Today’s readings: Genesis 2, 7-9; 3, 1-7; Romans 5, 12-19; Matthew 4, 1-11.
Post-modernity has seriously questioned the validity of grand narratives, such as the one of the Garden of Eden in today’s first reading, as narratives are still able to explain to us the basic truths about our DNA. Yet, however digital and technological we become, the truths conveyed to us by that narrative remain loud and clear.
These are the truths uncovered to us as we enter the liturgical season meant precisely to make us face our true selves and the reality of a loving God in our lives. Having been created out of God’s love, we continue to be constantly lured in life by the idea of autonomously manufacturing our own brand of happiness. With all the freedom and dignity we may enjoy, we will always need redemption and healing.
The soul of the world is in turmoil enslaved by modern-day idols which, paradoxically, are simply variations of the same old and classic temptations alluring Jesus in the gospels when faced by the weight of his mission. Jesus is basically tempted to run away from life and to shun any responsibility.
As we recall from the book of Genesis today, God breathed the breath of life in creation that we may live and not just vegetate. We cannot live on bread alone; we cannot constantly take God to task and put him to the test. There will always be the temptation on our side to substitute ourselves for God, engaging in a futile worship of self.
This has always been a major temptation in life. The scriptures, introducing us to Lent, show how this temptation distorts our very nature as humans and blocks any possibility whatsoever on our part to fully realise ourselves. This will be the recurring theme throughout this season till Easter. The awareness in depth of who we really are and the good news of the Easter victory remain the two poles of our earthly existence. We continue to oscillate between who we are and who we are created to be. Lent is meant to bring us to our senses and make us realise how easy it is for us to distort the order of things and lose sight of the path to growth.
Our real spiritual combat is precisely the struggle to keep moving towards the light when the darkness is engulfing. The world as it is, the world out there as well as the smaller worlds within us, hungers for forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing. Lent makes us relive the same journey Christ went through on earth, leading to his death and resurrection and making us believe that our own victory on evil and suffering is in no way a far-fetched head in air remedy.
God’s grace can change things because, as Paul writes today in the second reading from Romans, “the gift itself considerably out-weighs the fall”. Today’s account of the Lord’s temptations manifest this power of grace in contrast to the world’s seductive control over us. There is nothing negative or pessimistic or fundamentalist in acknowledging that the world is seductive in our regards. It is one of the basic truths calling on us constantly to make choices between promises of instant solutions and learning to wait actively in life.
Facing the devil in the wilderness, Jesus warns never to undertake the journey without a map. As Alister McGrath writes in his book The Journey, at its heart a map is the distillation of the experience of those who have journeyed in the past. To undertake our journey with a map is to benefit from the hard-won knowledge of those who have explored the unknown and braved danger in order to serve those who will follow in their footsteps.
We need not re-invent the wheel where the dynamics of our nature is concerned. We need not relive the drama of Eden lured by dreams to dominate our own selves or others and to manage life according to our instant whims. We actually would be much better off to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and resist falling prey to quick fixes in life. Lent posits us in the wilderness, the standpoint from where honestly we can engage with our own self, acknowledge our predicaments, and trust the only God who saves.