Fr. John Ryan

 

First Sunday of Lent

25th February 2007

To trust or to test - the lines quoted by Satan in the temptation of Jesus are taken from a psalm that speaks of our trust in God. They are used by Satan to tempt Jesus; words of trust are transformed into words of testing. Satan uses scripture for his own devices.
Do we test God? When we approach the major questions of life and indeed death we can hover between trusting and testing. In faith we are called to trust in God and see in the person of Jesus the foundation of trust. In a technological, scientific based world we tend to be drawn into testing - searching for a proof, asking for guarantees. In a recent weekday Gospel reading we encountered the Pharisees asking for a sign and in one of his straight talking moments Jesus responded clearly to their request. He said that no sign would be given.
Jesus is the only sign - Satan tries to deflect from the significance of Jesus' life and ministry in order to undermine the mission of conversion and reconciliation that Jesus had taken on. By focusing on human needs Satan tempts and tests, trying to get Jesus to forget his divine mission. Placing our physical needs, power struggles and putting God to the test in primary place is contrary to the spiritual mission of Jesus and in his overcoming the temptations of Satan Jesus allows us to see that there are more fundamental needs that we have. We need the word of God, we need the love of God and putting our trust in God allows us to be ultimately free - free of those things which lock us into a world view that drains us of the great potential of humanity. We have the potential to develop a world in keeping with the intentions of the Creator -we have the ability to love, to care and to nourish and when we succumb to the temptations of the devil, the temptations of the 'godless' world we allow the world to slip further away from being the kingdom. The kingdom of God is present in Jesus Christ and manifests itself in all that is Christ-like and Christ-inspired.
Trusting in the Lord allows us the freedom to establish the Kingdom where all are equal - truly equal - and respected for who they are, sons and daughters of the Father in heaven and empowered by him as creatures made in his image and likeness. Trusting in God allows us to see the possibilities opened to us in love. It allows us to see that reconciliation at all levels is possible and that forgiveness is a true and genuine way of living as opposed to the claiming of the pound for flesh any time something goes wrong. Power, or at least the search for it and exercise of it for its own sake ends up stifling the human spirit, both of the powerful and the powerless. Jesus by refusing to give into the temptations of Satan shows us that true power is always at the service of God and his people - true power is service and true freedom is total self-giving, handing over to God our own lives, trusting in him so that we can be completely open to his people.