First Sunday of Lent

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”  (Matt 4:1)

  On this first Sunday of Lent we consider the temptation of Jesus.  Immediately after His baptism two things occurred.  The Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove and He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted.

  By His baptism Jesus sanctified the waters of baptism.  Even though He was sinless He was baptized as an example to show us what is needed.  Baptism washes away all sin, including original sin.  At baptism the Holy Spirit descends upon us just as He did on Jesus.  In other words we get a fresh start; a chance to begin living our life by God’s word rather than the world’s.  If only for a few seconds we are without sin.  Sadly we very quickly resume our sinful ways.  Lent is an opportunity to renew our baptism vows, to seek forgiveness for our sins and once again try to amend our lives in accordance with God’s wishes.

  Holy Scripture tells us that Jesus was tempted by the devil for forty days in the wilderness.  What of His life after the forty days of temptation in the wilderness?  As a Man I suspect Jesus was tempted on a daily basis by Satan just as we are every day of our lives.  The difference is that He would never succumb to those temptations while we all too often do.

  Jesus was true God and true Man.  We state this as a matter of faith and truth.  I sometimes think we focus on the God Jesus and not so much upon the Man Jesus.  If we are to follow Him I believe we must relate to His humanity as well as His divinity.  The humanity of Jesus is where we get our example of how to live our life.  We cannot and should not try to live as God; we are merely creatures.  But we can and must look to the humanity of Jesus as our example of how to live our mortal lives.

  As we progress on our journey through Lent, let’s look to Jesus the Man as the example we need to strive to emulate, confident in His help and blessings in our efforts.