BE READY TO BE TEMPTED

 

Homily for the First Sunday of Lent, Year C

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Scriptural Texts: Deuteronomy 26:4-10, Romans 10:8-13, Luke 4:1-13

 

Lent is a season when we try to identify the particular ways in which we are being tempted and pulled away from the path the Lord is asking us to take. Lent is a time when we are called to be more spiritually alert and sober-minded because our enemy the devil is prowling round like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). It is also a season when we try to grow in our freedom to say ‘no’ to the subtle seductions we encounter in our lives as Christians. That is why the gospel reading of every first Sunday of Lent which always centers on Jesus’ struggle with the devil in the wilderness, comes to prepare our mind of the fact of temptations in our own lives as well (Luke 4:1-13).

The temptation of Jesus, our master, example and brother, reminds us that we too can be tempted. As human beings, we often dread the reality of temptation. We perceive temptation as something negative and often consider the one that is tempted as sinful. But the temptation of Jesus teaches us that to be tempted or tried is not a sign of God’s punishment neither is it an indication that God is far from us. In most cases, temptations come to test the strength and resolve of our faith. Our ability to overcome the temptations that come to us brings about a renewal of faith and an increase in faith. As the saying goes, it is only the faith that is tested that can be trusted.

From the temptation of Jesus by the devil, we learn that the devil does not tempt us always. The devil comes to tempt us at an opportune time. The opportune time that the devil finds it very easy to tempt us are usually at our moments of need, weakness, darkness, hopelessness and spiritual dryness/emptiness (desert experience); when we are helpless with no rescue in sight. The devil tempted Jesus after he had fasted for forty days in the wilderness and was hungry. Jesus was hungry, lonely, weak and needy at that time and the devil capitalized on that. Since Jesus ate nothing for the whole of the forty days, the devil knew quite well that he would be hungry and therefore, came to tempt him with the very thing he needed most at that time- bread. The devil comes to us when we are vulnerable, defenseless and prone to fall.

Also, the devil is a crafty creature, full of tricks. He is very skillful at deceiving people. That is why when the devil comes to tempt us, he usually offers us things that we may find so hard to refuse. That is exactly what he did to Jesus. To tempt Jesus, he presented to him a charming offer of bread, power and safety. He does the same thing to us. He tempts us by taking advantage of not only our human weakness but also condition and misery. The devil often comes as a friend who has not come to harm but to help. The devil uses and manipulates us because his plan is only to destroy and he takes pleasure in lies.

As baptized Christians, our baptismal identity will be put to test from time to time. Who we are as baptized Christians and what we believe will often be put to the test. We may not be led into the physical wilderness as Jesus was after his baptism, but the world in which we live can be experienced as something of a wilderness when it comes to living out our baptism and being true to our baptismal identity. We often experience pressure from our culture and society to be someone other than what our baptism calls us to be; our peers can tempt us to take shortcuts and to live in a way that is at odds with our baptismal calling. As Jesus was tempted to take various paths that were contrary to what God wanted for him, we will be tempted in a similar way. Let us therefore pray for the grace not to be overcome by the devil and the world.