13/03/2011 - 1ST. SUNDAY IN LENTEN SEASON - year A
1Reading Gen 2,7-9;3,1-7 Psalm 50 2Reading Rom 5,12-19 Gospel Mt 4,1-11
The Liturgy of Lent opens by reminding us of a very negative situation. Sin
is present in our lives, and is present because of our fault. Sin is being away
from God, in giving him our back: one can find oneself in it even without knowing
or wanting, but once one accept a sinful situation or want it, or when one lets
oneself be taken away by it, hence we fall in sin because of our fault. Today
we see what happens to Adam and Eve, in whom we see ourselves. We come into
the world as beloved and wanted creatures by God, but we are not able to be
faithful to his love and let ourselves be conditioned by what seems to be nice
and good to our eyes and to our senses. Therefore what God tells us passes away,
ends forgotton, and we find ourselves turning our backs to him. We walk a way
that takes us away from the Father, from him who loves us and wants us to share
in his love. The voice that brings forward our thoughts and sensations as more
true than the Word of God, is the voice of the serpent, a poisonous and decieving
voice. If our faith is not strongly anchored on God, who resists? How can we
be better than Adam and Eve?
During their walk in the desert, Moses needed to raise up a bronze serpent,
so that who ever looks at it with trust be healed from the mortal bites of the
serpent. Jesus himself read that scripture as a prophecy. He was lifted up on
the cross, from where is looked more "worm than a human being", to
draw all to him so that all can be saved. Jesus is the anchor of our faith,
is the one who can take us back to the Father. He is the one who can cancel
our sin, that sin that carries us away into sinful behavior, who in turn makes
us more weak and unable to journey towards the Father. Jesus is the savior!
Today's Gospel tells us how he overcame the power of sin that presented itself
to him in the voice of temptation. The tempter, to seduce him, used refined
arguments. He uses them not to draw him to the Father, but to ignore him or
to behave as if he said nothing. He used also the Word of God, not with love,
to use and abuse it to underline his argument. He used the prophetic promises
of God, that one about the unending reign destined to the Messiah, to bring
him to his adoration, jeleous of the power the obedient Son received from the
Father. Jesus won with humble obedience. He didnt give satan any credit to make
him even think of forgetting his Father's love.
Bread is needed daily, but life itself is a gift of God: waiting upon God is
a secured life! The Word of God is true, but is not to be tried: it would be
as if doubting God! Human kingdoms are a reality, but to reign on people is
a to be a loving service and not an excercise of power: this is of God. Jesus
didnt' want to appropriate the bread, nor the Word and not even power. These
can be temptations that brings down man to his enemy, satan. With humilty and
love Jesus kept hanging on to the Word of God, and therefore sin had no power
over him: he remains one with the Father as a loving and obedient Son.
Writing to the Romans, st. Paul, argues on this truth and says that the obedience
of Jesus is fundamental. Thanks to him we can be saved. One with Jesus, sinful
situation since Adam, a situation we have inherited and learned from generations
past, is overcome. One with Jesus the unfaithfulness of our fathers does not
conition us anymore. Look at children. When they are helped to look at Jesus,
even if they are brought up in a family without the fear of God and without
faith, enjoy of his peace and live with the ability to love and even to suffer
for the Lord. Jesus is the Savior! Let us live like the little ones who are
drawn by Jesus!