FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT

First Sunday in Lent. DEUT: 26: 4-10;: ROMANS 10:8-13; LUKE 4: 1-13
The Gospel reading for the first Sunday of Lent is always the story of the Temptation of Jesus. This story is included in the gospel not to show the human side of Jesus, rather to teach us how to handle temptations in our life. When the devil asked Jesus to turn a stone into bread he was not asking Jesus to perform some cheap circus trick. He was tempting Jesus to break his fast, to suggest that he could only be sustained by human food. That is why, quoting Deuteronomy, Jesus told the devil that man does not live by bread alone.
In each of these three temptations what the devil is saying to Jesus is, "Come on, use what you have, to get what you want." And in each case Jesus overcomes the temptation by replying, "No, we can only use godly means to satisfy our God-given needs or to pursue our goals in life."
Note that people are tempted only with what they need or want. After his fasting Jesus needed to eat. So the devil tempted him with food. It is not a sin for Jesus to eat after fasting. The sin may lie in how the food is obtained. Should he follow the normal way of obtaining bread or should he take the shortcut suggested by the devil to obtain instant bread? Jesus refuses to take the devil's shortcut. The means we employ to satisfy our needs must be in accordance with the word of God. Feeding on God's word is ultimately more important than feeding on bread.
The Holy Spirit, Who brought Jesus safely through the temptation and empowered him for his ministry, would later fill the disciples and empower the church (Acts 2:4). However, the temptation story ends with the ominous statement that the devil departed from him until a more opportune time. That “time” came at the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth. It came again whenever people demanded signs from him to prove who he was (Luke: 11:16, 29-32; 22:3, 54-62; 23:35-39). The same temptation challenging “if you are the Son of God” came on the cross again when he was weak , this time not directly by the Satan but through the chief priests “ If you are the son of God, come down from the cross and we will believe”. Here again Jesus kicked the Satan in the butt, he refused to come down to prove his divinity.
Temptation is real. It is all over. Every day we are bombarded with temptations. However, very seldom we are aware of them. Jesus discovered it when he was in the Desert. The Desert is a place of silence and solitude. When Jesus stood before God in silence, he discovered the different pushes and pulls that had the potentials to distract him from his mission.
First of all, to discover and deal with our temptations, we need a desert; a place of silence and time for silence. Since we are distracted with too many things, very often, we become aware of our temptations only when we become a victim of it. Try to find time and place for prayer and personal reflections during this lent. In His light we see our true self. In the prayer our Father, Jesus taught us to pray to lead us out of temptation. But sometimes the flesh over takes the spirit because our prayer is not sincere and not from the heart.

A little boy named Bobby desperately wanted a new bicycle. His plan was to save his nickels, dimes and quarters until he finally had enough to buy a new 10-speed. Each night he asked God to help him save his money. Kneeling beside his bed, he prayed, "Dear Lord, please help me save my money for a new bike, and please, don't let the ice cream man come down the street again tomorrow."

Some times even though we know we are in real temptation we try to circumvent even the clear indications that we need to pass this by.
Jim Grant in Reader's Digest told about someone who faced temptation. An overweight businessman decided it was time to shed some excess pounds. He took his new diet seriously, even changing his driving route to avoid his favorite bakery. One morning, however, he showed up at work with a gigantic coffee cake. Everyone in the office scolded him, but his smile remained nonetheless. "This is a special coffee cake," he explained. "I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning and there in the window was a host of goodies. I felt it was no accident, so I prayed, 'Lord, if you want me to have one of those delicious coffee cakes, let there be a parking spot open right in front.' And sure enough, the eighth time around the block, there it was!"

An ancient rabbi said, “Sin begins as a spider’s web and becomes a ship’s rope.” You and I add those strands that change the spider’s web into a rope; but because we add just one strand at a time, and because each one is usually so small, we don’t realize what we’re constructing. Sometimes, on the other hand, the growth seems to happen almost of its own accord. It is as if we planted a seed in the soil of the soul by some small act of sin and, without our seeming to attend it or care for it, it develops into a full-grown tree. Sometimes, verily a forest! Jesus survived the temptations by using the Scripture. Each time he was tempted with other priorities, the Word of God reminded him of God’s plan for him. The best way to recognize, resist and overcome temptation is to turn to the Scripture, Teachings of the Church and its Sacred Traditions.
Temptations make us true warriors of God by strengthening our minds and hearts. We are never tempted beyond our power. In his first letter, St. John assures us: "Greater is He who is in us, than the power of the world". Hence during Lent, let us confront our evil tendencies by prayer, by penance and by meditative reading of the Bible.
Sometimes we become angry with God when He fails to respond to tests we set up for Him. The test may be something like this: "If my husband is healed of cancer, then I'll know God loves me." "If my boy comes back safely from Iraq, I’ll know God is on my side." "If I get the job that I’ve been praying for, I’ll know that God cares about me." Jesus teaches us that the Spirit-filled life requires unconditional surrender to God's will. Until the end of our lives, we shall be tempted to act in a way that is contrary to God's will. What is consoling is that we have Jesus as our strength to somehow overcome such temptations. With practice and total trust in the Lord, we hope that we will eventually resist such temptations in life. Let’s try to examine and see Am I trying to live by "bread alone?"