LENT I [A] Gen 2:7-9, 3:1-7; Rom 5:12-19; Mt 4:1-11

A lark flying safely high in the air, observed a small object moving slowly along the path in a garden below. Out of curiosity it descended to take a closer look. He discovered it was a small wagon with a cat pulling it and chanting all the time, "Fresh worms for sale. Fresh worms for sale!" Interested, the lark alighted on the path -but at a safe distance. He asked what the worms were selling for. "Three nice worms for one feather from your wing." said the cat. The lark thought that was a bargain and pulled a feather from his wing and enjoyed the delicious worms. Then he took off and soared again but the thought of those juicy worms brought him down to the wagon again. This time he bought twice as many, and bartered away two more feathers. The same thing happened several more times. But the pussycat was watching closely. Robbed of wing power, the lark was not able to get away when the cat sprang at him… and thus met his death in the garden where temptation had proved too strong for him. 

Today’s readings give us the notion that testing comes to us by an agency apart from and in opposition to God.  But the truth is that, while testing comes from the outside, temptation comes from within ourselves.  However, the good news is that, though we are tempted and often succumb, God’s grace provides the way of salvation for us.

The first reading from the book of Genesis (Gen 2:7-9, 3:1-7) describes the “Original Temptation" – "You will be like gods, knowing what is good and what is evil."  This is the story of the first sin, symbolized by the eating of the forbidden fruit. It tells us that Adam and Eve were given the possibility of making a choice. The fundamental choice was to live for God, dependent upon and obedient to His will, or to say no to God.

Paul reminds us of the social consequences of sin. Sin is never a private affair, affecting only myself. When we sin, all our relationships are affected: our relationship with our inner self, our relationships with our brothers and sisters, our relationship with our God and our relationship with nature and the world in which we live.

 Today’s Gospel (Matthew 4: 1-11) teaches us how the "desert experience" of fasting, praying, and soul-strengthening was a kind of spiritual “training camp” for Jesus which enabled him to confront his temptations successfully and then to preach the Good News of salvation. 

The first temptation has to do with Jesus’ own need for food.  The second temptation involves a wider circle in Jerusalem and the Temple.  Finally, the third temptation takes in the whole world.  Matthew saw the sequence of the three temptations as significant in that they moved to greater heights, from stones on ground level, to the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem, and finally to a mountain top from which all the kingdoms of the earth could be surveyed.  The progression was also greater intensity and scope, from personal food to power in Israel and then to rule of the whole world.

It was a temptation to do the right thing using the wrong means.  Jesus was being tempted to win the world by worshiping the devil.  Why not compromise a bit?  Why not strike a deal with the evil powers?  Spirit-filled, sanctified, spiritually vibrant Christians are still subject to the same temptation.  We need companionship, acceptance, the approval of others, love and appreciation.  We are tempted to fulfill these legitimate needs using the wrong means. But these temptations never could win him over as he was himself the Son of God.

As the Union Pacific Railroad was being constructed, an elaborate trestle bridge was built across a large canyon in the West. Wanting to test the bridge, the builder loaded a train with enough extra cars and equipment to double its normal payload. The train was then driven to the middle of the bridge, where it stayed an entire day. One worker asked, "Are you trying to break this bridge?" "No," the builder replied, "I'm trying to prove that the bridge won't break." In the same way, the temptations Jesus faced weren't designed to see if He would sin, but to prove that He couldn't.

A group of mountain hikers came across an old woodsman with an axe on his shoulder. "Where are you going?" they asked him.” “I’m headed up the mountain to get some wood to repair my cabin." "But why are you going up the mountain?" they asked incredulously. "There are plenty of trees all around us here." "I know," he said, "but I need strong timber and it grows only on the highest elevations, where the trees are tested and toughened by the weather around them. The higher up you go, the stronger the timber grows." And that is what God desires for us — that through the winds of trial and the storms of temptation we may grow strong and live on a higher level — strong to resist the devil's urging, strong to serve God, and strong as we stand together in Faith and service to one another. Our sinful nature has to be chastised, disciplined, and rightly ordered. The attainment of true joy comes, in a sinful world, at the cost of some suffering.

Temptation is a very real part of life: temptation to stray from the values we hold dear, temptation to take short cuts, to avoid struggle, to find the easy way through.

Harry Emerson Fosdick was one of the greatest American preachers of this century. He described his preaching as counseling on a large scale. Few people knew that as a young seminary student he reached the breaking point after working one summer in a New York Bowery mission. He went home and was overcome by deep depression. One day he stood in the bathroom with a straight razor to his throat. He thought about taking his own life. And then -- and then he heard his father in the other room calling his name, "Harry! Harry!" It called him back. He never forgot it. It was like the voice of God calling him.

So I want to remind you today that in those times when you are in the wilderness, trying to find your way through, and when temptation comes and offers you the wrong answer, the wrong choice -- the wrong use of power, the way to popularity, the wrong kind of partnership -- then you remember that God has called your name: "This is my beloved son, my beloved daughter, in whom I am well pleased." And, you remember that because God has called your name He will see you through.

During this lent let’s  set aside a place and time to be alone daily with God, a time to distance ourselves from the many noises that bombard our lives every day, a time to hear God’s word, a time to rediscover who we are before God and a time to say yes to God and no to Satan as Jesus did.  

Video Message from Bishop Robert Barren.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHzG3ocLaj4