Because He Won, We Shall Also Win!

(Homily 1^st Sunday of Lent, Year B)

      In this first Sunday of lent the word of God through the readings continue to invite us to embark on a journey of rediscovery of what God has wrought for us in and through his Son Jesus Christ, and what ought to be our corresponding reaction to that great manifestation of God’s love and tenderness. Lent above all, is a journey of 40 days, and as we know the number 40 is biblically symbolic. For instance: during Noah's time the rains came down for a period of forty days and forty nights (Gn. 7:4); Moses was with God in the mountain for forty days and forty nights while he was receiving the commandments (Ex. 24:18; 34:28); The Israelites where in the wilderness for forty years before they reached the Promised Land (Num. 14:33-34);
God gave Nineveh forty days to repent (Jon. 3:4); Jesus remained on earth forty days after resurrection (Acts 1:3). In a nutshell, it indicates a period of intense spiritual experience. Therefore is a moment to ask ourselves: what are we to do? (cf. Acts 2; 37), upon consideration of all that God did, does and will do for us. In all, the readings of this period are geared towards the preparation of the faithful for an active and adequate participation in the paschal mystery, and concretely for an authentic Christian living.

     The first reading (Gen. 9:8-15) presents the covenant with Noah, and this of all the other Old Testament covenants stands out, for the covenant was made not only with Israel, but with the whole of human race. At the heart of this covenant, is God’s decision not to destroy the earth again by a flood. The flood is only a symbol of a devastation brought by sin. This reveals that it is the ultimate will of God to preserve and to redeem the earth and not to destroy it. Just as it is typical of the Bible, every covenant is accompanied by a sign, and in the case of this, it is a God-given sign of a rainbow. God’s intervention is not to destroy as portrayed in the story, but rather to renew and reconstruct. In all, the essence of this reading, as the message from the epistle reading shows, revolves around the fact that Noah’s flood could be seen as a prefiguration of Christian baptism.

     The second reading (1Pt. 3:18-22) talks about the redemptive death of Christ and its reconciliatory dimension. In particular, the first two lines express the atoning efficacy of Christ’s death. In his words, St. Peter affirmed that “Christ himself died for our sins, to lead us to God” (1Pt. 3:18). However, the allusion to Baptism connects the first and the second reading, whereby, the flood of Noah is referenced to Christian baptism. An analogy is drawn between the waters of the flood and the water of baptism. St. Peter underscores that baptism saves us not as a removal of dirt from our body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience (1Pt. 3:21), here clear or good conscience points to repentance from ones sins and faith in Jesus Christ. St. Peter used the story of the flood to explain the effects of baptism. The water of baptism has the same effect as the water of the flood, it destroys the old person brings and forth the new. Baptism marks the end of sin, of hatred and begins a new life in the Spirit. This is made possible through his redemptive passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

     Above all, give or take, the existential import of this passage centers on the rediscovery of what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us, he died for our sins, and the purpose of this was to lead us to God. And once led to God let us not turn our back on him, for as St. Paul says “Christ set us free, so that we should remain free” (Gal. 5:1). As we journey along in this Lenten season let us make effort to return and remain where our Redeemer has led us to.

     The gospel passage (Mk. 1:12-15) is a narrative of the Markan version of the temptation of Jesus. On this event, the account of Mark is brief, unlike the accounts of Mathew and Luke, but dense in significance. Mark does not report the threefold temptation and the affirmation that Jesus fasted. It is the spirit that moved Jesus to the wilderness, where he was to satisfy his desires for silence and prayer. He remained there for 40 days, the number 40 here is connected to the 40 years of the Israelites towards their liberation, it indicates a generation, that is, a life time. This first of all, entails that all his life Jesus desired to remain in contact with the Father. All his life Jesus combacted against the one who divides, against the Adversary, the Devil. We are told that our Lord was driven (or moved) into the desert by the Spirit; the Holy Spirit (cf. Mat.4:1). From the passage, we understand that the movement of our Lord into the wilderness was a response to the action of the Holy Spirit. A personal question can be formulated thus: “what is it that really moves you?” What is it that is moving you this Lenten season? The Spirit or our aspirations and inordinate desires? We can also recall that during his baptism, the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended upon him in form of a dove. It is that same Holy Spirit that drove him into the desert where he stayed for forty days and forty nights. Now let us look at the place he was driven to by the Holy Spirit; the wilderness. In the bible, wilderness is often described as a wasteland, an arid region, dry land without water (Psalm 63:1; 107:4). In fact, this particular place is also called desert in some translations. The two are simply one and the same place (Isaiah 35:1). It was into this area that the Spirit moved our Lord Jesus Christ and he did not go there for pleasure or sight seeing. He was there to fast and to pray for a definite period of forty days.

