OVERCOMING OUR TEMPTATION.

REFLECTION FOR FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR C

Theme: Overcoming Our Temptation.

R1: Deut 26:4-10

R2: Rom 10:8-13

Lk 4:1-13_

Dear friends in Christ, the Lenten season is a special time for all Christians and for Catholics in particular to draw closer to God, as we call to mind our sins and implore God’s mercy and forgiveness. Within this period, three important actions accompany us on our journey; prayer, fasting or abstinence and almsgiving. This period can be challenging and full of temptations hence, the readings of today tell us what to do when confronted by temptation. 

First, “Jesus filled with the Spirit was led into the wilderness and there was tempted” (Lk 4:1): There are two important things to be noted here: i. Jesus filled with Spirit, and ii. [Jesus] was tempted. It may be surprising that at the time he was filled with the Spirit, He was tempted. What could this mean?

Worthy of note is that Jesus was tempted immediately after his baptism, so also does temptation come to God’s elect (children of God) and it comes from the devil, to distract our relationship with God. While in the wilderness he was tempted and that is how we can be tempted while we are in the Church, or working in the Church or even working for the Church. We are most times tempted when we have decided to make a deep religious commitment. Temptation can take the following forms:

*1. Command This Stone to Become Bread (LK 4:3):* 

This temptation was targeted on Jesus to make him use his divine power to overcome the difficulties of our human experiences. It is just like saying to Jesus, since you are hungry; you have the power, why not command this stone to become bread for you to eat.

In life we experience hunger, we experience uninterrupted search for pleasure and the desire to become satisfied always by all means. When we are so concerned about ourselves alone without having a thought about the feeling of the next person, when we feel we can use our position, office and power anyhow, we are facing the first temptation. 

The response of Jesus, “Man does not leave on bread alone”, tells us what we must do when confronted by this temptation. Therefore, even though bread is important, we can live without it. That means, even though I have the power to change things for my own good and to satisfy myself to any extent, the good of another is also very important. 

*2. Worship Me, I Shall Give You All This Power and Glory, It Has Been Given To Me:*

 There are two things to be noted here: i. The devil that feels he has the power, ii. The command to worship the devil.

This is the temptation we face when we have too many possessions. Sometimes, the desire that those who are poorer or less wealthy are inferior will always manifest itself. Sometimes those who are not up to our standard of achievements and position are considered less important and may be treated in degrading manner or exploited for our selfish interests. On the other hand, we should be very careful in the pursuit of riches and wealth, relying only on the power of God to bless us at His time while we work hard, instead of doing what will offend God by going contrary to the law of the Lord just to be wealthy. Remember, no one leaves the world with his/her possessions. 

*3. Throw yourself Down, For the Scripture Say...:* 

The desire to rely on God’s promise and fulfilment is inherent in every Christian. However, to wait for God’s promise to be fulfilled before we can trust Him is a temptation.

Many times, some Christians think that God loves them only when things are moving fine for them. As long as things are going in their favour, they believe that God exits and God loves them. As soon as they encounter challenges, or they experience the other side of life which may not be in their favour they feel that God does not exist and their faith begins to fade away. In as much as we await God’s promise’s fulfilment, let this not be a condition for our believing in Him.

It becomes important then that we must trust God both in good times and in bad times remembering that our followership is a cross and we must carry that behind our Lord. God has loved us so much that He gave His Son to die for us and there is no greater love than this. We must return the same love to Him through being thankful for granting us salvation as Moses and the Israelites did in the first reading (Deut 6:10). Our thankfulness should be expressed by the profession of faith, not just by confessing with our lips but by believing in the heart that Jesus is Lord (Rom 10:10). The heart is the seat of love therefore, from our hearts we must express what we believe by our actions through almsgiving during this Lenten period.

*Fr Chukwuemeka V. Livinus, SMMM*