Homily First Sunday of Lent Year A 2020
Homily
First Sunday of Lent Year A 2020
Reading
1: We are on a journey: the journey is a pilgrimage, the journey is to the
celebration of the remembrance of Jesus’ death and resurrection. He died to
save us from the eternal death of sin. The focus is not sin but what Jesus did
in order to free us from the eternal effects of separation from God.
In
this first reading we see the difference between a test and a temptation. God
tests us in order to bring us into a fuller embracing of our relationship with
him as a creature dependent on the Creator.
The test: not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil.
The
Devil tempts us to separate us from God, as he is separated from God. The
temptation is not to trust God, not to be dependent upon God. You can be equal
with God knowing all things.
The
question that divides a test from a temptation is will we embrace God’s will as
our good or will we embrace our will as our good, regardless what God says.
Adam
and Eve chose their will over God’s. The consequences of their choice were they
saw themselves naked and full of guilt, they hid themselves reflecting their
separation from God and they accused each other. Where before there was a
harmony between God, them and the rest of creation, now there was disharmony
and disunion.
Temptation: if you
are the Son of God, don’t wait upon God to satisfy you. Perform a miracle and
satisfy your appetite. Jesus’ response I will depend on God to provide for me.
Miracles are not
to satisfy self but to minister to others.
The temptation recalls the hunger of the Israelites in the desert when
they rejected the bread God offered them. Rebuking Satan, Jesus quotes
Deuteronomy 8:3: “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that
comes from the mouth of God.” Unlike the Israelites who argued with God about
the bread he provided for them, Jesus acquiesces to be fed and sustained by the
living bread of God’s Word.
Temptation:
if you are the Son of God put God to a test, for he will truly save you if you
are his son. Jesus doesn’t fall for the temptation of presumption. He knows the
truth and exposes the lie used by the Devil. Again he relies on the Word of
God. “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test as you did at Massah” (Deut 6:16).
Temptation:
the desire for power and possessions, the sin of greed and superiority. Satan tempts Jesus to change his allegiance
from God to him. The sin of idolatry.
Jesus has his priorities in order. “The Lord, your God shall you worship and
him alone shall you serve.”
Jesus
responds to every temptation with the scriptures. St Paul tells us to arm
ourselves with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
Like
Jesus, we too are tested by Satan to abuse and misuse the gifts God has given
us. We too are tempted to forget our true identity as beloved sons and
daughters of our heavenly Father. Lent is a time to turn away from the sins
that separate us from God, to reclaim or deepen our identity as the adopted son
or daughter of our Heavenly Father and to embrace the tests but resist the
temptations.
Reading
2: Paul
in his Letter to the Romans, considers and compares the above two temptation
events, and tells us in what manner their results and consequences affect our
lives today.
Paul
reminds us that there is a law of sin in the world and in us. But God in his
great mercy has sent his Son to destroy the eternal consequence of sin, namely
eternal alienation from God and to give us the gift of grace to confront the Devil’s
temptations.
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