     Afterwards, he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. But Jesus is able to resist the temptation because of His determination to remain faithful to the mission entrusted to Him by His Father. After conquering the Devil, he began to call people to conversion, to a change of life “The time is fulfilled (the time of grace, favour), and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the Gospel,” (v. 15). This cry of Jesus summarizes the challenge for all Christians during this season of Lent. And so on this First Sunday of Lent, we are invited to reflect on the urgency of the call for repentance. And no doubt, at the heart of the Lenten season lies the vitality and freshness of Jesus’ invitation to conversion for the nearness of God’s Kingdom. Indeed, the clarion call by Jesus (v. 15) contains two points. The first is ‘to reform’ our lives. The second is “to believe in the gospel”. Let’s begin with the first point: the reform of our lives. To ‘reform’ is an invitation to spiritual renewal, and to do this, we need to recognize the evil in our lives and to turn our back to it. It entails freeing ourselves from all that separate us from Christ, in order to be free for all that connect us to Him. As such, the journey of lent entails a twofold movement of freedom from and freedom for (Freedom from evil and freedom for Christ). The second point of this instruction of Jesus is: “believe in the gospel” This means that we have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God who comes to us as a Man and saves us from our sinfulness. It entails seeking out Jesus especially in the Sacrament of Penance and receiving from Him forgiveness and spiritual healing.

     In the passage, Mark’s mention of the wild beast and the angels could be linked to Psalm 91:11-13, there the psalmist says that the righteous man will be protected by the angels and will be immune from the attacks of the beast. And in the context of the desert we are told that wild beasts and angels served him, what does this mean? It could be that our Evangelist intends to posit that Jesus is inuagurating a new reality, where man lives in harmony with other creatures, this points back to the initial state of Adam. As if to say, that truly Jesus is the New Adam. On the other hand, the angels point to other realities we encounter on our journey of faith that lead us to God. Be that as it may, in the temptation account we get three features: the devil, the wild beasts and angels. In the episode of the temptation the Devil tried once again the Son of Adam and he met his match.

     After a thorough perusal into this passage, one could say that irrespective of its brevity, one thing remarkable is that the Markan account of the temptation is indeed rich in meaning. Mark as a matter of fact, was not interested in the psychological experience of Jesus, rather in proclaiming him the righteous man of God, the New Adam, through whom the powers of evil are defeated. The representation of the devil in form of a beast, for instance, could be linked to the mention of the mark of the beast (Rev.13:16; 14:9). But the Good News is that there is a final victory over the ancient serpent or dragon called Devil and Satan (Rev. 20:1-3). Truly, there is no gainsaying the fact that “everyone born of God overcomes the world” (1Jn. 5:4) Jesus did overcome, we too!

     Above all else however, every first Sunday of Lent we read the gospel passage of the temptation of Jesus, which in turn serves as a reminder for us to always say “No” to Satan and his promises as Jesus did. Secondly, it reminds us that in our lives temptations must come, but we are called to resist as Jesus did. Temptations in themselves are neutral, that is, they are neither good nor bad. What may be categorized to be good or bad is what we make out of the temptations (our Yes or our No to them). Jesus’ experience of temptation evidences that we humans are not immune to temptation. The author of the letter to the Hebrews was firm on this fact when he affirms: “we do not have a high priest who is incapable of feeling our weakness with us, but one who has been tempted in all things like us, but has not sinned” (Heb. 4:15). So, the Devil will continue to tempt us, but God does not, He only tests us. St. James in his letter says that “God tempts no one” (Jm. 1:13). The purpose of temptation is to make us bad, but the purpose of test is to make us better. In all, the Lenten season brings to our consideration the necessity to evaluate our faith. Whether our faith is full of only words and inconsistency, or is concretized in good works and in love. May He who was tempted in the same way we are, and yet remained without sin continue to strengthen us in our daily struggle to resist the devil and his promises. Amen!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)