by Fr. Tommy Lane
When something goes wrong or something bad happens, some people blame God. But God didn’t do it. Who did it? Depending on what it was, it was probably a combination of factors but instead of blaming God, today’s Gospel (Matt 4:1-11) tells us there is someone else to blame—the devil. Three times in today’s Gospel we heard the devil trying to derail Jesus from his mission. This contest between the devil and God began long before then, and we, humanity, got involved in it in the drama of Adam and Eve in our first reading today (Gen 3:1-7). Jesus prevailed over Satan in the desert but that was not the end of Satan tempting Jesus. When Peter told Jesus he should not suffer and die in Jerusalem, Jesus responded, “Get behind me, Satan.” (Matt 16:23; Mark 8:33) Satan was trying to get at Jesus again; sometimes the devil gets at us through other people. This is very clear as Holy Week begins when Luke writes, “Satan entered into Judas.” (Luke 22:3) Strong words from Luke who is normally so gentle in his writing, unlike Mark who does not gloss over the weakness of the apostles! The battle between Jesus and Satan came to a head during Holy Week, with Jesus being arrested, tried with false evidence, condemned, scourged, crowned with thorns, carrying his cross to Calvary, nailed on the cross and dying on it. But Jesus won the contest with Satan in his resurrection on Easter Sunday. So when something goes wrong or something bad happens, instead of blaming God, blame the one who really is responsible—the devil. On the other hand, to fix the problem of evil in the world, God sent his son Jesus who suffered to the end to fix the problem of evil in the world, and he did it for you. The contest between Jesus and Satan in today’s Gospel came to a head causing Jesus horrendous suffering and pain, and a gruesome death, and Jesus’ victory in his resurrection.
Everything that Satan did was and is trying to take attention away from God and put attention elsewhere. In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus keeping his heavenly Father in first place by quoting Sacred Scripture three times:
One does not live on
bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of
God. (Deut 8:5)
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the
test. (Deut 6:16)
The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him
alone shall you serve. (Deut 6:13)
Satan tried to seduce Jesus away from his Father’s plan and Satan tries to seduce us away from God and God’s plan for us. The drama of Jesus versus Satan is being played out in the lives of each of us as we try to overcome whatever may lead us into sin or lead us in a wrong direction. Jesus conquered each of the three temptations of Satan in the desert by quoting Sacred Scripture. To be successful in our battle against evil, above all we need to pray. Prayer helps protect us from evil. The more evil there is, the more prayer we need to conquer it. Jesus conquered each of the three temptations of Satan in the desert by quoting Sacred Scripture. Diffuse the evil with the holy.
Jesus was fasting in the desert. During Lent, as a sign that we are serious in our effort to take our lives in the right direction and to make amends for sins, we do penance. Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, and Good Friday, are our two days of fast every year: three meals with no snacking between meals, and abstaining from meat. As well as those two days, we do penance of some kind for the whole of Lent. It is our way of expressing that we are serious about not allowing ourselves be seduced by Satan and that we are serious about following Jesus to the end. Whatever penance we do during Lent, while it may have health benefits or other benefits, our intention is to do it because we love Jesus and do not want anything to separate us from Jesus. Jesus’ three quotations from Sacred Scripture show us our intention for our Lenten penance:
One does not live on
bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of
God. (Deut 8:5)
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the
test. (Deut 6:16)
The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him
alone shall you serve. (Deut 6:13)
Lent is our gift to Jesus. To be successful in our battle against evil, above all we need to pray. Prayer helps protect us from evil. The more evil there is, the more prayer we need to conquer it. Whatever penance we do during Lent, our intention is to do it because we love Jesus and do not want anything to separate us from Jesus. Jesus’ contest with Satan ended with Jesus’ horrendous suffering and pain, gruesome death, and victory in his resurrection. Our Lent will end with our celebration of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection during Holy Week.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2023
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the First Sunday of Lent Year A
From ashes to new life with Jesus 2020
Overcoming temptation and giving up sin during Lent because we love Jesus 2008
Dying and rising with Jesus during Lent
Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during Lent
Related Homilies: Refocusing on Jesus during Lent 2024
Reliving the temptations of Jesus
stories for Lent
Old Testament Readings during Lent