The New Lent
1st Sunday of Lent - February
17, 2013
Alleluia,
alleluia.
A reading
from the holy Gospel according to Luke
Glory to you, Lord.
Then
the Devil took Jesus up to a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the
world, and then said to Jesus, “I will give you all this power and glory, for
it was given to me, and I can give it to whomever I wish. All this will be
yours, if you kneel down before me.” Jesus said to him in reply, “It is written,
`You shall worship the Lord, your God, and Him alone shall you serve.’” (Dt. 6:13)
Then the Devil
led Jesus to Jerusalem, set Him on the parapet of the Temple, and said to Him,
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from this height, for it is
written, `God will order his angels to take care of you’ and `They will hold
you up so that you do not dash your foot against a stone.’” (Ps.
91, 11 f.) In reply Jesus said to the Devil,
“It is also written, `You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’” (Dt. 6:16)
When the Devil
had exhausted every kind of temptation, he departed to wait for a more
opportune time.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord
Jesus Christ.
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Introduction
Lent: the
Church’s yearly invitation
This
past Wednesday, February 13, we liturgically left Ordinary Time and entered the
Extraordinary Time of Lent. The liturgical color green for Ordinary Time is now
exchanged for purple -- the centuries-old liturgical color for repentance and
penance. In honor of the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert praying and fasting,
the Council of Laodicea in 360 prescribed a penitential season of 40 days in
preparation for Easter. Lent is the Church’s yearly invitation to us to undergo
a desert experience, and to take stock of our spiritual lives in preparation
for Easter.
The three
temptations of Jesus
Jesus’ 40 day ordeal in the desert is related
in all three synoptic gospels (Mt. 4:1-11; Mk. 1:12-13; Lk. 4:1-13)[2], and it
is always recounted on the first Sunday of Lent in all three liturgical cycles.
Mark's account is
typically very brief. It simply says that Jesus was tempted for 40 days in the
desert; no mention is made that He fasted and got hungry, or that He was
tempted three times. On the other hand, Matthew and Luke’s accounts (written
later) are filled in with accretions that normally build up around an event, as
it is told and retold before being written down. Matthew and Luke relate that
Jesus was tempted by the Devil three times, and each time He rejects the
Devil’s temptation by quoting Deuteronomy.
The
1st temptation: the fast-fix?
In
the first temptation Jesus, who is very hungry after fasting 40 days, is
tempted by the Devil to change a stone,
lying nearby on the desert ground, into bread. The other alternative is for
Jesus to hike 20 miles to the nearest town for bread. Jesus responds to the Devil by quoting Deuteronomy:
"It is written, 'Man doesn't live on bread alone.’” (Lk. 4:4; Dt. 8:3) A stone turned presto into bread to satisfy a man’s hunger! Is the
first temptation of Jesus about man’s yen for the fast-fix?
The 2nd
temptation: power and wealth?
When
the Devil’s first tempting of Jesus fails, he takes Him to a high mountain,
shows Him all the kingdoms of the world, and promises to give it all to Jesus,
if He would only fall down and worship him. Jesus again quotes Deuteronomy to
the Devil: “It is written, `Worship the Lord your God and serve only Him!’”
(Lk. 4:8; Dt. 6:13)) Is the
second temptation of Jesus about man’s yen for power and wealth?
The
3rd temptation: the spectacular?
When the second tempting of Jesus fails,
the Devil takes Him to a very high peak of the Temple and challenges Him to
prove He’s the Son of God by bungee-jumping from that high peak and counting on
God’s angels to snatch Him up before dashing his feet on the rocks below. Jesus responds to the Devil by again quoting Deuteronomy:”It
is written, ‘You must not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Lk. 4: 12; Dt. 6:16)
Is the third temptation of Jesus about man’s yen for the spectacular?
Scripture’s account of the three
temptations of Jesus is mystical, and there are as many interpretations of them
as there are mystics and preachers. In Brothers
Karamazov by Dostoyevsky, the Grand Inquisitor asks Christ, “Dost thou
think that all the combined wisdom of the world could have invented anything in
depth and force equal to the three temptations put to thee by the wise and
mighty Spirit in the desert?”
The God
of the new Lent
A
good number of us still remember Lent before Vatican II. The God of the old Lent was one who had gone into
a deep pout because of our sins, and He needed to be appeased with 40 days of
glum and gloom. The God of the new
Lent is spelled out in a new way: He is
the God of the prophet Joel who in the first reading at Mass on Ash Wednesday
is described as one “who is rich in mercy, swift with forgiveness and slow with
retribution.” (Joel 2:13)
The fast
of the new Lent
The fast of the old Lent concentrated on
food: only one full meal a day was allowed, and all Fridays throughout the year
were days of strict abstinence from meat. The fast of the new Lent is also spelled
out in a new way; Vatican II greatly toned down the Lenten fast in terms of
food. Now there are only two obligatory days of fasting from food: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday,
and only the
Fridays of Lent are strict days of abstinence from meat. The new Lent concentrates
on a fast imposed on us by life itself. That’s the spirit of the first reading
at Mass on the Friday after Ash Wednesday.
This is the kind of
fasting I, the Lord, want from you: release those bound unjustly, untie the
yoke of injustice and set free the oppressed. Share your food with the hungry,
open your home to the homeless, clothe the naked, and do not turn your back on
your own. (Is 58: 6-7)
A preface for the
new Lent
Some of us older
citizens remember how we used to impose little Lenten penances on ourselves,
like not eating candy or not going to movies during the 40 days of Lent. A
preface for the new Lent spells out the Lenten penance much more profoundly:
Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and
everywhere to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. Each year you give
us this joyful season when we prepare to celebrate the Paschal Mystery with
mind and heart renewed.
You give us a spirit of loving reverence for you, our Father, and of willing service to our neighbor.
As we recall the great events that gave us new life in Christ, you bring the
image of your Son to perfection within us.
Conclusion
The New Lent
Since Vatican II the new Lent is
actually called a “joyful season.” The new Lent doesn’t rehabilitate God who
has gone into a deep pout because of our sins, and who needs to be appeased
with 40 days of glum and gloom The new Lent is for rehabilitating ourselves by
bringing “the image of your Son to perfection within us.” The new Lent does not
say “carnevale” – (“goodbye to meat”) or goodbye to movies and candy. Rather it
says hello to “willing service to our neighbor.”
