BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (# 14)

First Sunday of Lent, Year C – February 29, 2004

 

“Victorious Over Temptation”

 

BIBLE READINGS

Dt 26:4-10 // Rom 10:8-13 // Lk 4:1-13

 

 

I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS

 

            A young mother wanted to quit smoking. She knew it was bad for her health and the people around her. For her, it had been a vicious cycle of quitting and restarting. Each relapse was inflicting a heavier toll on her body and self-esteem. One tension-filled day, while on a busy run to do the shopping, the urge to light up a cigarette was overpowering. Without knowing why, she pleaded to her three-year old son, seated beside her on the car’s front seat, to do something. He answered with disarming seriousness, “All right, Mom! But please do not look.” She peeked anyway. The little boy was bowing his head in prayer, with the palms of his hands joined. The mother knew that she could not betray the faith of her praying son. The desire for a cigarette left her. From then on, she had more strength to cope with her weakness. Her little son had helped her to overcome temptation and addiction.

 

            Today, on the first Sunday of our Lenten journey toward the Easter Triduum of our Lord’s passion, death and resurrection, we are asked to contemplate a decisive moment in the life of Jesus: his experience of temptation and subsequent victory over evil. According to the biblical scholar, Eugene Maly: “That Jesus was tempted, and tempted severely, tells us that temptation to evil is one of the most radical elements of human nature. The Word of God took on human flesh precisely so that he could experience the deepest realities that we experience. And to be human is to be tempted … Temptation is the measure of human freedom. That we can be tempted means that we can make a decision. We can say yes or no. Only the slave acts out of necessity. The free person has a choice. If there were no choice, there would be no responsibility. No wonder Jesus had to undergo temptation.”

 

            Today’s Gospel reading (Lk 4:1-13) underlines the vital role of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus, God’s Son and Servant, who conquers evil. After presenting the episode of Jesus’ baptism in which the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove (Lk 3:21-22) and after delineating the ancestry of Jesus which links him ultimately to Adam, “son of God” (Lk 3:23-38), the evangelist Luke narrates: “Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil” (Lk 4:1-2). The Holy Spirit who anointed Jesus for his messianic mission as the Son and Servant of Yahweh at baptism sustained him with power in his victorious struggle over Satan’s temptation in the wilderness and in the ultimate temptation in Jerusalem, at the paschal culmination of his messianic ministry. Indeed, Jesus is the paradigm of the new humanity which vanquishes the powers of evil through the love and strength of the Holy Spirit.

 

            Luke narrates that Jesus ate nothing in those forty days in the wilderness and when they were over, he was hungry (Lk 4:3). According to Rober Karris: “Fasting is symbolic of Jesus’ fullness of the Spirit and of his helplessness, contingency, and humbling of self before an omnipotent God who generously gives and sustains life.” Aelred Rosser explains: “The connection between fasting and being filled with the Spirit is not apparent to most contemporary Christians … The true purpose of Lenten fast is to encourage us towards the fullness of the Spirit … Fasting makes us alert and attentive, ready to detect the thousand signs of the Spirit’s movement in our lives. The fast that Jesus takes upon himself is to show that true sustenance comes from God.”

 

            The temptations that Jesus experienced in the wilderness were typical of the temptations that Jesus was subjected to throughout his life and the temptations that his followers would undergo. Satan’s temptations were meant to deviate Jesus from the path of filial obedience to the Father who is the true life-giver and sustenance, to instigate him to give to someone else the worship that belongs only and absolutely to God, and to induce him to test the Father’s fidelity rather than go forward in his mission as Servant-Son. In all of these, Jesus remained faithful to his filial relationship and promise of servitude to his God and Father. Robert Karris remarks: “Jesus’ trust and faith in the graciousness of his God and Father and his reliance on God’s word as his secure weapon in conflict (cf. Eph 6:17) provide models for Christians who are also gifted with the Holy Spirit.”

 

            Today’s Gospel episode ends with the following words: “When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time” (Lk 4:13). In these words, the evangelist Luke intimates Christ’s final encounter and victorious struggle against Satan and his reign of darkness (Lk 22:3, 53). According to Luke’s Passion Narrative, Jesus was subjected to the ultimate temptation as he hung on the cross. The leaders jeered at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One” (Lk 22:35). The soldiers mocked him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself” (Lk 22:37). One of the criminals hanging there abused him, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us as well” (Lk 22:39). In the midst of these temptations, Jesus, the Servant of Yahweh and the Son of God, remained faithful to his fundamental option to fulfill the Father’s saving plan. He died on the cross after uttering the words of trust and surrender: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Lk 22:46). Filled with the Holy Spirit, the ever faithful and obedient Jesus committed himself to his Father, his sustenance, the sole sustainer of life and the object of his absolute love and worship.

 

The biblical scholar, Carroll Stuhlmueller comments on Christ’s last temptation and ultimate victory: “Even though the devil returns at the end in the Passion Narrative, Jesus, nonetheless, dies a man of peace and strength; the victory seems already achieved. His entire ministry will show that the way of the cross is a way to victory.”

 

II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART

 

  1. Do we experience temptation as a radical element of human nature? What do we do when assaulted with temptation?

 

 

  1. Do we look upon Jesus, victorious over the power of evil, as the model of faith in the graciousness of God and of reliance on his saving word?

 

 

  1. Are we ready to fast and respond with docility to the promptings of the Holy Spirit?

 

 

 

III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD

 

(Cf. Eucharistic Adoration for Lent, Manila: PDDM Liturgical Apostolate Center, 1996, p.38.)

 

Leader: Lord our God,

your Son Jesus Christ was loyal to you

even at the cost of his life.

May we follow him unreservedly on his path of service and love.

May we imitate him in his fundamental option for your Kingdom.

Help us to overcome our selfish interests

and enable us to detest what is against your will.

May the humility and fidelity of Christ

be our strength in overcoming the temptations of our life

for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit

forever and ever.

 

Assembly: Amen.

 

 

 

IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD

 

            The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.

 

            “Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.” (Lk 4:1-2)

 

 

V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION

 

 

  1. ACTION PLAN: As part of your spiritual itinerary in this Lenten season to combat temptations and evil inclinations, fast from the excessive and abusive use of the mass media and dedicate yourself to daily nourishment on the bread of the Word.

 

 

  1. ACTION PLAN: Read the “Holy Father’s 2004 Lenten Message” entitled “Whoever Receives One Such Child in My Name Receives Me”. Respond to the Holy Father’s challenge to show greater concern for the needs of young people who have been profoundly hurt by the violence of adults.

     

     

     

    Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang  PDDM

     

     

    SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER

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