ARE WE IMMUNE FROM TEMPTATION?

HOMILY FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

May I begin this reflection today by welcoming each one of you as we embark upon the liturgical season of Lent. Lent offers us the opportunity to ‘retreat and surrender’ to the Lord. It’s a period of introspection and self-examination. We have just observed Ash Wednesday, a day on which we are reminded of three key actions - Prayer, Abstinence and Almsgiving – which we need to carry out during the 40 days in order to grow physically, mentally and spiritually in the Christian life. When I was a little boy, my friends and I looked forward eagerly to Ash Wednesday and to having a cross of ashes imposed on our foreheads. I remember how we used to make every effort to preserve those ashes on our foreheads, and how careful we were not to allow our little hands to rub them off by mistake. Now that I’m grown-up, you and I recognise and affirm that cross of ashes as a sign of repentance in Christ, as well as a solemn reminder of the dust from which we were made by God and to which we will physically return. 

It was dust from which Adam (‘adama’ means ‘earth’ in Hebrew) was made. The First Reading (Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7) declares that The Lord God fashioned man of dust from the soil. The Lord God placed the first human parents to have souls and spirits into the Garden of Eden, a paradise with everything they needed to live and be happy. Satan (symbolized by the serpent) slithered into the Garden, tempted them and they sinned. The serpent tempted the woman to take and eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She shared the fruit with Adam, and they both fell from grace. And what a Fall it was. From this we gather that humanity is subject to demonic temptation to which it is so easy to fall prey. That forbidden fruit had been in the Garden all along … but it was not until the smooth-talking serpent used his wiles to make it so appealing to Eve that it wasn’t long until she took a bite out of it. This is the thing about temptation, in whatever form we encounter it: at first glance, it is always immensely appealing! The episode of the Fall can depress us, or it can serve to strengthen our resolve to resist temptation. How come? Because the episode clarifies for us how a seed of evil sprouts and grows from lies and deceit. It demonstrates how temptation afflicts us in our weak moments, stalks us as we go through life, and torments us over things that are precious to us.

Of course, modern man comes across talking serpents only as cartoon characters in movies. The biblical episode is there for a reason, to teach us a spiritual truth. Like magic tricks, temptations attempt to deceive the mind and the eyes by distracting our attention from the mechanics and making them look real. How easy it is to be taken in by a spectacular magic trick (that is, until we know how the trick is performed). Temptation can come to us through many channels, including the media, work colleagues, associates, friends, family members, and through our own thoughts. We think: “If I did that, wouldn’t it be great?” “No one’s here, I’m sure I can get away with it just this once!” “No one will ever know about it but me!” and “I’m sure nothing will happen if I do!” The trick of temptation is that it disguises itself as our own thinking so that we won’t recognize it as an intrusion upon our goodness, peace and sanctity.

It’s no coincidence that the season of Lent begins with a Sunday that reminds us of the reality of temptation. Every person on this earth is subject to temptation. It’s part of being human. There’s no getting away from it, but to be tempted is not in itself sinful. To be tempted does not equate with committing a sin. To be tempted simply means ‘to be tested’ and ‘to be put to the test’. In the dynamic of temptation, there are three realities: (1) the tempter, (2) the person tempted, and (3) the object of interest (the attractive object or objective). The tempter (which is either a desirable thing or a desirable person) works by creating in us (the person tempted) a split in the will, a duality in the will, a sort of “shall I / shan’t I?” internal conversation which is partly-negative and partly-positive. Tending towards the negative leads the person suffering from temptation into sin, while tending towards the positive leads that same person to sanctity and to victory over temptation. Temptation confronts us with split choice between negativity and positivity, between negative behaviour and positive behaviour. 

We can take comfort from the fact that Our Lord, after His Baptism and just before the start of his public ministry, underwent temptation just as we do now. He was, after all, fully human as well as fully divine. In the Gospel (Mt 4:1-11), Jesus went out into the wilderness, which is a lonely, empty place, and was tempted at the end of his 40-day retreat. What does this mean for us? It means that no serious project should go ahead without serious consideration, reflection and solitude. There was no better environment for these than the wilderness. Jesus’ task lay ahead of Him, and He had to prepare Himself to accomplish the divine mandate. There are occasions when we too need to retreat for self-examination and recollection in order to see clearly the way ahead in our physical, mental and spiritual life. ‘An unexamined life’ said Socrates, ‘is not worth living’. He was correct: there are times in life when we have to slow right down, sit tight, and put on our thinking caps. 

What a conundrum it is then that, when we are alone, we are at our most vulnerable to temptation. ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop’ (Prov 16:27). As the devil worked his wiles on Eve when she was on her own, he works on us when we are alone or lonely or unoccupied. Satan’s tactics only have the capacity to deceive us when our minds and hearts are disengaged from God. As Christians we are never lonely even when we are by ourselves, because our being alone with God drives away loneliness. We feel lonely only when we abandon God, look into ourselves and find nobody at home in our heart. 

The devil used the same tactics and wiles on Our Lord as he did on Eve. The devil went to Jesus after He had been fasting for 40 days, when he had almost completed his ‘desert experience’. Three times the devil tried - and failed. God always comes out on top.

