Today we join Jesus in his battle against the wiles of Satan in the desert. In this account, it is important to recognize what Jesus is doing. Throughout his earthly journey, Jesus is retracing the steps of the people of Israel. But where the people of Israel had collectively failed in the desert, Jesus now finds victory. The people of Israel complained about their lack of food in the desert, Jesus now fasts without complaint during his forty days in the desert. The people of Israel had moments of pining to go back to Egypt, wishing to return to slavery rather than endure the desert. Jesus, when faced with the temptation to bow down in slavery not just to Pharaoh in Egypt, but Satan himself, is victorious, reminding the Devil that God alone is to be served.
Jesus knows the frailty of our human condition, which He shares in. With that human nature united to His Divine nature, Jesus conquers in the desert. In the bible, the 40 day time period represents a great trial. Noah and his family endured the flood for forty days and forty nights, Israel wandered in the desert for forty years to be tried and to help them learn to trust in Almighty God. Now Jesus endures forty days of trial in the wilderness to show us the pathway to victory in our battle against our Ancient enemy.
Jesus gives us the ultimate example of what it takes to defeat Satan, and He arms us with His grace to be victorious in Him! The first thing he reminds us of is that Satan is always ready to jump in when we are at a low point. The Gospel tells us that Jesus was hungry after fasting for forty days (understatement of the year!). In this weakened state, Satan saw an opening to try to tempt the Lord. We have those low periods as well. Satan is all too ready to cozy up next to us when we’re tired, hungry, burned out, or frustrated. He knows just the moment to step in when we will be most susceptible to his lies. But the good news is that we don’t have to fall victim to his lies. In Christ, we can be victorious. We will look at those tools for victory, but first, let’s look at a couple of ways we set ourselves up for failure.
One way is by denying that there is a battle going on at all. It’s tempting just to write off the existence of the supernatural, to look at angels and demons, Heaven and Hell as simply parts of an elaborate story we tell ourselves. Many people do see demons as some type of medieval superstition. But the truth is, the whole of Sacred Scripture is full of the work of angels and demons. We have this account of Jesus facing off against the prince of demons in today’s Gospel because Jesus took time to tell the story to his followers. And Jesus wouldn’t lie. So for us, simply denying the existence of the enemy doesn’t make him and his legions magically disappear. Imagine a soldier in the army saying, “Guys, don’t worry about it, our enemy is just made up!” It’s easy enough to say, but not so much when the bullets are flying by your head. Just ask the exorcist in any diocese and he will set you straight about whether demons are real. Satan is not a medieval myth, he is a fallen angel who doesn’t rest and desires nothing less than the ruin of your soul.
Another way we sabotage ourselves is by thinking that we can face down temptation ourselves. Part of the reason I think we fall into this is related to that first failure: the lack of recognition of the supernatural. When we look at our temptations towards actions which are evil, we simply write them off as something in our mind. We tell ourselves that the urge to do what we know is wrong is just part of us. But this is only partially true. It is a fact that we deal with the weakness of our own nature, which is weak. But we also do deal with forces that go beyond nature, forces of spirits which love planting evil thoughts within us and urging us towards those things which only bring suffering, isolation, confusion, and, ultimately, death. We can’t pull ourselves up by our own spiritual bootstraps, friends. You have probably heard the phrase, “God helps those who help themselves.” But that falls into the same distorted way of thinking. This actually stems from an ancient heresy condemned by the Church known as pelagianism. The pelagians said precisely this type of thing, that we could earn heaven by our own work without the help of God’s grace. But this is not true! Listen to the beautiful words of St. Irenaeus: “To follow the Savior is to share in salvation; to follow the light is to enjoy the light. Those who are in the light do not illuminate the light but are themselves illuminated and enlightened by the light. They add nothing to the light; rather, they are beneficiaries, for they are enlightened by the light.” We are called to be partakers in the Divine Nature through our baptism. Our victory is through being strengthened in Jesus’ mighty power, by letting His grace in us be our strength in the face of temptation.
Jesus shows us the way by His humility in the face of temptation. When confronted by the Devil, Jesus could have commanded Him to flee, but instead he endured the temptations by leaning on the truth of Scripture. He did this to show us the way. When we let Him fight those battles against sin in us, He will bring those truths of Scripture to our minds in the moment of Temptation. Remember that Jesus wasn’t alone in the Desert. The Father and the Holy Spirit were with Him. He stayed close to God the Father and defended their relationship by refusing to bow to Satan. Also, Jesus followed the lead of the Spirit. The beginning of this passage reminds us that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert.
So this is the challenge for us this Lent, to get over ourselves and let Jesus arm us for the very real battle at hand. During these forty days Jesus invites us into the desert spiritually by taking on fasting. This allows us to leave behind comforts and focus more intentionally on our relationship with Him, the Father and the Holy Spirit. And just as the Spirit led Jesus in the Desert, so He can lead us during this Lent to grow closer to the Trinity through prayer and almsgiving. In prayer, we have the opportunity to lean into the Father’s love and more fully come to know ourselves in that love. The Spirit can also empower us to give alms generously. After Jesus went forward from the desert, He gave His whole self to preaching, healing and establishing the Church. This Lent should be a time for us to let the burning love of the Sacred Heart ignite our hearts to intentional acts of love and service.
Every day there will be moments of trial, but in those moments, Jesus is there in us with His abundant grace to help us grow as members of His mystical Body. Just like soldiers are tested and tried during bootcamp to prepare them for battle, so Jesus can strengthen us during these forty days to rely more on His grace so that when we come to Holy Week and Easter, we will be strengthened to celebrate in joy and purity of heart! Let’s let Jesus bring us deeper freedom from sin this Lent!
+ Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us the opportunity to enter the Spiritual Desert of Lent to be tested along with our Lord. Jesus please strengthen us in temptation so that we can be victorious in You. Holy Spirit, open our eyes to the realities of the spiritual battle for our soul so that we can find deeper freedom in Christ this Lent. We ask this through Christ, Our Lord. Amen. +