1.Deuteronomy
26:4-10
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2.Romans10:8-13
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Gospel:
Luke 4:1-13
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"Our
great temptation"
There is a very
interesting story about a catholic Family, one that adhered strictly to fasting
and abstinence during Lent, moved into new neighborhood. They had a problem
with their a Hindu who was their neighbor, whose window closely overlooked
their home. The man had a chicken roasted every lunch and dinner. The smell of
chicken roast became so tempting that they decided to talk him into becoming
Catholic so that he would practice both fasting and abstinence. After much
compromising with him about that issue later he agreed with them to be
baptized. They took him to the parish priest for baptism. The parish priest
then told him look, " Look, you were born
a Hindu, your name is Ganesh." Then the priest took water for
Baptism and pouring it on his head and said "by these waters of Baptism,
you are now baptized a Christian and your name will be Peter."
On the first day of
Lent, as the Catholic neighbors looked from their windows, saw Peter saying and
doing something strange. He placed a plucked and dressed chicken on the table
and poured water on it saying " Look, you chicken, you are born to be
non-vegetarian. From today by these waters, you will be a vegetarian dish,
vegetarian I say, vegetarian." with that he began to roast it for his
meal.
Humanly speaking it is
normal that when we want to give in any to any temptation, we will always find
reasons, arguments and logic to support our desires. However, we need wisdom
from God to challenge, question and walk over our temptations.
Every year on
the first Sunday of Lent we read the gospel story of Jesus being tempted by
Satan. The message of the gospel is not just about saying "No" to temptation
but about and challenging the temptation
and the tempter.
Let us have a glance
into these temptations mentioned in the scriptures. The first temptation was to
turn stone into bread. Stones were plenty around Jesus. If all the stones
changed to bread there would be enough food for a life time. The problem of
poverty in the world is because so many people want to stack up and store money
and material for life time. This is the feeling for insecurity. This can also
remind us one of Jesus parables concerning a man who wanted to pull down his
barns and build the larger ones but the Lord asked him ' you fool. If your life
would be demanded of you tonight, whose will all this be?' Giving in to the
first kind of temptation is like trying to accumulate for a life time when God
wants us to live one day at a time. Giving in to(accepting) this temptation
will lead us to pillage, plunder, cheat, grab and snatch from others as much as
we can.
The second temptation
was that Satan would give all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus will worship
him. Practically this temptation is too evident from the growing power
struggles seen in the world today and increase in violence and bloodshed; for
example we have experienced seeing one religion trying to dominate another,
nations trying to out-do another in economy and weaponry to become world
super-powers; cultures, communities and ethnic groups claiming superiority over
another. This temptation for power begins at the individual level when we
forget Jesus' teaching ' those who wish to be the first must be the servant of
all' leading us to clamor for power, position and fame even at the cost and
dignity of another.
The third temptation
was for Jesus to perform a spectacular act of falling from the pinnacle and not
getting hurt. This temptation reveals itself in certain dangerous advancing
technologies where man is trying to play God. Technology is good if and only if
it improves man's standard of living and welfare, however, it is dangerous when
the creature wants to become creator. The lesson from this temptation is that
when we rely on our own intelligence and strengths we discount God. Moreover,
many people file civil cases in the court. The reason is: It is because their
prestige and honor are destroyed and degraded. Even all our intelligence put
together still cannot stop a tsunami, an earthquake or the raging waters of our
flood.
So when any temptation
faces you, don't just say "No". Instead, question it like Jesus does.
Liken your temptation to any of the three temptations of Jesus and seek the
wisdom of God to handle and walk over it.
All in all what the
three temptations have in common is the lure of selfishness, for taking the
soft options of security, power and prestige. We ourselves are often exposed to
temptations to selfishness of one kind or another- in the form of pride, anger,
lust, gluttony, envy, sloth, etc. Like Jesus we turn to God for guidance and
strength, relying especially on the power of the holy Eucharist to remain
faithful.
Let us remember one
thing that it very enjoyable to give in to temptation and it can be very easy.
But the Lord never promised us an easy life, only a meaningful life. God does
not give an easy journey but only a safe arrival. It might be difficult but
with God, all things are possible.
OTHER HOMILY SOURCES FOR THE 1st SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR C
OTHER HOMILY SOURCES FOR THE 1st SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR C
Homily
for 1st Sunday of Lent Year C By Fr. Munachi Ezeogu, CSSp
Deuteronomy 26:4-10, Romans 10:8-13, Luke 4:1-13
On the Gospel – Temptation
In the heat of the President Bill Clinton and Miss Monica Lewinsky
affair the head of a women's support group spoke on CNN. This is what she said,
in essence: "Monica Lewinsky has done nothing wrong. In the world of
corporate establishments and in the White House bureaucracy, women who want to
advance must use everything at their disposal: power, connections and sex. If
that is what she has done, we see absolutely nothing wrong with that." The
name of the game is: use what you have to get what you want. I am sure you have
heard that before. Many people indeed take it as their philosophy of life. In
our Gospel reading today, however, Jesus shows us that the principle of using
whatever you have to get whatever you want is not always right. In fact, when
that principle is applied without putting God first, it becomes a philosophy of
the world, the devil's own philosophy, a philosophy that should be rejected
even as Jesus did.
Our Gospel today is on the Temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.
Three temptations are recounted: to change stone into bread, to fall down and
worship the devil, and to jump down from the pinnacle of the Temple. In each of
these three temptations what the devil is saying to Jesus is, "Come on,
use what you have to get what you want." And in each case Jesus overcomes
the temptation by replying, "No, we can only use godly means to satisfy
our God-given needs or to pursue our goals in life."
