Today’s gospel is short and simple. Instead of elaborating on the Lord’s many temptations, Mark briefly tells us that Jesus went into the desert for forty days, fought off temptation and was administered to by angels. After John was arrested, Jesus returned to Galilee and proclaimed that the Kingdom of God is at hand, urging anyone who would listen, “Repent and believe in the gospel.” In this pithy sermon, just what is Jesus asking of us?
Simply put, he is asking us to reform our lives. Notice that he doesn’t present us with a litany of rules. He isn’t insisting that we retreat from the real world or adopt a monastic life style nor is he requiring a life of prayer, sacrifices and penances. He is asking for a total change of heart, but why?
Daily we hear bad news from local crime scenes to rampant shootings and some of us wonder why God allows such evil to happen. The truth is God does not inflict evil. The world is good because God created it, and God is Good. People are good because people are made in the likeness of God, who is Good. You and I are good because we are children of God. And yes, since God gave us free will, good people can choose to become evil people, but that is their choice. Even the most horrible person to ever live could still have a change of heart, thus, reject evil, repent and become a good person. Thank God, the world is a good place.
While we are all good, and the world we live in is good, the truth is we are all sinners. Even Pope Francis admits to being one and that should not surprise us. As we heard in the gospel, Jesus spent forty days in the desert, tempted by Satan. If Satan endeavored to tempt the Son of God, then why would he not spend time luring us into temptation? If we follow Jesus’ advice and repent, then we need to find ways to confront the many temptations that assault us daily.
However we visualize the evil one, be it as a serpent, as Satan, or the devil, it strives to lure us into thinking there is nothing dangerous about temptations. They come in all shapes and sizes from white lies to lurid websites on the Internet to multi-million dollar Ponzi schemes offered under the counter and many shades of gray in between. When we are tempted, we might rationalize, “What is wrong with a little sin?” On the surface, perhaps nothing, but as the ad for a certain potato chip used to go, “You can’t eat just one.”
Obviously Satan is successful at luring us to sin for there would be no need for the season of Lent if all Christians repented and believed in the gospel, thus were in a close and intimate relationship with God. As Christians, we share the common experience with Jesus of baptism and through this sacrament; we entered into a covenant with God who promises us everlasting life. As was the case with Jesus, our journey following baptism has been and will always be filled with temptations, too numerous to count, but unlike Jesus, our temptations have and will lead us astray at times. Unfortunately, baptism does not make us devil-proof.
Lent is our 40 day retreat to confront our sinfulness and come to grips with whatever separates us from God and one another. This is why Jesus urges us to repent.
Now, Jesus is not speaking of some vague repentance, like a simple apology. He has a specific plan for changing our hearts. The first step is to pray. He gave us an example by spending forty days in prayer. You might say, “How can I possibly find more time to pray?” That’s where the second step comes in: fasting. I don’t mean skipping meals. In pitching the Rice Bowl, for example, I have suggested each week eating a simple meal so that others can simply eat. In addition to eating more simply – consider fasting from other things: video games, chat rooms, indiscriminate television, the Internet, Facebook, needless shopping; anything else that consumes your time and energy, preventing you from deepening your relationship with God. The time you save from doing habitual things can be better spent in prayer, reading scripture, or meditating. Instead of email, try knee-mail. Knee mail is getting down on your knees and praying; that is the first step toward changing our hearts.
Prayer and fasting lead to the third step: financial sacrifice. Let’s face it, as Americans, it is easy for us to turn money into an idol. Our financial sacrifices can make a positive change in our world. Giving helps both others and the giver. Giving is the most practical way we have of saying to God, “All that I am and all I have, I owe to you. It belongs to you, not me.” St. John Paul II once said, “If alms are lacking, our life does not yet converge fully towards God.”
Jesus knew first hand from experience how difficult our journey following baptism could be of honoring our covenant with God. He proclaimed to anyone who would listen, “The kingdom of God is at hand! Repent and believe in the gospel.” The kingdom of God is the absence of evil and the prescription for bringing that about is found in the gospel. We know full well that we will never get rid of temptations and sinbut for us to do our part in bringing about the kingdom of God, we must repent and turn from sinfulness. That is our lifelong mission. With the gospel, Jesus offers us the antidote for finding what truly matters in life, unlike Satan who will never take the blame for the consequences of our actions.