[Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Psalm 90; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13]

The words used by the devil are strikingly familiar. ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.’ If we think about the crucifixion and remember the words used by the Jewish leaders ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’ [Luke 23:35] or the words used by the soldiers ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ [Luke 24:37] and also the words of one of the criminals crucified beside him ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ [Luke 24:39]. The similarity of these words and the accusation used suggests that they all have the same root, and I don’t mean they were all written by St Luke in his Gospel. The devil is behind all of these words, he is named in the Gospel used today, but then we hear that ‘he departed from him until an opportune time.’ The devil having been defeated by Jesus out in the desert didn’t have the nerve to go face to face with Jesus again. Instead, he tried desperately putting three similar challenges to Jesus when he thought Jesus would be at His weakest, during His Passion. This last throw of the dice by the devil was an attempt to rob mankind of our Salvation, but instead, Jesus the victory has won.

The season of Lent is a penitential time where we choose to follow Jesus more closely. We make a conscious decision to pick up a cross and abstain from something we like, or decide to do something additional to show Jesus that for us, there are no ‘if’s’, we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, in answer to the devil’s question when he challenged Jesus to throw himself down from a high place, we believe that Jesus is the Messiah in reply to the Jewish leaders mocking Jesus on the cross; we believe that Jesus is the King of the Jews in reply to the soldiers and we believe that Jesus saved us in reply to the condemned man who incredulously mocked Jesus from an adjacent cross. Our faith did not end that day when Jesus died, our faith began when we were baptised and went down into the grave with Jesus and as our Baptismal waters were poured over us, we were reborn as brothers and sisters of Christ Jesus, just as He rose from the dead on the third day.

Today’s scripture readings are a Credo, a proclamation of our faith, like the people of Moses time, we cry to the Lord and with His mighty hand and outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror; with signs of wonders, he raised Jesus from the dead to conquer death and give us hope that we will rise again with Him. We in turn through this Lenten season bring our offerings of what we will forgo, or how we will spend more time putting God at the centre of our life. This time of fasting, prayer and acts of charity brings us closer to God, as we trust that God will provide for all of our needs while God uses us to provide for the needs of others.

St Paul tells us in the letter to the Romans that we will be saved by confessing that Jesus is Lord and believing that God raised Him, he goes on to tell his readers that everyone who calls on the Lord will be saved. This link between the first reading and the second reading is crucial for those of us who are not from the Jewish race. In the first reading, the Jewish people called on the Lord and they were led out of Egypt by the Lord through Moses. We who are followers of Jesus call on the Lord and we are led to the promised Land through Jesus.

In the Gospel, Jesus replies to every temptation by quoting scripture, this is a message to us that just as Jesus became like us, we can become like Jesus. To resist temptations like Jesus did, we need to know our scriptures, not just with head knowledge but with heart knowledge. Maybe this Lent we can choose to spend more time getting to know Jesus better, by spending more time reading scriptures, that way when we are tempted, we can reply in a similar way to Jesus.

Further Reading

Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)

First Sunday of Lent

CCC 394, 538-540, 2119: the temptation of Jesus
CCC 2846-2849: “Lead us not into temptation”
CCC 1505: Christ frees from evil
CCC 142-143, 309: faith as submission to God, response to God, answer to evil
CCC 59-63: God forms his priestly people through Abraham and the Exodus

The Three Pillars of Lent and the Jubilee Year

Please keep in your prayers this week

  • The sick and housebound, those who are dying and those who are grieving.
  • Father Jean-Patrice that he makes a full recovery.
  • The continued fight to protect all life from conception until natural death.
  • Fr John Chadwick, who is ill at this time.
  • Fr John Lee, who celebrated the 35th anniversary of his ordination this past week.

Deacon Tony, 7th March 2025