Hello everyone and welcome back to the Matthew Schreiner Podcast. And in this episode, we are back to reflecting on the readings from Sunday. This Sunday is the First Sunday of Lent. And the gospel of this Sunday is quite fitting for Lent.
In this Sundays gospel we hear about Jesus and his fasting for Forty Days in the Desert. Now we will touch on the story that goes with this, later one, after we touch on the first and second readings. But first, as we have discussed with Lent, the forty day fasting of Christ is the reason we keep a forty day fast. But besides this we find other examples of Forty Day fasts within Scripture, including Moses and Elijah. Moses and Elijah fasted for forty days, and this was in preparation for the mission that God was calling them for. Moses fasted before receiving the law. And as the poetic hymn says it, “and to Elijah fasting came, the steads and chariots of flame”. And, it was to Jesus, that after his Baptism in the Jordan with John, he fasted before his mission and preaching of the kingdom. Forty is a number that is also considered one of completion, with ten commandments and the four ways we break God’s law, that is the four ways we sin: thought, word, deed, and omission. Additionally as Fr. William Lawrence, the Provincial of the North American Province of the Fraternal Society of Saint Peter, says that 40 is a perfect tithe of the year, a perfect amount of each year to give to God. Lent consists of six to eight weeks depending on your counting.
Regardless, let’s look at the readings. The first reading is the familiar story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. We are all familiar with this story, it is one we learn from our youth. God has made Adam, and he has made Eve to be Adam’s partner. And in this Garden Paradise that God has made, in which Adam and Eve live, they are given to eat of the fruit of every tree, except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But then the devil, the snake, the most cunning of all animals, convinces Eve that God will not kill her for eating this fruit. And Eve believes the Devil, and tempts her husband into eating the fruit with her. Adam and Eve disobey God, by choosing for themselves what is good and evil. We are told their eyes were opened, and that they now know they are naked. And thus ends the story today.
In Paul, we read: “Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned. For if, by the transgression of the one, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. In conclusion, just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so, through one righteous act, acquittal and life came to all. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous.”
The essence of Paul’s message is that through Adam sin and death have entered the world, and through Christ, grace, justification, and life, have come. And finally if we look at the gospel, we read of Christ’s temptation in the desert, as he fasts for forty days.
Christ is tempted three times by Satan. One thing of interest is that we see both Christ and the Devil quoting scripture to each other. We see that the devil is adequate in his understanding of scripture. We might also learn that in the thirty years of Christ’s private life, he must have devoted a great amount of time to the study of scripture. We learn that even at seven he was greatly blessed with understanding of the things of God, as we learn with his leaving behind in the temple, where those in the temple were astonished with him.
Christ’s temptation, however, does not lead to his fall into sin. The devil knows he has the ability to turn stones into bread. The devil knows that God will save him if he were to jump from the heights (which Christ rebukes him by saying, you shall not test the Lord, trusting in God is not the same as being wantonly reckless). And the final temptation is that is Jesus worships the devil, he will give him the nations.
We can marvel at the last one, the devil knows all the power Christ has, but in the end the power Christ has is more than the devil knows, as we see in the last. Or is it? The devil has great power, as he is a fallen angel, we see that not only is he able to take the appearance of a snake, but he is able to be present and cause havoc throughout scripture, and finally speak to Jesus. The power of the devil is great, and we should by no means doubt he is able to give Christ the power to rule over everything. But does he not understand that Jesus is the Lord? Very well, he might, after all, Christ says finally, “All power on heaven and earth has been given me.”. The power of Christ is not a purely worldly one, as we learn in his trial before his passion. In the end, it is that Christ is offered by the devil a purely worldly and passing power, rather than the true reign Christ will have, one that is unending and over all.
Regardless of that, Christ’s temptation is a lesson for us. We read of Adam and Eve and the wound they left on our nature, expounded upon by Saint Paul in his Epistle. We learn that this sin has brought condemnation upon all humanity, and has brought death into the world. Adam and Eve were in perfect paradise, they depended truly upon God, and God had abundantly blessed them. But it was in looking for the next best thing, the novel, the interesting, that Adam and Eve decided it was not for God to decide right and wrong, but for them. It was for Adam and Eve to forge their own path, to decide that they should eat the fruit of the tree which God has forbidden them.
Christ is likewise tempted as Adam and Eve. Yet, he is sinless. Yet this power is given to us. This power to avoid sin was afforded to Adam and Eve. Yet they were gifted with free will, given the ability or freedom to choose to love God. You and I are afforded this same choice. There are two responses, the first is of Adam and Eve, to decide that good and bad are arbitrary, this view is the view of the world. We can see it, that the state or the individual is the one who decides what is right and wrong. Right and wrong is something made up by each person, to be decided by their own compass.
But a compass that only points in one direction, or a false direction, is useless. Rather, a compass that points to the true north, in this analogy God, is a useful compass that has the true power to guide us. When we decide for ourselves what is right and wrong, as we read in scripture, only perversity and sinfulness will follow. Through the sin of one, Paul says, this has entered into the world. Through the sin of one, death and sin and condemnation have come into the world.
But through Christ, we are given life and acquittal. Through it all, we are afforded, if you will, a second chance. We are given the ability to deny sin, death, and condemnation. Christianity then, offers you the ability to live forever. It offer you life eternal. Through Christ, this is offered. And through Christ we are asked to bring a more peaceful world, to bring his kingdom to the corners of the earth. We too are then asked to bring this eternal life to all the world. Christ’s offer of salvation is not limited to one people, but to all the world. Therefore the gospel is a matter which must be shared, a matter that cannot be left to simply history, to rot away. The gospel, a two-thousand year old institution, preserved wholly by the Church, which Christ founded, has not yet died. Through toil and tribulation, her message of salvation has not yet died, yet still lives, still giving the same offer she did, just as when Christ walked this earth, just as when Paul put then pen to the paper, and the ink to words, this message of salvation is preserved and taught.
Therefore, we are reminded of the daily struggles and temptations we will experience. But through it all, we are given strength in Christ, and a reminder that this earthly world is not it. That beyond human frailty and death, we are given one more thing to look forward too, and that is the only thing, heaven. Through temptation, we are rewarded in avoiding sin, by an ultimate gift, heaven. Through persevering through the many crosses of life, we are given one eternal joy, an eternal bliss, where there are no more crosses, there is no more tribulation and frailty, rather there is the unending and eternal joy that is the presence of God.
Through one man, sin and death entered the world. But through Christ, life eternal has become a possibility, the true nature of man before the fall has been restored. Man is once again able to live forever in the eternal bliss of the presence of God.
Leave a Reply