Message of Abbot Paul - Sunday 26th February 2023
Abbot Paul • February 25, 2023
The First Sunday in Lent is characterised by the reading of the Gospel of the Temptations. This year we read Matthew’s version, (Mt 4: 1-11). Here is the text:
“Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, after which he was very hungry, and the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to turn into loaves.’ But he replied, ‘Scripture says:
Man does not live on bread alone
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’
The devil then took him to the holy city and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are the Son of God’ he said ‘throw yourself down; for scripture says:
He will put you in his angels’ charge,
and they will support you on their hands
In case you hurt your foot against a stone.’
Jesus said to him, ‘Scripture also says:
You must not put the Lord your God to the test.’
Next, taking him to a very high mountain, the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. ‘I will give you all these’ he said, ‘if you fall at my feet and worship me.’ Then Jesus replied, ‘Be off, Satan! For scripture says:
You must worship the Lord your God,
and serve him alone.’
Then the devil left him, and angels appeared and looked after him.”
It’s important to remember that it’s the Holy Spirit who leads Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and that temptation doesn’t come from within Jesus, but from outside him, from the devil. The tempter waits forty days and forty nights, until Jesus is at his weakest, before attacking him. Jesus is hungry, so the first temptation is to transform stones into loaves of bread. In time, Jesus will change water into wine and wine into his own precious blood; he will change bread into his own body in the Eucharist. Jesus does not give in to temptation, which would be going against God’s will and his plan of salvation. Jesus’ mission is to do the Father’s will and teach his disciples to do the same. Adam and Eve disobeyed: Jesus obeys. With the power of God’s word, he rebuffs the devil, but the devil goes one stage further. From the parapet of the Temple in Jerusalem, he invites Jesus to throw himself off, to show that he has power over the angels who would save him from certain death. Again, with a word of Scripture he warns the devil not to put God to the test.
The third and final temptation, very apt for the present moment when we see Putin wanting to create a Russian Empire and the world divided and at a loss as to how to stop him without causing a worldwide catastrophe, sees the devil tempting Jesus with becoming ruler, emperor of the whole world, “I will give you all these, if you fall at my feet and worship me.” Jesus rebukes the devil and sends him packing, “You must worship the Lord your God and serve him alone.” Who do Putin and those who support him serve? The answer is clear. We pray for their conversion and forgiveness. Lent has only just begun. There is still time.
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