I Sunday of Lent (C) – February 14, 2016

All our readings today are descriptions of people standing up for what they believe and putting their lives on the line as a consequence of that belief. The words of Moses – “My father was a wandering Aramaean”- are a form of foundational creed of the Jewish people. It expresses their origins, their identity, their relationship with God, and their belief in what God has done for them. God turned this group of nomads into a settle people, freeing them from slavery and giving them a blessed and fruitful land in which they could live in peace with each other and with their God. That is a dream. Jesus’ responses to the devil’s three temptations in effect give us Jesus’ own statement of faith. He rejects the lure of materialism, the danger of thinking that all is important to the human person is to feed the body, to look for happiness and fulfillment in the material things of life. Jesus also resists the attractions of power, fame, glory, popularity, wealth. These are idols, false gods that demand our souls but cannot save. God alone is worthy of our worship. And finally, perhaps the greatest temptation, Jesus refuses to doubt God, to put to the test. The devil withdraws to await a more opportune time. And it is in Gethsemane, and on the cross, that Jesus has, in effect, to stand up and be counted for His beliefs. “Not my will, but yours be done.”