Saturday, March 5, 2011

First Sunday of Lent +++ March 13, 2011

Gospel                                                     Matthew 4: 1-11

At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert
to be tempted by the devil.
He fasted for forty days and forty nights,
and afterwards he was hungry.
The tempter approached and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
command that these stones become loaves of bread.”
He said in reply,
“It is written:
One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God.”
Then the devil took him to the holy city,
and made him stand on the parapet of the temple,
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.
For it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you
and with their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.
Jesus answered him,
“Again it is written,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain,
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence,
and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you,
if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”
At this, Jesus said to him,
“Get away, Satan!
It is written:
The Lord, your God, shall you worship
and him alone shall you serve.
Then the devil left him and, behold,
angels came and ministered to him.

1 Comments:

At March 15, 2011 at 7:41 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Last week there was a news item about a 17 year old young man on a HS outing who jumped from the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge which he supposedly did on a dare from his classmate "friends." He miraculously survived. What was he thinking? What was his moral yardstick at that instant? The news reports said: He was bipolar; He did it for kicks. His shocked rescuer was quoted as saying to the young man: 'God gave you life and you're playing with it like it's nothing.' Counselors were available for all. The jumper is subject to a $10,000 fine and maybe jail time for trespassing. End of news item.

Is there a parallel to the temptation of Christ? Only if you are a parent. The rescuer was a parent. Think of the jumper’s parents. Think of his classmates’ parents. Some of the teachers, school administrators, police, and medical personal were undoubtedly parents. It is incomprehensible.

Now think of God the Father as a parent whose Son performed as Jesus did. How proud he must be.
(If he were human he would also be relieved.)

 

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