There was the temptation to turn stones into bread. That was the temptation for Jesus to use His power, not only to change the use of what he had created (stone) in order to satisfy His physical hunger, but also to win people’s devotion by filling their stomachs. Jesus answered Satan: man does not live by bread alone, but by words that proceed from the mouth of God (cf. Deut 8:3). He does satisfy us literally with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist, and also with the word of God in the Liturgy of the Word. By his victory over the first temptation, Jesus shows us that no matter what the powers and gifts we have been given by God may be, they ought to be used for the specific purpose for which they are intended. The lesson for us is that only a life of genuine dependence on God concerning the use of our gifts will satisfy Him and us. The question arises: how do we personally use our gifts, talents and powers? The answer lies in using each one of them selflessly. Freely you have received, freely you shall give (Mt 10:8). 

There was the temptation to jump down from the pinnacle of the temple. That was the temptation to Jesus to show off His relationship to his Father as a spectacle to the applause of the world. ‘A gospel founded on sensation-mongering’ said William Barclay, ‘is foredoomed to failure’. By his victory over the second temptation, Jesus shows us that the relationship we have with God should be used neither to tug on other people’s sentiments, nor to be employed to boost our personal vanity. Experience shows us time and again that people can so easily be diverted to follow earthly leaders instead of Christ, always with deeply unhappy consequences. Jesus replied to Satan: You shall not put the Lord your God to the test (cf. Deut. 6:16). All glory belongs to God, not to any man. Jesus’ reply shows us that recklessly putting the Lord to the test is an indication of one’s belittling and distrust of God. God the Father is vastly beyond the reach and imagination of the limited human mind, and is fully deserving of our entire belief and trust in Him. It is our choice whether or not to do that; but whether we do or whether we don’t, God is not Someone with Whom to mess about. Let me put to you a personal question for you to ponder: ‘How am I myself guilty of putting the Lord to the test today?’.

There was the temptation to bow down so as to be ‘given’ the world. That was the temptation to embrace worldly power, worldly domination and worldly goods. Satan is the prince of this world, the prince of darkness and the prince of lies. He is not the King of heaven. He did not create everything from nothing: but God did. When we see the devil’s offer for what it was, to exchange temporal power for eternal power, it is laughable. Time after time, men have fallen prey to the temptation to exchange temporal power for their own soul. Satan overcomes them with temptation, but he failed to overcome Jesus. The world is in the grip of the devil, but it was not created by the devil and it does not belong to the devil. No one can give what he does not have: nemo dat quod non habet. So, this temptation is a deceptive tactic to undermine Jesus’ authority, a temptation to lure Jesus to compromise with evil. Jesus replied: you shall fear the Lord your God; only Him shall you serve (Deut. 6:13). Evil is never defeated by compromising with it. By his victory over the third temptation, Jesus shows us that we cannot change the world by aligning ourselves with the ambitions of the world. 

By his victory over temptation, and ultimately over death, Jesus overturned the defeat suffered by our first parents. Just as original sin entered the created world through the disobedience of one man, we have all been made righteous through the obedience of one man (cf. the Second Reading: Rom 5:12-19). Adam and Eve gave in to the lie that they were on a par with God, capable of declaring what is good and what is evil, and of following their own wills and egos accordingly. Jesus, being God Incarnate, did not fall for the lie. By His victory, He underlined that there is only One will that is good, only One power that is triumphant and only One authority that is genuine. The temptations presented by St. Matthew are representative of the primary ways of sinning against the great commandment of the Shema (Deut 6:5); You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. To love the Lord with all your heart involves always being conscious of God’s presence (Prayer), and of opting for good over evil. To love the Lord with all your soul involves always sacrificing yourself and your appetites to make room for the work of God in your life (Abstinence). To love the Lord with all your might involves being charitable with your wealth, property and material possessions (Almsgiving). The punchline is, of course,  that prayer, abstinence and almsgiving are the three demands of Lenten observance! 

Finally, it is possible to see the three temptations of Jesus reflected in the serpent’s temptation of Eve. She saw that the fruit was good to eat (He was urged to turn stones into bread), pleasing to the eyes (He was prompted to have a desire for worldly things), and desirable for gaining wisdom (He was encouraged to show off a special relationship with God). Had Eve loved the Lord with all her heart, with all her soul and with all her might, in accordance with the Shema, she would not have perceived the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as irresistibly attractive, and been tempted as a consequence to have it. To sum up, the victory of Jesus over these three species of temptation encourages us to partake in His victory over similar temptations against which we struggle today. Our task, especially during this Lenten season, is to participate in His victory by making purposeful use of prayer, abstinence and almsgiving as weapons against those temptations that torment us. 

Since Ash Wednesday we have set out into the wilderness, as Jesus did, on a journey lasting 40 days. His experience was prefigured by those of Moses, who spent 40 days in the shekinah of the Lord on the Mountain of YHWH (identified as Mount Sinai in Ex 24:18 and as Mount Horeb in Deut 5:2) , and by Elijah on Mount Horeb (1 Ki 19:8). Those Israelites who wouldn’t listen to God wandered aimlessly in the wilderness for 40 years. It was their children who finally made it to the Promised Land (Josh 5:6), while those who rebelled against God and worshipped the golden calf never made it. This Lenten period of 40 days should be for us a fruitful time spent with and for God: a time of contrition, of purgation and of preparation for glory. May this Lent prove to be a fruitful season for each one of us. Amen. God bless you.