of Jesus in the desert. Each description from St. Matthew, St. Mark and St. Luke’s gospels frames our season of Lent into forty days and sets the tone for our six-week journey with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry in Galilee to Jerusalem, the horror of the cross and the victory of resurrection. Today, the reading from St. Matthew’s gospel, Mt. 4: 1 – 11, invites us to go into the desert with Jesus and confront the conflict between the Kingdom and God and the Kingdoms of the world.
In scripture, the desert represents a place of danger, hardship and death. It also is a place where people encounter God (usually in a time of crisis). Moses led the children of Israel into the desert to escape the tyranny of Egypt. There they were tested and failed resulting in a forty-year sojourn to rediscover their relationship with God. Elijah had to escape from the vengeance of Jezebel by going into the desert and there he encountered God. John the Baptist’s entire ministry occurred in the desert. People flocked to him seeking a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And Jesus too sought baptism by John in the desert as he began his ministry. We must remember, however, that throughout his ministry Jesus was tested and confronted temptation. It didn’t just happen in the desert.
Like Jesus we confront temptation. We don’t have to go into the desert to do it. Temptation comes into our lives every day. What the forty days of Lent provide us with is time and space for spiritual growth and renewal. It is a retreat in the midst of life. Lent invites us to slow down, to evaluate our relationship with God, to identify and then turn away from the things that separate us from God (selfishness, greed, materialism, desire for power) and to rebuild our relationship with God.
God our Father,
in the desert your Son Jesus struggled forty days
with the demands of his mission,
and he overcame all temptations.
In these forty days of Lent
convert us; turn our hearts
to the peace of your forgiveness,
the light of your love,
your concern for people.
Let us find the life and the joy
which Jesus brings us,
and dispose us to share it with others.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
Amen.
