Read­ing Time: 3 minutes

Introduction

With the cel­eb­ra­tion of the Ash Wed­nes­day, the Church (par­tic­u­larly the Cath­ol­ic Church) begins an import­ant and unique moment in her litur­gic­al cel­eb­ra­tions – the sea­son of Lent. The Len­ten sea­son recalls the bib­lic­al peri­od of forty days and forty nights Jesus spent in the desert in pre­par­a­tion for his mis­sion. Jesus’ forty days and forty nights in the desert recalls the forty days and forty nights that Moses spent on the Moun­tain dur­ing his encounter with God, and where he neither ate nor drank for forty days and forty nights (cf. Exod 24:18; 34:18; Deut 9:9–25; 10:10). It also refers to the forty days and forty nights that Eli­jah walked before reach­ing Mount Horeb (cf. 1Kgs 19:8). Again, Jesus’ forty days and forty nights fast­ing recalls the forty years’ exper­i­ence of the Israel­ites in the wil­der­ness (cf. Deut 8:2–3). Unfor­tu­nately, Chris­ti­ans have failed to grasp the theo­lo­gic­al sig­ni­fic­ance of this epis­ode because they have taken and con­tin­ue to take it on the lit­er­al sense. Jesus’ retreat was in view of his mis­sion. As the syn­op­tic authors (Mat­thew, Mark and Luke) spe­cified, it was the Holy Spir­it that led Jesus to the desert, where he had his retreat (cf. Matt 4:1; Mark 1:12; Luke 4:1).  The par­al­lel pas­sages to Mat­thew 4:1–11 are Mark 1:12–13 and Luke 4:1–13.

Observation

Chris­ti­ans have always taken this encounter between Jesus and the accuser lit­er­ally, thereby miss­ing the mes­sage. The three tests rep­res­ent the real­ity of each epoch. The desire for mir­acle and exhib­i­tion of extra super­nat­ur­al powers; the mis­un­der­stand­ing and mis­ap­plic­a­tion of faith; and the unquench­able quest for wealth. These three vir­uses affect every gen­er­a­tion. People should be care­ful in moments of need. Such moment makes a per­son vul­ner­able and mal­le­able. Man does not live by bread alone does not mean people should starve them­selves or become idle (cf. 2Thess 3:10–12). Again, that you believe in God does not mean you should take God’s bless­ings and pro­tec­tions for gran­ted. Faith is not a sub­sti­tute for respons­ib­il­ity and acute­ness. Fur­ther­more, that God has com­mis­sioned the angels to guide and guard Jesus is not the reas­on he should throw him­self from such height. He knows that is a wrong inter­pret­a­tion and applic­a­tion of the word of God. That the Lord is your shep­herd does not mean you should be idle and take fool­ish risks because God nev­er fails and because noth­ing is impossible to him. You should not lose your senses or com­prom­ise your faith due to wealth. Money and riches should not make you get involved in risky and ungodly situ­ations. Wealth must not be acquired at all means. Remem­ber, God’s mercy does not can­cel his justice.

Conclusion   

The Satan wanted Jesus to put his own will and desire above the will of his Fath­er. He wanted Jesus to act and live inde­pend­ently of God. We must always remem­ber our depend­ence on God because, sep­ar­ated from him, we are noth­ing and can do noth­ing (cf. John 15:5). Giv­ing in to these tempta­tions means sac­ri­fi­cing our future hap­pi­ness for a short-term gain. What good is it to gain the whole world if you lose your own soul (Mark 8:36)? After his bap­tism, the spir­it of God des­cen­ded on Jesus. It was this same spir­it that led him to the desert where he had his retreat before his mis­sion. He was able to defeat the Satan because he allowed him­self to be guided by the spir­it of God. From the look of things, the spir­it of God, which Chris­ti­ans received dur­ing bap­tism, appear to have no role in their words and actions. They’ve replaced the Holy Spir­it with their own human spirit.

FOR DETAILS, GET YOUR OWN COPIES OF THE BOOK “THE WORD OF LIFE:
SUNDAY REFLECTIONS” (vols. I‑II-III)!! The reflec­tion for the First Sunday of Lent is found in The Word of Life, vol. I, pages 132–149. Happy reading!

For details on how to get it, con­tact the author on this link: https://m.me/uchennabiblia?fbclid=IwAR2yeg4a6sDGBp9QGkIvKj6FSADumMokN6lshdE0zuo-JHs6qOmlhA7jyHo
or email me at: postmaster@uchennabiblia.com
or simply send an SMS on 08116100926, and I will get back to you.

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