Homily for the First Sunday of Lent, March 6, 2022. Gospel of St. Luke 4:1-13. Theme: Solidarity with Jesus
The Temptation of Christ by Satan is a vitally important story because it teaches us two fundamental things. First, it conveys to us the stark reality of Jesus’ true humanity. And second, it reveals that temptations, no matter what they are specifically about, are all aimed at one thing: enticing us to question our relationship with God. Wavering over God's love is the first step towards choosing to sin because it causes us to doubt that he truly desires only what is best for us. This is why Jesus responds to each of the devil’s offers by reaffirming his commitment to the Father.
At first glance, the temptation story may seem a bit unreal, quite far removed from our experiences of temptation. I mean, the devil doesn’t appear to us and transport us from place to place as he did with Jesus. The temptations we experience are often not so clearly recognizable and the choices we face are not always so clear cut between good and bad. They are often between bad and worse or good and better and most of the time they bring us into gray areas, not the easy decisions in black and white. But no matter how they come to us, temptations always aim at one thing: to break us down and drag us away from our dignity as human beings and children of God the Father.
Temptation is something that every human being must wrestle with and so the Gospel writers want us to know that Jesus himself experienced these things. Christ did not merely pretend to be a man or simply put on humanity the way an actor might put on a costume for a role. Our Christian faith has always professed that when the Son of God came to planet Earth he took on our fallen human nature, and not the perfect humanity untouched by sin such as Adam and Eve originally possessed. He became a real, true, full 100% human being.
What this means is that Jesus not only came down from Heaven TO us, but he came down TO OUR LEVEL. And this means that he, too, had to deal with temptations concerning his relationship with God. You see, he could not have truly been our Savior otherwise. He could not have healed our spiritually wounded human nature from the inside out, unless he himself embraced it and lived it, and by doing so sanctified every aspect of it. Some people might think this is a very strange teaching but this solidarity of Jesus with us is at the very heart of our salvation.
Also important to our full understanding of Jesus’ solidarity with us is the other side of the coin, so to speak, about Jesus. What I mean is his divinity. The Christian Faith has also always taught that Christ’s humanity was in no way changed, enhanced or supercharged by his divinity. In other words, being the Son of God did not make life, including facing temptation, any easier for Jesus. He refused to be a kind of superhero with awesome powers to be used for himself and his needs. This is why he refused to turn stones into bread. It’s why he refused to perform supernatural feats to prove his greatness. He refused to do these things because we can’t do them either. In his great love for us and in deep humility, God the Son freely gave up the use of his divine powers in order to live in total solidarity with us.
We have a word for this kind of solidarity. It’s called empathy. It’s the ability to enter into and experience the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another. Empathy means being able to help bear the struggles of another person and to share meaningfully in their hardship, in their situation. Empathy creates a bond between persons, allowing the one who is suffering, who is struggling, to see that he or she is not alone. That there is someone who truly understands and cares. Jesus extends this kind of empathy to each one of us.
And he goes even further in his empathy because he promised that his solidarity with us would continue and even deepen after his Resurrection. Now that he is risen and glorified, he is able to actually enter into our hearts, into our very lives and remain with us, if we invite him. He said that he would come to dwell within those who love him and obey his Word. He declared that he would abide and remain in those who eat his Flesh and drink his Blood in the Eucharist.
The Risen Lord Jesus is now not only with us but more-so, actually dwelling within us, as we face our own personal temptations. He can lead us victoriously out of them if we so desire. But for this to happen, we must choose to intentionally live in solidarity with him, just as he intentionally chose to live in solidarity with us. This means we must nourish ourselves with the Word of God as our daily bread. We must feed on the Sacrament of the Eucharist which is his holy and life-giving Body and Blood. In this way we deepen our solidarity with Jesus which will bring us power in our powerlessness. Solidarity with Jesus in his battle against Satan and temptation means that we can indeed become healed of sin and selfishness from the inside out through this indwelling Presence of our Lord, Savior and Brother.
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