The Spirit, the Desert, and Temptation: Homily for the First Sunday of Lent Year C

Jesus “was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days,
to be tempted by the devil.”
Each year on the first Sunday of Lent
we enter into this significant moment at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.
He has just emerged from his baptism in the Jordan river
only to be sent into the testing ground of the desert.
As we accompany him into the wilderness,
Jesus shows us how to live a life of Gospel conversion,
how to begin anew.
Today, as we begin the first full week of the Lenten season,
let us begin by asking ourselves
whether we are willing to embrace the grace-filled opportunity before us.
Are we prepared to be led into the desert with Jesus,
ready to wrestle with our temptations?
Or are we fearful of change,
preferring to let this season pass us by
while remaining comfortably stuck where we are?

Entering fully into Lent means leaving our comfort zone
and accepting the struggle of the wilderness.
Let us look at Jesus.
First, he was led by the Spirit;
then he enters into the desert;
and finally he faces temptation.
The Spirit, the desert, and temptation.
These three words characterize the Lenten experience.

It all begins with the Spirit.
The Gospel passage begins by saying Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit,
that he returns from the Jordan
and is led by that same Spirit that had descended upon him
in the form of a dove.
After his baptism, Jesus places himself under the direction of the Spirit.
The Father has just told him,
“You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.”
Why is he pleased with him?
Because, among other things,
Jesus is a son who listens to his Father’s voice.
Jesus does not go his own way.
He is a faithful son who trusts in the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Lent is the season for us to place ourselves
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit cares for us, knows what’s best for us;
the Spirit loves us.
But how often do we neglect the voice of the Spirit,
or follow the voice of our own ego instead,
or let the Spirit’s voice be drowned out
by the competing voices of all the distractions in our lives?
Jesus set his own interests aside,
put his faith in the Father,
and listened to the voice of the Spirit.
What do we need to do today to allow the Spirit of the Lord to guide us?

This Lenten season is the time to examine the voices we listen to—
the lyrics of our music, the visuals of our TV shows and movies,
the biases of the news sources and websites we frequent—
and to turn our attention to the Spirit that always seeks our own good,
that leads us to fullness of life.
What do those other voices seek?
“Buy this; buy that.”
“Condemn this group or that group, this person or that person.”
Obeying the voices of our consumer culture
leads us into envy, self-centeredness, and isolation,
resulting in a perpetual state of fear, unease, and anxiety.
The voice of the world leads to the tomb.
But the voice of the Holy Spirit
leads us into generosity, fellowship, and community,
resulting in peace, in shalom, in harmony.
The voice of the Spirit leads to the empty tomb, to resurrection.

But to get there, the Spirit first leads us into the desert.

And what is the desert?
It is a place apart,
a barren wilderness away from the false world we have created
to hide from ourselves.
The desert is the place of truth,
where all illusions are stripped away
and where we are confronted with our ego,
with our own sins and failings;
where false desires are revealed.
The desert is a place of potential chaos and danger,
but it is also the place of solitude and focus,
of meditation and contemplation.

This Lenten season is the time to let the Spirit lead us to a place apart.
The Gospel tells us
that, instead of plunging headlong into ministry after his baptism,
Jesus was led into the desert for forty days, where he ate nothing.

During Lent we are led into a desert of fasting and focus,
leaving behind those things that we think we need to be comfortable.
Let us ask ourselves honestly this Lent:
What can I leave behind for these forty days
so that I can focus more intently on what really matters?
Entering into Lent means going where Jesus went,
into the desert, into the wilderness.
It means following in his footsteps,
discovering that there are things in our current way of life
that we can leave behind and do without.
It is a challenging and maybe even fearful exercise,
this leaving of things behind.
We can become so addicted to certain patterns of living
that we can’t imagine life in any other way.
So often our habits can put us in a rut.
This Lent let us be creative and embrace new ways of living.

Lent is characterized by the Spirit, by the desert, and finally, by temptation.
Following the Spirit into the desert is not without its challenges.
On the contrary, whenever we seek to follow Jesus,
we are confronted with temptations to return to our former way of life.
And this is true no matter how long we have been a disciple.
We have doubts, we have fears,
we’re surrounded by contrasting messages,
and all of these make us vulnerable to temptation.
These temptations come in many forms:
physical and emotional comfort;
power, prestige, and success;
daring God to prove his love.
But these are false promises,
powerful illusions that seek to separate us from our true home.
And in the end they have eternal consequences.
Jesus sees right through the devil’s temptations
and dispels them with what is written in Sacred Scripture:
“One does not live on bread alone.”
“You shall worship God alone.”
“You shall not put God to the test.”

Lent is a time for us to return over and over to the Word of God
to confront the temptations that try to rule our lives.
In the first reading, Moses tells God’s chosen people,
“He brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand and outstretched arm,
with terrifying power, with signs and wonders.”
He reminds God’s people that God took care of them,
that his mighty power saved them from their oppressors.
That message is for us, too!
We need to hear, over and over again,
that God loves us, cares for us, and saves us.
This is the message of God’s sacred Word,
and the more we hear it,
and the more it becomes part of our very fabric of being,
the more we are able to dispel the temptations that haunt us.
How can we do that?
How can we make Sacred Scripture a more integral part of our lives
during the next forty days and beyond?
By whatever means necessary.
By carrying a little pocket edition of the New Testament with you
throughout the day and reading a little bit from it every so often.
Or by finding that Bible app that you installed on your phone
the last time you made a resolution to read Scripture.
Or easier yet, by going to the US Catholic Bishop’s website
and subscribing to the Daily Mass Readings.
They will be delivered to your email inbox every single day.
Temptations are powerful.
We need the strength of Scripture to help us resist them.

Today’s gospel is a powerful lesson for us.
Lent is a time to listen to the voice of the Spirit
as it leads us into the desert where we confront our temptations.
It is a process of tuning out the competing voices,
of fasting from destructive patterns of living,
and of confronting the darkness of temptation with the light God’s word.
May we journey through this Lenten season with resolve.
Let us not miss out on this grace-filled opportunity
to turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.

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