First Sunday of Lent 2025
Our Lord Jesus Christ was the Son of God. But He was, in human eyes, first the Son of Joseph and Mary, and since Joseph was a descendant of King David, their greatest king, Jesus was also called “Son of David.” That was important in Jewish eyes back in the first century, because the Messiah, who would make everything better, had to be of David’s line.
If we look carefully at the history of Israel, the southern kingdom of Judah, we’ll find out that their kings, all descendants of David, were 90% failures. Even Solomon was judged negatively, and he was David’s “special little boy,” son of Bathsheba. Why were the kings such disappointments? The book of Deuteronomy, Torah book 5, has a section of rules for the kings.
First, the king must be a kinsman, an Israelite, not a foreigner. For six years, about 841 years before Christ, Judah allowed the king’s widow, Athaliah, daughter of Jezebel, to rule. It took a palace coup to bring the real son of David back to rule. Second, he should not have a lot of property, or multiple wives. King Solomon really messed up in those commands—huge stables for horses, heaps of gold and silver, hundreds of wives and mistresses. And, finally, he was not to be estranged from his fellow Israelites, and pridefully think himself to be better than they. Solomon ignored that part of his brief as well and really angered most of the tribes of Israel. St. John, almost a thousand years later, warned all of us to pay no attention to the lust of the flesh, our sensual appetites, the lust of the eyes, our desire to be recognized as wonderful, and the pride of life.
Remembering this story of Solomon and his disregard for the law of kings brings us to Jesus in the wilderness, fasting for forty days and fighting the evil spirits there. What does St. Luke tell us about this epic battle with Satan? When the forty days were over, Jesus was hungry. Those who have fasted for long periods tell us that after the first couple of days, Jesus went into ketosis. He lived by burning fat tissue. But after a month of that, His body was burning protein, tearing up His muscle tissue to get energy. That is the hunger of a concentration camp survivor. It was literally historic hunger. So the temptation was bread from stones, and Jesus quoted Deuteronomy to the Devil, “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Defeated on the lust of the flesh, Satan moved on.
Taken to the highest point of history, Jesus is tempted to worship Satan, and be given total worldly authority, kingship over everything. No, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy again: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” Jesus would not be a Napoleon, Caesar Tiberius, or any other dictator. He only rules those who willfully, with love, acknowledge Him as their Lord. No dictatorial power for the Christ.
For his final trick, Satan brings Jesus to the highest point of the Temple, to dangle celebrity before His eyes. “You want people to love you first? Jump off this pinnacle asking the angels to prove the words of Psalm 91, ‘guarding you in all your ways.’ The people will love it and do whatever you want.” Now remember that a host of angels sang praise at the birth of Jesus, so it would make sense to expect them to bear Jesus up, lest he strike His foot against a stone. “No,” Jesus answered, again with the words of Deuteronomy, "It is written, `You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"
That last Scripture lesson from the psalms is so powerful a prayer that exorcists are encouraged to use it when praying during an exorcism. Jesus conquered the evil spirits in the desert with His intimate knowledge of the Word of God because He is the Word of God.
With the Gospel in mind, it may be easier to see why the Church quotes the Book of Deuteronomy and the history of salvation from the ancestor of the Jews, Israel, all the way down to the time families offered their gifts in the Temple. The speech, which it would be good for all of us to memorize, tells of a nation, Israel, great in number but sorely oppressed by the Egyptian Pharaoh. They were liberated from bondage by God, who subdued Pharaoh with multiple signs and wonders, like turning the river to blood, sending plagues of insects, and even taking the lives of the Egyptian firstborn. And, having brought them to eretz Israel, the land of promise, a land of plenty, God gave the fruits of the soil so that their descendants could offer a tithe in worship, and acknowledge that God is the source of every blessing.
St. Paul was doing something like that when he wrote to the church at Rome about their faith. Yes, all comes from God, but not just to a specific race or tribe. “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him. For, ‘every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.’” We are challenged this Lenten season to engage even more fervently in right worship and right behavior, loving God above all things and loving our neighbor—even our enemy—as we love ourselves. So that leads to three activities:
Fasting, which subdues the lust of the flesh.
Almsgiving, which controls the lust of the eyes for attractive objects.
Prayer, which ties it all together and subdues any tendency to pride. This is especially true for the prayer of thanksgiving, an acknowledgement to God that what we do and what we have is His gift, who is blessed forever and ever, Amen.
