1st Sunday of Lent C - Homily 4

Homily 4 - 2022 

Just before today’s Gospel passage, Luke had narrated how Jesus had made his way down to the Jordan River and, along with quite a crowd of other people, had been baptised there by John. He had then mentioned how Jesus, some time after his baptism, while he was praying, had undergone a life-changing experience. He heard a voice from somewhere saying to him, “You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you”. At the same time, the Holy Spirit had entered into him.

Luke then followed that up immediately with today’s incident, telling us that “Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness”, staying there for six weeks. He mentioned that Jesus “ate nothing, and at the end he was hungry” [something of an understatement, surely]. Surprisingly, perhaps, while there, he was “tempted by the devil”.

I think that many of our temptations are not temptations to do something wrong in itself. What may be more significant than what we do is why we do what we do and the extent that we seek to discern what God is asking of us.

Luke’s Gospel does not tell us what Jesus was doing during his six weeks in the wilderness. It would not surprise me if his thoughts turned towards his future. Would he become a close collaborator of John? Or would he break out alone? If alone, where would he start and what would he do?

How would he find the answers?He let himself be “led by the Spirit”. In that case, he would have needed to be closely tuned in to the guidance of the Spirit. He would need to engage ever more closely with the God who called him “his Son”. Effectively, he would need to pray. [On numerous occasions later in his Gospel, Luke would mention how Jesus regularly went off to pray.]

As we look at ourselves during this time leading up to Easter, do we find ourselves growing in love as we grow older? Or are we becoming more and more critical, or impatient? Or, perhaps more likely, are we loving some more dearly and becoming ever more critical of others? My sense is that we share in establishing the Kingdom of God only when what we do is motivated by love of God and respect for the God-given human dignity of ourselves and of our neighbour.

Personally, I think that the best thing we can do during Lent is to give more time to prayer — but not simply to saying more prayers. Most of us are probably saying enough prayers as it is. We may find it helpful to spend more prayer time listening, — listening to God present in our hearts, — becoming more familiar with the God who is loving us actively at every moment of every day and every night, — who cannot love us more than is already the case, — whose love is necessarily unconditional and always infinitely intense and tuned-in, — and who is loving everyone else no more and no less than us.

We still have what is left of our lives to discover more and more the profound wonder and beauty of our God.