Deuteronomy 26:4-10 + Psalm 91:1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-5 + Romans 10:8-13 + Luke 4:1-13
Click here to listen to today's homily
Delivered at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Mustang, OK
The secular society in which we live focuses on the physical
and material. Our society scoffs at the notion – at least many do – that there is
more than we can physically see or touch. But we who are Christians believe there
is something more. In fact, we believe that we are spiritual beings, enfleshed
spirits, that we are not physical beings in search of a spiritual experience,
but rather that we are spiritual beings having a physical experience.
So we believe that there is an ongoing spiritual struggle in
our lives where we are constantly forced to choose between the way of the evil
spirit and the way of the good spirit, the Holy Spirit. The Church reminds you
and me of this basic truth of our existence every year – every year! – on the First
Sunday of Lent as we go with Jesus into the desert, as the fully human Son of
God enters into a very real struggle with Satan in the desert. Having emptied
Himself of all Divine Privilege by becoming the son of Mary, Jesus enters into
the most basic battle of human life, a battle with the Evil One. The
temptations in the desert and the temptations that will come later in His life,
for the Tempter does not leave Him, even tempts Him on the Cross to come down –
All of these temptations are based around His identity as Beloved Son of God.
The Evil One is trying to rob Him of that identity, trying to strip that
identity from Him. “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to turn
into bread.” In other words, use the power of God given to you to feed yourself,
take care of yourself. The Evil One saying after all, it is all about you.
But Jesus will not use the power of God to take care of
Himself. He will use the power of God flowing through Him to feed others who
are hungering for God. “I will give you all the nations of the world, all the
worldly power, if you will simply bow down and worship me.” In other words, “Enjoy
the riches of this world, you deserve it. Make it all about you.”
But Jesus redirects the Devil’s temptation to say, “It’s not
all about me, about me seeking worldly power like another king, about others
waiting on me, serving me, but rather it’s about God the Father. It’s about
worshiping Him, about placing all of my gifts at the feet of Him who has made
me. To bring about a different kind of kingdom.” For the kingdom that Jesus initiates
is not a kingdom like worldly kingdoms that operate on division and accusation,
but it is a kingdom where God desires all people to live together in peace.
Where Jesus becomes the bridge between all that separates us from one another
in order that we might offer and receive forgiveness, and understand the power of
compassion to transform lives.
“Leap off the templetop. Force your Father’s hand. Make Him
prove that He loves you.” Jesus will not do so. He doesn’t have to force the
Father’s hand because He knows, He knows, that He is the Beloved Son of God no
matter what happens to Him. No matter if he dash His feet on the stones of
suffering. No matter if He walks through the darkness of death. He knows He is
always God’s beloved son. And He will live His life therefore in self-giving
love. He won’t do super-human feats, flying off templetops like Superman. No!
He will do the most powerful feat of all, the most incredible deed of all, He
will give His life away in love of others.
Jesus knows. He knows it is not about Him. It’s not about
feeding Himself, taking care of Himself, having power over others, having others
wowed by His powerful deeds. It’s rather about doing everything for the glory
of God His Father. It’s about obedience to the Father’s will. It’s about
bringing about a kingdom of justice, peace, and joy.
These temptations are not just first century temptations.
They are also 21st century temptations. Because you and I live in a
world where it’s all about self-promotion, or so it seems, self-aggrandizement.
It’s all about making it about me, about me. Watch any athletic event. Someone
makes a great play. They strut their stuff and beat their chest, “Look at me!”
Or, watch a reality show (not all of them, but most of them), they’re all about
me, navel-gazing, okay? Focused on the self.
The danger of modern communications, and there are many
blessings to modern communications, especially social media. The danger is it
is so easy to cross the line from sharing with others in friendship, to tooting
our own horn, to thinking it’s all about me and everything I do in my life. We
come together to remember that is not the case, that the Devil wants to tempt
us to focus inward instead of outward to the God whose hand feeds us, to the
God whom we are called to worship, to the God who loves us as His own beloved sons
and daughters. No matter what happens to us we are always, by our baptism,
filled with the Spirit, God’s beloved children.
That wonderful jewel of the first reading this morning reminds
us it is not about what I have done, but it is rather about what God has done
and what God continues to do. Notice the context of that first reading is the Harvest
Festival. Every year at the harvest those who are blessed by the fruit of the
land bring the first fruits in a basket to the Lord God. They present it to the
priest. They give it away. And then, they remember what God has done in the
past for them – that God has made of them a mighty people, saved them from
slavery in Egypt, welcomed them into the Holy Land by being with them,
providing for them through the desert, and giving them that land of promise as
a gift. And so every year at the harvest, giving away the first fruits is a
reminder “The land is not mine, it belongs to God.” Even this fruit of the
harvest is not my doing, it is by the gift of God, by my ability to do this,
that God has produced this fruit. To remember, indeed, that is God doing, and
what God is about, that is most important.
All of us suffer in our lives at times from spiritual dementia. We forget what God has done for us – the many ways that God has blessed our lives. And that’s why week after week after week, we come to remember what God has done. To remember that God has given us the greatest gift of all – the gift of His own Son. And not only to remember that but to be strengthened by that very gift of Jesus’ body and blood. And as we do so, we bring our gifts as a sign of the gift of ourselves to God, recognizing it’s not about me holding on to my gifts, but it’s about me giving my life away as a gift to others. And that when my life – our lives – are joined to the Greatest Gift, Jesus the son of God that there is no temptation we cannot overcome, that in Him and through Him, we have the power to reject the lies of the Evil One. And we have the power to always remember our dignity and that no one can strip or rob that dignity of us as God’s beloved sons and daughters.
All of us suffer in our lives at times from spiritual dementia. We forget what God has done for us – the many ways that God has blessed our lives. And that’s why week after week after week, we come to remember what God has done. To remember that God has given us the greatest gift of all – the gift of His own Son. And not only to remember that but to be strengthened by that very gift of Jesus’ body and blood. And as we do so, we bring our gifts as a sign of the gift of ourselves to God, recognizing it’s not about me holding on to my gifts, but it’s about me giving my life away as a gift to others. And that when my life – our lives – are joined to the Greatest Gift, Jesus the son of God that there is no temptation we cannot overcome, that in Him and through Him, we have the power to reject the lies of the Evil One. And we have the power to always remember our dignity and that no one can strip or rob that dignity of us as God’s beloved sons and daughters.
Father Joseph Jacobi
