February 26, 1996
First Sunday of Lent Matthew 4:1-11BACKGROUND
Matthew's version of the temptation of Jesus in the desert incorporates his view of Jesus as the one who relives the history of Israel. He is the New Moses. We often associate the forty days in the desert as a sign of forty days of fasting for Lent. However, Matthew does not see the fast as penance but as recalling the forty days in the Sinai. Jesus only experiences hunger at the conclusion of his period of solitude. Then the tempter approaches and seeks to lead the Son of God into a denial of his sonship. Jesus responds to each of the three tests with a quote from the Book of Deuteronomy demonstrating that he is the true Son of God who does not fail as the old Israel failed. He refuses to play the political and social Messiah. He does not misuse God's promise of protection. And he will not practice idolatry but reminds us that we are to worship only the one true God. Matthew emphasizes that there will always be false Gods seeking our homage. The only response to this is to seek to understand God's message in scripture and live according to it.
STORY
It is said that one day Satan was instructing his students about the ways of deception, asking them what they thought was the best way to lead people away from God. One student thought the best way was to convince them that there was no God. Another said to tell them there was no hell. A third suggested that if people thought they had all the time in the world to make a decision, they would procrastinate and not believe until it was too late. While Satan agreed that all these methods have been tried, he had never found them truly effective. When pressed by his students for the correct answer to the question, Satan said he thought planting the seed of moderation in people's minds worked best. It works for church goers as well as for those who do not participate in organized religion. They say they believe in God but by their actions we know that it is not the true God. They do not have a fire in their souls. Those who believe in the true God have this fire which give them the strength to resist whatever temptations come their way. They are the true sons and daughters of God.
Mary G. Durkin
