1st Sunday of Lent

Moses instructed the people to tell their story, “My father … went down to Egypt with a small household … But there he became a nation, great, strong, and numerous.” They were maltreated and oppressed. But God of their fathers with his powerful hand and outstretched arm, with signs and wonders brought them out into a country flowing with milk and honey: the promised land. (Forty days) He proved to be their true refuge and fortress able to deliver his people when they called upon him. As he promised in Psalm 91, “He shall call upon me and I will answer him; I will be with him in distress; I will deliver him and glorify him.”
 
We see the LORD GOD, the FATHER, providing divine protection, delivering his Son from lion, viper or dragon even Satan in his temptation. How did this happen? Through the power of the WORD/SCRPTURE. First, let’s look at St. Paul’s comment on the WORD OF GOD. “Brothers and sisters,…The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart - that is, the WORD of faith ….” For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
 
In the gospel Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned to Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days to be tempted. We must see these forty days of Lent as going to the desert with Jesus. Jesus was tempted 3 times by the devil, the enemy. 
First temptation: The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of GOD, command this stone to become bread.” Remember, at this point Jesus is hungry. That is a trick Satan uses; he comes to us when we are weak/vulnerable. Jesus rejected his command. Jesus fought back with the POWER OF THE WORD that St. Paul said is in our mouth and in our heart. Jesus must have uttered the word to the devil. He said, “It is written, “One does not live on bread alone.” Deuteronomy 8:3
 
Second temptation: Satan took Jesus up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and said to Jesus, “I shall give to you all this power and glory; for it has been handed over to me…” Is this true? No. Satan is lying here; he is trying to deceive Jesus but won’t succeed. Jesus replied again with the WORD OF GOD. “It is written: You shall worship the LORD, your God and him alone shall you serve.”
 
 
The third temptation: Satan made Jesus stand on the parapet of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written: He will command his angels concerning you to guard you…” Ps 91:11-12. We need to be very careful here because we see the devil also quoting the Bible. But Jesus is far smarter than him. He said in reply, “It also says, You shall not put the Lord, your GOD to the test.” Dt 6:16  We need to truly and deeply understand Scripture. If not Satan can twist it in order to use it to deceive us as he tried to do to Jesus here.
 
Some important lessons:
One must study and know the WORD, ponder and meditate on it in your heart and commit it to memory/remember it when you read and study it. When faced with temptation, do not forget the Word.  Remember the appropriate verse that you can employ to overcome such temptation, like Jesus did. We MUST imitate Jesus. We MUST learn to know the WORD and apply it to our lives. The Word of GOD is alive and active, able to protect and deliver us from every form of temptation.
 
Be ready to say it out when you are tempted by the evil one as Jesus demonstrated today. There is divine, supernatural power in the WORD of GOD. Hold on or cling (Ps 91:14) to it and you will not fall into temptation. During this holy season of LENT, let’s learn to reject evil, sin through the power of the WORD which is near us, in our mouth and in our heart. Like Jesus in the gospel of today, let’s practice, learn to resist, fight against evil, temptation with the strong hand and outstretched arm of GOD’S SAVING WORD.