Sunday Sermon: Man is in constant need of sorting out the confusing experiences of his life

The liturgy of the first Sunday of Lent is based on the following readings: Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7; Psalm 51; Romans 5:12, 17-19; Matthew 4:1-11. The main theme of this liturgy deals with the mysterious distortion of man’s life due to his abuse of freedom and decision making. This is the major realities of our daily lives; a problem which is as old as man himself. Soon after man had set his feet on mother earth, he experienced the evil’s deception. Due to his lack of experience, he made the most regrettable and disastrous decision. That is how the devil induced Adam and Eve to turn away from truth. From this time on, the devil learnt that man is ‘temptable’. Even left alone, man still experiences within himself the human effects of this original distortion. The liturgy of this season of Lent reminds us that the tempter is still around. We all feel his influence at one time or another. In our time, false ways are often presented to us as appealing, and man is quick to justify them under the banner of doing good. That is how at times the apparent benevolence may spur us into actions which are to the contrary. Without denying the presence of the tempter, Jesus teaches us through his word and example that the choice is always ours. In the last analysis, we are responsible of saying yes or no. St. Matthew narrates to us in the gospel a rather dramatic struggle of Jesus with the devil; in the midst of praying and fasting. The devil so daring approaches Jesus and proposes to him three possible actions. First, to change stones into bread because, as the Son of God, he has the power to do it. Why not do it and break the fast! Jesus did not buy the idea. The devil does not take ‘no’ for answer. Next, he urged Jesus to throw himself off the Temple pinnacle and the scripture would be fulfilled because it is written that angels would protect him. For the second time Jesus says no to the devil. Next, Jesus is promised the kingdoms of the world if he would worship the devil. Again it was a ‘no’ for the cunning devil. Although the devil continued to cite the Scripture, Jesus was not swayed because he had a mission to fulfil. Jesus teaches us an important lesson on our human nature. We learn that Jesus in the desert had a very clear vision of what he was doing, the purpose of his stay in the desert was very clear to him, and all this was part of his mission which was very well defined. We learn from Jesus’ human nature experience with the devil in the desert, that saying no to the devil is possible. But the condition is that we too should have that clarity of purpose and a clear vision of our mission, such that we can show the devil that his alternatives do not fit in the purpose of our mission. In addition to this, Jesus teaches us the strength of will that comes from the light of prayer and the discipline of fasting. Hence with our intellect which is enlightened by prayer and the discipline we get from fasting, we too can overcome temptations. The way Jesus dealt with the devil is an eye opener to a positive understanding of our human nature. Human nature as restored by baptism is fundamentally good and strong. It is capable of truly personal acts and, when respected and developed properly, it can bring us surely towards our highest aspirations. On the other hand, we must remain aware that our human nature has already suffered a distortion that has made it fragile and easily misguided. St Paul warns us that we do not always see clearly nor recognize clearly what we want. It is this that makes it difficult for us to develop the greatest potential of our nature; unless moved by God’s grace. Today, temptation sound a little archaic to younger generations. It is something we were told not to do by someone with a narrow and old set of standards. To such generations, calling something a temptation is to add to its charm the element of being forbidden by someone for no good reason. And that is exactly what happened to Adam an Eve. They had not experienced the insidious and deceiving nature of temptation until it was too late. Since then, the lesson was learnt: Good judgment comes from experience. And experience comes from poor judgment. Ends