First Sunday of Lent, Year A
Genesis 2:7–9; 3:1–7
Ps. 51:3–4, 5–6, 12–13, 17
Romans 5:12–19
Matthew 4:1–11
The First Sunday of Lent always invites us to look at the reality of sin and temptation. This year, we hear Matthew’s account of the Temptation of the Lord. Jesus went into the desert to be confronted by the devil. Matthew gives us a description of three fundamental temptations: to turn stones into bread was to satisfy earthly hunger; to cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple would be to show His divinity before it was time; Jesus’ refusal to worship Satan, so as to receive earthly power over all the kingdoms of the world, emphasizes the theme of the Kingdom of God as greater than anything this world can offer.
Each of us is invited to search our hearts to discover the roots of these same temptations at work in us and to look to Jesus for help to overcome them. Jesus’ own response to the devil was not simply to resist but to express the power of the words of Sacred Scripture at work in Him: We do not live on bread alone; we owe worship and service to God alone; we must not put God to the test but rather live in the world as it is, putting our trust in Him.
Temptation is a risk for the devil. When we are tempted, we are being invited to open our hearts to grace. God gives His grace to all who seek it. Jesus’ own temptation shows that our human nature has the capacity to open to grace and to resist the devil, even when it is weakest.
The Lord was tempted at the end of His fasting for 40 days in the desert. Our world is like a desert sometimes. It is empty, a wasteland, at times of our own making. The temple, representing our holy places, can seem unable to lift us up. Our own skills and capacities seem to be the only thing that gives us power. The world can tempt us to see only what it has to offer and to grasp it, even though we know that it cannot satisfy.
Human nature itself was created in purity, utterly free from sin. The account of the sin of our first parents tells us that it was a choice made in freedom, in response to the serpent’s temptation to disobedience. The motivation was to “be like gods who know what is good and what is evil.” There are several lies in the serpent’s invitation. Perhaps the most insidious thing is the idea that it is good “to know” what is evil. This is not a matter of mere intellectual understanding. In Biblical terms, knowledge is direct experience. Truly to be “like God” is not to know evil in this way. God is all and only good. To be like God would be not to know evil from experience.
