First Lent

First Sunday of Lent

Today we celebrate first Sunday in Lent. These forty days of Lent invites us to explore ourselves in the presence of God and others. This season helps us to say, “Yes” to the love of God once again. Lent is not all about fasting; it is also about feasting and celebrating our oneness with God Our Father in Jesus Christ.

Today’s gospel deals with three different temptations of our Lord Jesus Christ namely to go against God, against others and against oneself.

1. The first temptation:

It is about going against God and His Love and Kindness

Once a king called all his wise men and asked, “What should I do to a person who kicked me, slapped me and even spat on my face?”

The people who heard from the king were so furious and angry. They all came up with something against the person. The first one said, “Your Majesty, “ You should immediately execute the person”. The other said, “You should behead him”. Every one went on and on. Then finally a wise man said, “your majesty, you should kiss the feet that kicked you, you should kiss the hand that slapped you and you should adore that person who spat on you”. When people heard, they were all shocked and the king looked at him and asked, “Why do you say this?” The wise man then said, “no one has the authority or power to go against you except your little son who loves you so much”.

And the purpose of the coming of Christ is to say that God is our Father and though we go away from God, He never stops loving us. We should know that He loves us unconditionally and is with us twenty-four seven.

But when we focus on physical things as the tempter asks Jesus, then we begin to make stones into bread. We forget to live every word that comes from the mouth of God. Prayer helps us to recognize the tempter and say “no” to him and thus to get closer to our Father.

2. The second temptation:

Going against our neighbor and others

Once there was a beautiful island where all the feelings lived such as happiness, joy, sadness, love and so on. And one day they came to know that the island was going to sink, so all the feelings got out of the island except love. Love all love waited until the last moment. When love decided to get out, there was no help. Richness said, “I am so rich i

can not take you with me”. Beauty said, “I am so beautiful and I can not take your with me”. Sadness said, ‘I am so sad and I cannot take you with me” Then at last time came and took love to the dry land. Then love said to all, “only time is capable of understanding how valuable love is”. When we take time to be with others, we will come to know the value of love and kindness. When the tempter wanted to give Jesus authority and power over every thing and every one, Jesus said, “I am here to love and serve God. Yes, like Jesus we should serve God and others and we should take time to be with others and then we will come to know how precious god created humanity is. The Lenten observance of fasting or giving up certain thing helps us to serve God and humanity and say “no” to our tempter.

3. The third temptation:

Going against oneself

It is a story about an alcoholic. His wife threatened to leave him. His children were afraid of him. He lost all his best friends. He was then so depressed and helpless and he did not know how to stop drinking. Then one day, he met with his best friend who looked at him and said, ‘Friend, I understand you. I accept you. You do not need to change. I accept you the way you are”. When the man heard his friend’s words, he experienced a big chance in him. Yes, there… right there he changed. He became a new man.

When people go against money and material things, they forget God and the power of self. And thus they go against themselves trapped into the power of evil. Instead when we accept ourselves, we will change. Yes, we will change for the better.

Conclusion: The season of Lent invites us to say “No” to our temptations, evil and wrong doings and say, “yes” to the love of God and helping others and exploring ourselves more in His presence. Amen.