Lent 1st Sunday, March 2014.
Gospel - Jesus fass for forty days and is tempted.
Matthew 4:1-11. ... and angels appeared and looked after him.
Lent Sun 1 yr.A
The Story of the temptation of Christ in
the wilderness is a very consoling one for us. It reminds us first of what St
Paul says about it. "He was tempted in every way that we are though he did
not sin." However the story of the temptation of Christ ends with the
revelation that angels came and comforted him. If he truly claims to be like us
in all things, then he surely owes it to us that whenever we overcome the
temptation to sin the angels must surely come to comfort us too. We may never see
them, but the peace that comes from our victory is surely a token of their
presence with us; their joy at our victory.
If we turn to the
first reading of today's liturgy, it gives us an account of the creation of the
first man and woman and the story of the very first sin; the story of the
temptation of Adam and Eve and their fall from grace. If we want to avoid the
same fate as they did we would do well to study this scene in the garden of
Eden and try to analyse their behaviour. Surely we have here a portrayal of
just what is at the heart of all sin. There are many different kinds of sin of
course and they are all put before us in the ten commandments, but there is
something common to every sin, no matter what particular kind of sin it is; no
matter which particular commandment it breaks.
The story of the
temptation begins with a command and a threat from God: thou shalt not eat of
the fruit of the tree of knowledge or you will die. Then follows a question
from Satan challenging the command and the threat and giving instead a false
promise "No, you wont die! Indeed you will belike gods yourselves". the
world was not condemned to death because Adam and Eve ate an apple. The apple
was only incidental to the whole story. Nor was the world condemned because of
the act of disobedience, although that was bad enough. but the real heart of
the matter, the real essence of the sin, the real thing which so offended God
was the fact that Adam and Eve did not trust his word; they trusted rather the
word of Satan. "No you will not die".
This is what we
all do every time we sin. We have God's word for it that sin is evil and leads
to death and yet we still follow the pleasure, the satisfaction. We deny the
voice of our conscience and we reach out to take that rosy apple which
"seems so good to eat".
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