A gracious gift that overflows for many

Lent, what does it mean to you? Does it mean sacrifice, giving up something? Does it mean repentance, to ask forgiveness from our sins? Does it mean continual conversion, to change our lives to conform more closely with that of the life of Christ? Does it mean to prepare for renewal of our baptismal promises, to renounce sin and profess our faith in Jesus Christ?

What does Lent mean to you? Sacrifice often means for us, to give up chocolate or a favorite food. But what is Jesus asking of us? Jesus asks us to sacrifice our lives, to give our very selves to Christ. Repentance often means we go to confession during Lent and we have fulfilled our obligation. But to seek forgiveness from our sins asks us to have a contrite heart, to truly be sorry for our sins and sincerely try not to sin again. Continual conversion is the struggle of trying not to sin again by truly changing our lives so that we do not fall into sin again. Renewal of our baptismal promises always begins with renouncing sin; we will celebrate the renewal of our baptismal promises on Easter Sunday. Lent invites us into a 40-day period of the renunciation of our sins in preparation of the renewal of our baptismal promises on Easter Sunday.  

The 40 days of Lent are not simply a season to renounce sin, it is an invitation to new life. We come to understand the new life offered to us through Jesus Christ by his own 40-day journey in the desert. Jesus’ divinity can be clearly seen through his humanity, and it is through his desert experience that we most clearly come to understand the incarnate nature of Jesus Christ as fully human and fully divine. The temptations in the desert reveal to us not only the humanity of Jesus Christ but also the merciful love of the Father through his Son.

Jesus’ own 40 days in the desert are a time of trial and testing in much the same way that God’s people experienced their own 40-day periods of trial and testing. The difference is that Jesus in his humanity overcomes his time of trial and testing much differently than God’s people were able to overcome their trial and testing. God uses the 40-day period of trial and testing with Noah and his family taking shelter in the Ark while the rains fell for 40 days and nights. After the waters recede, new life sprang up upon the earth. Moses stayed on Mount Sinai 40 days while receiving the Ten Commandments. During that time, the people of Israel could not resist temptation and doubted God through their behavior. They would repent through the trials and testing of the desert for 40 years. After that period of trial and testing, they entered the Promised Land. 

Jesus’ overcoming the temptations in the desert reveals his divinity through his humanity. It is God who goes through his 40-day period of trial and testing for all of humanity. After 40 days of fasting and prayer in the desert, the devil thinks Jesus in his humanity is now weak enough to tempt and presents three specific temptations.

First, turning stones into bread to satisfy his hunger: “If you are the Son of God command that these stones become loaves of bread.” (Matt. 4:1-11) The Devil was telling Jesus that his human desires can be satisfied by just doing what feels good. He then takes him to Jerusalem and brings him to the parapet of the Temple saying, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you.” (Matt.  4:1-11) The Devil was tempting Jesus in his humanity to test God by being disobedient to the Father’s will for the Son. The Devil’s final temptation was to take Jesus to a high mountain and show him the kingdoms of the world saying, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” (Matt. 4:1-11) Jesus’ response tells us all we need to know about his humanity and divinity: “Get away Satan! It is written: The Lord your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.” (Matt. 4:1-11) 

Unlike Adam and Eve in the First Reading from Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7, who could not resist temptation in the garden or the Israelites who could not resist temptation at the foot of Mount Sinai or the many others who came before Jesus, he not only resisted the temptation in the desert, but he would resist countless temptations throughout his public ministry. None greater than the night before he died. At the Last Supper as Jesus gives us the true bread from heaven in the Eucharist, Judas falls to temptation and decides only earthy bread can satisfy. (Matt. 26:14-27) In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus again resists temptation by saying, “Father not as I will but as you will.” (Matt. 26:36-46) As Adam and Eve were disobedient to God in the Garden of Eden, Jesus was obedient to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus does not test the Father, he accepts the Father’s will. Finally, on the cross people reviled Jesus by saying, “If you are the Son of God save yourself by coming down from the cross.” (Matt. 27:35-44) Jesus in his humanity reveals his divinity by fulfilling the Father’s will and the Father’s will is to save humanity.

These 40 days of Lent remind us of the boundless love and mercy of God and so we have the courage and confidence to cry out to God by uttering the words of the Psalm:  “Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offenses.” (Ps. 51:3-4). There is a joyful message that is given to us in this penitential season: “For if by the transgression of the one, the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one-man Jesus Christ overflow for the many.” (Rom. 5:12-19) Lent means for us all, new life!