Lent - Going into the Desert with Jesus

Jesus had just been baptized. The Spirit led Him into the desert to be tempted. It was no accident the devil showed up. This was a show down! One on one. If Jesus fails, if Jesus sins, salvation would be lost forever.

“By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.” (Catholic Catechism, 540). Let’s follow Jesus in the desert to discover the mystery of how to unite with our Lord.

The desert. The desert is a place of solitude. A place to get away from everything and encounter God. In the desert, the Israelites encountered God as He prepared them to become a great nation. In the desert, Abraham, Moses, David and even John the Baptist encountered God to prepare for their missions. Jesus had not begun His public mission. His only miracle up to this point was by request of His mother. Like all the prophets before him, Jesus had to go into the desert to prepare. For us to truly seek God, to truly encounter Him and truly prepare for our own Christian mission we too must go into the desert.

Fasting. Jesus prepared for battle by fasting 40 days. Fasting is more than just “giving up” something. Authentic fasting is “sharing your bread with the hungry, bringing the afflicted into your house, clothing the naked…then you shall call, and the LORD will answer” (Isaiah 58:6-9) When food is sacrificed, we give the food or money to the poor. When online or phone time is sacrificed, we spend that extra time in prayer. In fasting, we trade worldly good for spiritual good. We unite to Jesus by taking 40 days to deny ourself and to prepare for spiritual battle.

Round one. The devil was patient and waited until Jesus was weak from fasting. Now the battle. First, the setup…“If you are the Son of God”. The devil questions the divinity of Jesus. He gives Jesus something to prove, then ”command these stones become loaves of bread”. Jesus is hungry. The enemy strikes where He is weak. Maybe Jesus can be tempted to use God’s gifts to satisfy the flesh. Our temptations often start with doubt...“If God really loves you” or “Is it really a sin”. Then temptation strikes when we are weak. Are we hungry? Are we sick? Did we not get enough sleep? We must be more on guard during these times. Jesus stood on the Word of God to resist sin.  We unite to Jesus by staying aware of temptation, casting out doubt and standing on the Word of God.

Round two. Same setup…doubt. “If you are the Son of God”. Jesus did not even respond to this part the first time, so try again. But a different temptation. “Throw yourself down, for it written”.  The devil uses the Word of God against Jesus. Maybe Jesus can be tempted to misinterpret Scripture, presume God’s mercy and throw himself to His death. That would end salvation. The devil does not give up easily. Though we stand firm once, he will bring the same temptation against us time and time again. We may fall the next time. The devil also tempts us to interpret Scripture on our own. Or maybe, something goes wrong contrary to Scripture and we are tempted to doubt Scripture. Interpreting Scripture is dangerous. It has led to Catholics leaving the Church and over 40,000 Protestant denominations forming. We must never become wreckless with our faith. Standing on the Word of God does not mean standing on our interpretation of the Word of God. We unite to Jesus by letting the fullness of Scripture dwell within us, the fullness revealed by God to His Church.

Round three. The tempter needed a new strategy. First, the devil "showed Jesus all the kingdoms". Then a lie, “All these I shall give to you”. Finally the punch line, ”prostrate yourself and worship me”. Maybe Jesus can be tempted to seek glory and ignore the First Commandment, "You shall have no other God's before me." If Jesus bowed before Satan, salvation would be lost forever. The eyes are the window to the soul. What the eyes see we desire…lust, glory, power, money. How often does temptation begin with the eyes? How often do we fall because we do not have the strength to look away? The devil did not own the world, it was not his to give. How often are we tempted by something that is a lie? We fall to a temptation because we think it will satisfy, but it does not. We strive to achieve something we will never attain. In the process, we put idols before God. We unite to Jesus by keeping our eyes under control, turning away from desires and casting out all idols that we put before God. 

More to come. The devil departed “for a time”. This was not the end of temptations for Jesus, only the beginning. Jesus left the desert prepared to begin His salvation mission; but knowing the battle was not over. We unite to Jesus by coming out of our Lenten desert ready to renew our Christian mission to "make disciples of the nations". But we too must never let our guard down. The moment we forget, the moment we are weak the tempter will strike again.

“Lent is a fitting time for self-denial; we would do well to ask ourselves what we can give up in order to help and enrich others by our own poverty. Let us not forget that real poverty hurts: no self-denial is real without this dimension of penance.” – Pope Francis

Meditation:

• What does uniting my life to Jesus in the desert really mean to me? What is keeping me from being united to my Lord?

• Where am I most vulnerable to temptation and sin? What do I really need to work on?

• How would Lent be more meaningful if I went beyond "giving up something" and fed the hungry, clothed the poor and comforted the sick?

• What areas of my life are holding me back, hardest to sacrifice? What spiritual benefit could I gain in self-denial of those for 40 days?

• When Lent is over, what will be my public mission for Jesus? What do I plan on doing to bring about the Kingdom of Heaven?