In the first temptation, Jesus had fasted for forty days in the
wilderness and at the end of it he was very hungry. The devil puts an idea into
his head: "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become
bread" (Luke 4:3). Notice that the first thing the devil does is sow a
doubt in his mind: "if you are the Son
of God." "Are you
really sure God is with you?" The same thing happened in the garden of
Eden. The first thing the Tempter said to Eve was, "Did God really say
you should not eat of any fruit of the garden" (Genesis 3:1).
Temptation always begins with a doubting thought. Did God really say this or is
it one of those Sunday school fairy tales? Jesus overcame the temptations by
refusing to entertain such doubts and by standing on the word of God.
Note, secondly, that people are tempted only with what they need
or want. After his fasting Jesus needed to eat. So the devil tempted him with
food. It is not a sin for Jesus to eat after fasting. The sin may lie in how
the food is obtained. Should he follow the normal way of obtaining bread or
should he take the shortcut suggested by the devil to obtain instant bread?
Jesus refuses to take the devil's shortcut. The means we employ to satisfy our
needs must be in accordance with the word of God. Feeding on God's word is
ultimately more important than feeding on bread. "It is written, 'One
does not live by bread alone'" (verse 4).
In the second temptation the devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of
the world and promises to give him authority over them if only Jesus would
worship him. Remember that Jesus was about to begin his public life and was
looking for a way to get the whole world to know him and accept his message.
Again the devil tempts him to use what he has (his heart, his soul) to get what
he wants (the loyalty of the whole world). Again Jesus says no. The end does
not justify the means. "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and
serve only him'" (verse 8).
In the third temptation the devil asks Jesus to throw himself down
from the pinnacle of the temple as a way to prove that he was the Son of God.
Remember that the people were asking Jesus for a sign to prove that he was the
Messiah. Jesus wanted to convince them that he was the one. But how do you do
it! The devil suggested this sensational sky jump without a parachute. Again,
use what you have to get what you want. Use your supernatural power to get the
people to recognize you and believe in you as the Son of God, the Messiah. And
again Jesus says no. The God of Jesus Christ is not a God of the sensational
but a God who works through the ordinary, everyday things of life. "Do
not put the Lord your God to the test" (verse 12).
So you see, unlike those friends of Monica who believe you can
trade off everything you have to obtain what you want, Jesus shows us that we
should never trade off our faith in God or our moral principles to obtain
anything in this world, because faithfulness to God is more precious than
anything in this world.
On the Epistle – Talk the Talk and Walk the Walk
A recent poll conducted for the BBC finds that Nigerians are the
most religious people in the world. Nigerians receive this news with mixed
feelings. “Yes, we are the most religious people in the world when it comes to
church attendance, prayer and identifying ourselves as believers,” they say,
“but why does our religiosity not translate itself into right conduct and fair
business practice.” Nigeria, as you know, is said to be one of the most corrupt
countries in the world. Is true religion only a matter of the heart and of the
lips? This is the question that comes to mind as we hear Paul’s words to the
Romans in today’s second reading: “If you confess with your lips that Jesus
is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will
be saved” (Romans 10:9). Is true Christianity, then, simply a matter of believing
in the heart and confessing with the lips? Are the hands and feet not involved?
Does it matter how we lead our lives so long as we believe in our heart and
confess with our lips? What is Paul teaching us here?
To rightly understand what Paul is saying and what this means in
our daily lives we need to see it in the context of the early Christians in
Rome. The Roman church was a severely persecuted church. Christians were
persecuted not for what they said and did but for what they refused to say and
do. You see, starting from the time of Julius Caesar, the Roman Emperor had
adopted a divine status. At his death the emperor was deified and proclaimed to
be a god, while his living successor was declared to be the son of a god (divi
filius). Sacrifices and incense were offered in public worship to the
emperor gods. They were invoked and addressed as “lord” (dominus).
But the early Christians believed that the only person to have
walked this earth who deserved to be addressed and worshipped as God is none
other than Jesus Christ. They, therefore, transferred to Jesus the title and
the homage that emperor worshippers has conferred on the emperor. They called
Jesus the true Son of God and addressed him as Lord while refusing to recognize
the divine status of the emperors, even under threat of death. Of course some
of them, out of fear of death, would deny their Christian faith and confess
Caesar to be the Lord. Paul is not happy with that. In today’s reading he
encourages them to remain strong in their faith in the Resurrected One and to
confess him as Lord even if that would cost them their lives, for that is the
way to attain salvation.
“For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one
confesses with the mouth and so is saved” (10:10). By secretly believing in
Jesus in the privacy of their hearts, Christians are justified. This is not
enough, however. Ultimate and final salvation comes only when one has the
courage on one’s conviction to openly confess Christ as Lord with one’s lips.
Against this background we can see that Paul is not telling them that believing
in Christ in the heart alone is all that saves the Christian. Far from that, he
is encouraging them to translate their faith into concrete and public action,
even if that action is only to declare publicly that Jesus is the Lord. For
that was the challenge of the faith in those days.
What is the challenge of the faith in our own day? The tendency to
regard the Christian faith as a private matter is still a concern for us today.
In many places it is not politically correct to identify ourselves as
Christians either as individuals or as communities. France has banned the
wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in schools. The United States frowns
at the public display of Christian symbols on government property, like the Ten
Commandments monument in a Kentucky courthouse. In places like Nigeria where
public display of religion is allowed, people display it but fail to follow
through with the implication of faith in their day to day lives. Paul urges us
today to think the thought (in out hearts), to talk the talk (with our lips)
and to walk the walk (in our actions).
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