1ST SUNDAY OF LENT (YEAR C)

1st Reading     Deuteronomy 26: 4-10

Psalm                91:1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15 (R. cf. 15b)

R:// "Be with me, O Lord, when I am in distress"

2nd Reading   Romans 10: 8-13

Gospel               Luke 4: 1-13

DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO FORGET

Beloved, we are blessed to have been given this gracious season of Lent to journey in penitence and self-introspection to renew our lives, leaning on the Lenten pillars of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. At the infant stages of the 40-day journey, we ask the Lord to lead us by his grace in order to have a fruitful Lenten season. Let us go quickly to the Word of God for this Sunday.

The first reading is from Deuteronomy 26: 4-10. It is basically a part of Moses' speech to the Israelites. He is, by now, 120 years and the Israelites are preparing to enter the Promised Land. Possibly, they are in the plains of Moab, and they have only the Jordan to cross and get into the Land. I want to suggest that we see this passage from the perspective of the LAND. The acquisition of the Land is vital because three things will make Israel a nation — The Law (they have it), a King (they have a leader, so far), and the Land (they are yet to have that). The issue in the first reading has to do with the obligation towards the Land. We need only to go back a few verses to discover what Moses obliges them to do: "When you take possession of the Land....you shall take some first fruits of the various products of the soil which you harvest from the LAND, your God is giving you; put them in a basket and go to the place which the Lord, your God will choose as the dwelling place for his name" (Deut. 26:2). After that, the Israelites is to declare "historical credo" (a historical memory of God's saving act). I want to suggest that this historical record coils around the LAND. There are three progressive dimensions to it.

The first one is that the Israelite starts by saying "My Father was a wandering Aramean". The word translated as "wanderer" is the Hebrew word 'âbad. This has to do with someone who is in a state of perishing, cut off from community, and is about to die. In fact, a sheep that is missing from the fold is described as "wandering". A lost sheep is probably a sheep condemned to die. Additionally, the term "Aramean" has a quite derogatory connotation. The person being talked about as their ancestor was someone who was "nobody", had nothing, and, as it were, belonged nowhere. This person had no Land or no resting place. His memory and name will soon be forgotten. We could easily associate his figure with Jacob who moved to Egypt. Remember the whole issue surrounding the famine, which is the indicator of death. Somehow, Abraham could come to the limelight. 

The second dimension is that this ancestor moved to Egypt and took refuge there. He is moving from a state of lifelessness into a state of a better condition. The term for "refuge" is ger, we should wisely see this person as a refugee or an immigrant. The problem with a refugee or immigrant is that, although he has a place to call home and can survive at least to an extent, he is socially and legally marginalized. He simply does not enjoy the full protection of the Law of that land. Anything can change and oppression can set in. The Israelite proclaims that his ancestor produced much and they became much in the land of a foreigner, the land in which they are supposed to be refugees. The very fact that you have acquired possession and wealth will not take away the identity of being an immigrant. Therefore, the growing population and acquisition of property did not diminish marginalization and oppression. However, the oppression led to petition. Confronting an oppressive situation by seeking God is a lasting reaction. The Israelites "cried to God". God "saw and heard" their cry and responded. That is what leads to the third dimension. 

The third dimension is that God gave them the LAND (The promised land). This is God's gift. The Land has its riches already in place so that even the poorest of the poor have already been taken care of by God. This is a land "flowing with milk and honey", a metaphor for goodness in every sphere one could imagine. Pay attention to the fact that the ancestral line moved from a situation of death to a better one that includes slavery but moves to freedom. The Land, however, is not for Israel. It is for God. It is right to show appreciation to God for that gift so that they do not lose sight of this saving work of God. Once the saving history is forgotten, God's work is taken out and the freedom gained is abused. This will result in sin. They depended on the Land for survival and depended on God for the Land. Once the freedom is abused and God is not recognised their dependence on the Land is lost. The result is a revert to being "wanderers", thus "exile", one of slavery to sin and death. 

Precisely, that is the state in which we are as people of God. Having recognised that we have sinned and transgressed, we can only return to the Lord, and depend upon him so that the Land, our heritage, our grace, is restored. This is Lent.

As we journey through Lent in order to mend that relationship with God so that we can merit his graces again, we become like Israelites journeying through the desert. Through the desert, we shall be faced with three kinds of temptations. The Gospel passage from Luke 4:1-13 gives us these three temptations as it presents the Temptation of Jesus after his Baptism. We find parallels to this Temptation narrative in Matthew 4: 1-11 and Mark 1:12-13. At the first level, we are journeying with Jesus because Jesus is tempted in the desert or the wilderness. Lent is a journey through the desert. Jesus was in the desert for 40 days. The penitential journey of Lent is also 40 days. 

Let us start by understanding that in all three temptations, Jesus "answered" the Tempter. Interestingly, the Greek word for "answered" or "replied" as used is apokritheis. It is made up of two words: "apo" which is a preposition means "away from", and "krinos" which means "to distinguish, separate, or even judge". "Aprokrinos" will be a response that will separate or expose the error in a person's thought pattern or assertion. What Jesus is doing is to expose the error in the Tempter's words. Jesus used the Word of God to refute or expose the errors of the Tempter. This aligns with Paul's words to Timothy when he told him about the functions of the Word of God, one of which is for refuting error (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

The first temptation is about "bread". The immediate need is hunger. This is precisely a biological need. This is exactly the first thing that infant Israel complained about in the desert. The Lord gave them manna and quails (Exodus 16) and water (Exodus 17). The temptation of bread or food can make you forget the discipline of fasting. You give up fasting to satisfy the desires of the body. 

The second temptation we shall face relates to power, authority, and wealth. The tempter led Jesus to a height and showed him all the "Kingdoms of the world". The word for Kingdom is "Basileia" and has to do with rulership and the acquisition and exercise of political power. "Basiliea" is governed by "Basileus" (a King). Interestingly, these are Kingdoms of the WORLD. Again, the word is OIKOUMENĒ. This word has to do with "oikos" (household). Moreover, we get the word ECONOMY from OIKOUMENĒ. This has a lot to do with wealth. There is a group or kind of temptation in a 40-day desert journey that can make you forget the discipline of almsgiving so that you amass so much and people do not benefit. You simply become self-centred and occupy yourself with how to govern and acquire wealth, especially earthly glamour. Watch out for it in Lent. 

The third temptation we are likely to face in Lent is a religious kind of temptation. The tempter led Jesus to JERUSALEM and made him stand on the parapet of the TEMPLE. For the first time, the tempter quoted scripture, Psalm 91:11. The tempter wanted Jesus to display his religiosity and trust in a open fashion as to prove at all costs the magnificence and protective power of God. Notice that the TEMPLE is a place for prayer and sacrifice. If Jesus heeds the tempter, then the Temple as a place for prayer and true worship is lost and religious competition takes over. This type of Temptation challenges the Lenten discipline of authentic prayer life.

May the Lord lead us through this penitential season and may we stand worthy to celebrate Easter. 

Pax et Bonum