In today’s epic Gospel scene, Jesus relives in His flesh the history of Israel. We’ve already seen that, like Israel, Jesus has passed through water and been called God’s beloved Son. Now, as Israel was tested for forty years in the wilderness, Jesus is led into the desert to be tested for forty days and nights.

He faces the temptations put to Israel: Hunger—He’s tempted to grumble against God for food. As Israel quarreled at Massah, He’s tempted to doubt God’s care. When the Devil asks for His homage, He’s tempted to do what Israel did in creating the golden calf.

Jesus fights the Devil with the Word of God, three times quoting from Moses’ lecture about the lessons Israel was supposed to learn from its wilderness wanderings.

Why do we read this story on the first Sunday of Lent? Because like the biblical sign of forty, the forty days of Lent are a time of trial and purification.

Lent is to teach us what we hear over and over in today’s readings. “Call upon me, and I will answer,” the Lord promises in today’s Psalm. Paul promises the same thing in today’s Epistle.

This was Israel’s experience, as Moses reminds his people in today’s First Reading: “We cried to the Lord . . . and He heard.” But each of us is tempted, as Israel was, to forget the great deeds He works in our lives, to neglect our birthright as His beloved sons and daughters.

When Jesus went out into the wilderness to fight temptation by the devil, he was led by the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not rely on his own human strength and willpower for overcoming temptation. He relied on the Holy Spirit to give him strength, wisdom, courage, and self-control. The Lord Jesus knows that we cannot fight temptation on our own. We need the strength and guidance of the Holy Spirit to help us. The Lord Jesus gives us his Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness and to be our guide and strength in times of testing. The Lord gives grace to those who humbly acknowledge their dependence on him and he helps us to stand firm against the attacks of Satan who seeks to destroy us. The Lord Jesus is ever ready to pour out his Spirit upon us that we may have the courage we need to repent of our sins and to turn away from them, and to reject the lies and deceits of Satan. God wants us to “fight the good fight of the faith” with the strength and help which comes from the Holy Spirit. We shall seek God’s wisdom and guidance for overcoming sin and avoiding the near occasions of sin in our day-to-day life. We are called to journey with the Lord in a special season of prayer, fasting, almsgiving, repentance, and renewal as we prepare to celebrate the feast of Easter, the Christian Passover. As we begin this holy season of preparation and renewal, let’s ask the Lord for a fresh outpouring of his Holy Spirit that we may grow in faith, hope, and love, and embrace his will more fully in our lives.

God Bless us all,

Fr. Charley