First Sunday of Lent
“If you are the Son of God................”
Summary
Lent is sometimes seen as a test of piety and self-discipline and, at first glance, our readings appear to support this view: In Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7, Eve and then Adam are tempted and fail whereas, in Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus is tempted and does not fail.
But faith is not a pass/fail proposition. The word translated at “tempt” in Matthew can also be translated as try, test, attempt or examine. It expresses the process of trying to find out the nature and qualities of the thing or person tested. Jesus is not being tempted to sin as much as he is being tested to find out who he is: Satan repeatedly asks: “if you are or since you are …” in an attempt to discover what it means to be “the son of God”. Satan seems to have clear ideas about what this involves.
In our lives we discover that many people have ideas about who we are and how we should behave; and listening to them can draw us away from our true identity, as Eve learns when she listens to the serpent.
Jesus’ answer to the demands and expectations that others have of him is to return to his identity as a beloved child of God; he is as God has made him nothing more and nothing less.
Lent is not a test for us to pass or fail. It is a time for us to return to the ground of our being and remember who we are. It is about discovering once more that the only true and important thing about us is that we are beloved children of God.
Lent it is not about self-improvement. It is about self-discovery.
FIRST READING
Genesis 2: 15-17, 3:1-7
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
GOSPEL
Matthew 4: 1-11
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,
‘One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.’ ”
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
