FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

The Real Hunger Game

When was the last time you were really hungry? Not the I-think-it’s-time-to-eat hungry, but rather the weak-in-the-knees, shaky-hands kind of hungry? In today’s gospel, Jesus had been fasting in the desert for 40 days. Imagine for a minute how your body would feel after 40 days of fasting. Jesus must have been starving and hurting with pangs in his stomach. His whole body must have been weak and trembling.  Imagining Jesus being hungry after fasting in the desert helps us feel close to him, because we have all experienced something like these same physical cravings when we go without food. 

And this is when the devil comes to test Jesus three times. Knowing Jesus was hungry, the devil first tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread.  The devil tests Jesus by attempting to exploit Jesus’ humanity and associated bodily hunger. In rejecting this temptation, Jesus’ divinity is on full display. Famished though he was, Jesus tells the devil (and all of us) that one cannot live on bread alone. Jesus’ response reminds us we are dependent on God, and how through his love, we can overcome life’s challenges. 

But the devil is persistent. He next tempts Jesus with power and glory over the entire world.  Despite his body being weak from his fasting, Jesus’ response brings us back to God’s law to the Israelites in the desert, and how God demands we accept and serve Him as the one true God. 

Finally, the devil tests Jesus' faith in God. By asking Jesus to throw himself from the temple parapet so that God’s angels will come to rescue him, the devil directly challenges Jesus’ trust in God. How many times have we asked for a sign to show us that God is listening?  Jesus’ response is a lesson in faith, and a reminder that we are not to put God to the test. G.K. Chesterton put it this way: "The devil tempts us not to make us do wrong, but to make us think that God is not good enough." 

As we embark on our Lenten journey this First Sunday of Lent, the Church has given us the gift of this gospel reading. The miracle of Jesus’ divine incarnation, fully human and fully divine, is a beacon to us. Just like us, Jesus was hungry. Just like us, Jesus was tempted. But unlike us, Jesus was also fully divine and perfect in his relationship with God. The miracle here is Jesus demonstrating that if we trust God fully and faithfully, we, too, can overcome the temptations that flow from our own hunger.

—Paul Maloney

Send Us Forth are reflections written by St. Matthew parishioners and friends.