Our first reading for this First Sunday of Lent, taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, is about liberation, or true freedom. Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, one of the great Christian spiritual masters of the twentieth century, observed that "neither rebellion nor flight makes us free, because freedom is first of all an inner situation with regard to God, to self and to the surrounding world."
Our Gospel reading is Luke's account of Jesus's forty days and nights in the desert. While in the desert, the Lord fasted, prayed and was tempted by the devil. It bears noting the obvious, which is that Jesus's forty days in the desert marked his recapitulation of Israel's forty year desert sojourn, which ended when they crossed the river Jordan. Their crossing of the Jordan was for the ancient Israelites a sort of baptism. It is also worth pointing out that Jesus underwent baptism in the waters of the Jordan prior to his retreat into the desert, thus reversing an important aspect of Israel's journey to the Promised Land. This is significant. Among the things his leaving the Promised Land through the Jordan might indicate is expansion of the Promised Land to include the whole world.
Jesus's time in the desert serves to illustrate Bloom's assertion that freedom is "an inner situation with regard to God, self and to the surrounding world." The Lord's desert retreat is also instructive as to how freedom is realized. One's inner situation changes, is converted, by sincerely practicing spiritual disciplines. The disciplines that change us are those taught by the Lord himself: prayer, fasting, and alms-giving.
I don't think it's stretching things too much to say that the three temptations to which Jesus was subjected correlate to these disciplines. The first temptation to which Jesus was subjected corresponds to the discipline of fasting. The devil urged the Lord to turn stones into bread in order to prove that he is the Son of God. Refusing, the Lord replies: "It is written, One does not live on bread alone." Where is that written? In the same book from which our first reading today is taken, specifically Deuteronomy 8:3.
Prayer is the discipline to which the next temptation corresponds. Showing Jesus all the world's kingdoms, the devil tells him he will make him ruler over them all if Jesus would but bow down and worship him. Noting that it is also written that one should worship only God and God alone, the Lord resists this temptation. In this case, too, Jesus quotes from the Book of Deuteronomy (6:13).
Get Behind Me, Satan!, by Ilya Respin, 1895
Finally, the devil takes Jesus up to the parapet of the temple and once again encourages him to prove something by throwing himself off it so that angels will intercept his fall, thus sparing him death and proving his identity by an exercise of extraordinary power. With this temptation, the devil himself cites Scripture. Quoting the Psalm that serves as today's Responsorial- Psalm 91:11-12, the devil says: "for it is written: 'He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you' and: ‘With their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" Turning once again to Deuteronomy, which is the last book of Torah, Jesus resists by telling the devil, "It also says, 'You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test'" (Deut 6:16).
This temptation corresponds to the spiritual discipline of alms-giving. How? Well, rather than being all about himself, feeling the need to demonstrate his power, Jesus steadfastly remains a person for others. If he is not a person for others, we cannotnrightly call Jesus "Savior." Ultimately, Jesus did submit himself to death and, in so doing, commended himself to the Father. The Father did not rescue Jesus from the cross in some dramatic fashion. In his account of Jesus's crucifixion, Luke gives an echo of this temptation. The inspired author places the temptation in the mouths of unnamed "rulers," who say, as Christ is dying on the cross: "He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Messiah of God" (Luke 23:35). But Jesus really died. His resurrection assures us that power is made perfect through weakness, not self-assertion.
Why is it so difficult for so many Christians to believe that sincere practice of the spiritual disciplines is what leads us to freedom? This is a verifiable claim. You can test it. For the best results, you should do this with the benefit of a teacher.
The refusal to believe that practicing the spiritual disciplines is what leads to freedom, which amounts to a lack of faith, is the Achilles heel of much of what passes for contemporary Christian "spirituality." This "spirituality" amounts to self-directed self-improvement. Hence, it all about will-power and achieving one's own goals. In the long term, this usually leads to disappointment and disillusionment.
In his book Monastic Practices, Fr Charles Cummings, OSCO, makes the point I am trying to make very well:
The more I try to make Christ the center of my life and thoughts and actions, the more I feel every pull and tug that draws me back from the radical, loving surrender of myself. I am not totally free to run toward the one I love. Instead, I feel enchained, entangled by a thousand little threads that together form a strong rope binding me to myself. Detaching myself from these bonds is largely a matter of self-discipline and asceticism. Paradoxically, self-discipline sets me free for God. Self-discipline is a training in freedom. I am free to take something comfortable and pleasurable, or to eat and drink more, or to sleep longer, but I am also free to refrain from these things and not let myself be held bound by themThe time from Ash Wednesday through the Saturday that follows serves as something of a warm-up for Lent. So, this season of sanctification begins in earnest today. And so, today the Lord calls you to begin living in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Thanks for writing this, and providing the context from Deuteronomy.
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