Today’s homily begins with more than one question. First of all, would you agree that modern life is a lot more complex than it was a few years ago? If you’re still in school, are the classes harder and longer? And if you’re out of school and are employed, does it seem like you’re being asked to do more in your job lately, what with other people being laid off because of so-called “down-sizing?” And if you’re out of work, does it seem more difficult to find a new job with each passing week or month? Isn’t it a lot harder to raise a family or to live a quiet life? There’s a need to crowd more events and requirements into an already packed schedule than ever before. There seems, however, to be only one way out. Short-cuts! What with all of this growing complexity, we have to take short-cuts; don’t we? And even, without the complexity in our lives, short-cuts are still the way to go … aren’t they?
Short-cuts come in all kinds of packages. There’s the classic short-cut of taking the feeder road to avoid the build-up on the interstate or even the new toll roads. There’s the short-cut of jumping into a newly opened line at the supermarket. There’s the short-cut of opening a can of soup, instead of making it from scratch. There’s a whole industry of fast-foods built on our needs, our demands, for short-cuts. We’re too busy to take the time for the real things.
Real things? Life is so complex we don’t need the real things anymore. The fakes are just as good and a lot less expensive. Who needs real whipped cream, when the white stuff in the squirt can tastes as good and is advertised to be even better than the real topping that’s loaded with cholesterol and fat? Why take the time to write and mail a real letter to a friend, when we can use e-mail, send a fax, or leave a voice-mail message?
Each of us has our own favorite short-cuts and fakes to substitute for the real things. But this desire for short-cuts and substitutes is not a recent invention resulting from our modern complexity. In fact, it goes all the way back to today’s gospel reading, a gospel reading in which the devil is said to have tempted Jesus with fakes and short-cuts.
When he was hungry, having fasted for forty days in the desert, Jesus was offered a stone to eat: a stone that was a substitute for bread. He was offered fake nourishment. All he had to do was say the word and use his personal power to have the stone seem like real bread. But Jesus refused to be nourished by what was not real.
The tempter then offered him a short-cut to power. The devil was willing to give Jesus the power and glory of all the kingdoms of the world right then and there. Jesus would not need to suffer and die so that people would follow him. All he had to do was pay homage to Satan. But Jesus refused to be manipulated and, in the long run, to manipulate others. He refused to take away their free will to choose to follow him.
Finally, the tempter challenged Jesus to prove himself to be the Son of God through his own risk taking; to toss himself from the highest point of the temple in Jerusalem in expectation that his life would be saved by his Father, the Lord God. But Jesus refused this short-cut to prove he was the Son of God. He refused to put God to the test. Rather he would continue on the road which would lead to Jerusalem, where he would be put on trial, executed, and would rise again to show what God’s love was truly all about.
Here, as we once more begin the season of Lent, we are reminded of the three temptations of Jesus the Christ and of the three temptations each one of us must also face. The temptations which focus on me as an individual; on my relationships with others; and my relationship with God. The three temptations, proposed by the false advocate, are countered by the three loves required by the true advocate.
Consider, if you will, how the first temptation of turning a stone into bread relates to my own nourishment and my own senses. In my own life, am I tempted to make use of fake nourishment for my senses? During this Lent, must I become aware of my own addictions to diets, drinks and drugs? Do I abuse my own body, my own self, through my own actions, my own thoughts, my own words? What heavy stone do I consume in the belief that it is nourishing bread? Do I truly love myself?
Consider the second temptation. Jesus was offered the short-cut of freely being given power over others in exchange for taking away their own freedom of choice. During this Lent, must I become aware of how I manipulate others through my actions and attitudes, though my use of anger and intimidation, through my whining and complaining. Do I manipulate the love of others by withholding my own love? Do I show a lack of respect for others? Do I use my position to try to control others? From what mountain top do I view the kingdoms around me and believe that I, alone, deserve all of the power and glory? Do I truly love my neighbor?
Consider the third temptation. What is my own relationship with God and how do I test him? During this Lent, must I become aware of the risks I take in the expectation that no matter how foolish I am, God will rescue me? Do I dare God to show himself in order to prove his love for me? Do I despair in God and test him by believing that my problems are so great that he cannot, or will not, help me to overcome them? On what high temple do I stand and demand that God show his love for me? Do I truly love my God and know that he loves me?
During these next forty days of Lent, each of us will continue on our journey, on our wanderings in the desert of our temptations, until we reach Jerusalem for the final testing and the final reward. But during this time of the three temptations, we also must carry with us the three memories that Moses related to God’s people on their journey from Egypt to the promised land.
In our first reading, Moses reminded the Israelites of their afflictions in the land of Egypt: how they were maltreated and oppressed. Secondly, he reminded them how they cried out to the Lord God for their rescue, their salvation. And finally he reminded them how the Lord God responded with his strong hand and outstretched arm. And so as we make our individual journey through the desert of our temptations, our Exodus from captivity to freedom, we need to recognize our own distress and suffering. We need to cry out to our Lord God in our own prayer. We need to recall how God our Father does hear our prayer and how, in his love, he responds to our needs.
Finally, Saint Paul also has a reminder for us on this first Sunday of Lent. He reminds us: “The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart. … Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
And so it is that on our journey this year, and all of the remaining days of our life, we are urged not to take the fake short-cuts that are offered as temptations to reach our goal more quickly. Instead we journey together as a people who love God and neighbor as our self. And who know that Jerusalem is our destiny.
First Sunday in Lent; March 5, 1995
Dt 26: 4-10; Rom 10:8-13; Lk 4:1-13