Homily for February 9-10, 2008

Father Tom’s Homily
1st Sunday of Lent
February 10, 2008

In Matthew’s gospel the story of Jesus’ 40-day retreat in the desert followed by the temptations compares him with Moses, who lead the people on a journey out of slavery to the Promised Land. Jesus is the new Moses who leads us to the Promised Land..
Jesus’ baptism recalls Moses crossing the Red Sea. Jesus’ 40 days in the desert is a reflection of the 40 years Moses and his people spent in the desert.
Jesus’ temptations recall the trials that Moses and his people endured in the desert. Jesus’ three replies to the temptations are each taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, which is one the Books of Moses.
The difference is that where Moses and his people failed to be faithful to God, Jesus succeeds. He is victorious over the evil one.

Today’s gospel notes that Jesus was called into the desert by the Holy Spirit to be confirmed in his role as the Messiah. Today’s gospel presents the three temptations Jesus had after his long retreat in the desert.
The voices of temptation came to him when he was vulnerable. Our gospel summarizes Jesus’ vulnerability by saying that after forty days and nights of fasting, “he was hungry.”

The voices nagged when he was hungry, alone and searching for strength to do what he realized the Messiah must do.
The voices of seduction goaded him to use his power to satisfy his own needs (“Command these stones to become loaves of bread.”). To display a kind of divine magic (“Throw yourself down so that God will rescue you.”)
The voices also attempted to seduce Jesus to amass political power at the cost of giving his loyalty to God over to Satan (“All these kingdoms of the world I will give to you….if you worship me.”)

The devil in this story is presenting what most people expected and wanted in the Messiah.
Satan’s polls showed that the people expected an all-powerful Messiah, who would give them the bread they had to struggle for, dazzle them with his miraculous power, and conquer all other earthly empires (especially their Roman occupiers).
Even his disciples shared these expectations.
When Peter attempted to persuade Jesus to avoid the cross, Jesus called Peter “Satan” (Matt 14). We also play the role of the tempter when we challenge the “suffering servant Messiah” (Isaiah) that Jesus became.

This gospel story is about Jesus’ understanding of his calling to be the Messiah in opposition to the popular expectations about the Messiah.
This gospel is presented as our own story of temptation. It is the test of Jesus, but also the test of our belief in the Messiah.
We are being tempted to follow the crowd who lost faith in Jesus. Most people were disappointed in Jesus and eventually abandoned him when he suffered a slave’s death on the cross, a sure sign that God had abandoned him.

Why would the Son of God (Satan mentions Jesus’ title twice in this temptation story) suffer such a scandalous death when God has mastery over all things.
The temptations are all about power (self-centered, miraculous, political power). A criminal spiked naked to a cross is the ultimate symbol of powerlessness. The suffering servant Messiah (prophesied by Isaiah) was a misunderstood Messiah.

There are times when we borrow Satan’s script to challenge this so-called “Son of God.” Why doesn’t Jesus provide the hungry children of the world with bread? We could use a few miracles when suffering and death is all around us.
Instead of taking away our suffering and dying, Jesus accompanies us in our suffering and dying.
The Easter story of Jesus’ resurrection is also our story. Jesus brings us with him to the risen life. He is our Moses, who leads us to the Promised Land.