March 6, 2022, First Sunday of Lent (Year C)
According to Brant Pitre, renowned theologian and biblical scholar, the Lenten readings are not designed to follow the same format as those of Ordinary Time. These normally contain a common theme between the First Reading from the Old Testament and the Gospel. Rather the Lenten readings are intended to expose the catechumens and candidates preparing for Baptism and Confirmation during Lent to certain aspects of salvation history.
Thus, Pitre suggests that there may not be a common theme readily apparent between the First Reading (Deut. 26:4-10) and the Gospel for today (Lk. 4:1-13). But if we consider them closely, we can find one interesting commonality in particular. It is all about a trial period involving the number forty and the attitudes of those experiencing this period of testing.
The First Reading is taken from the book of Deuteronomy, the final book of the first five books of the Old Testament which make up what is known as the Pentateuch. The first of the five books is the book of Genesis, which consists of two parts. The first contains the accounts of the creation of the world and the early history of humanity (Genesis 1-11). The second portion (Genesis 12-50) consists of the ancestral history of the nation of Israel beginning with Abraham called by God to be the progenitor of the nation and ending with Jacob and his twelve sons relocated to Egypt.
The history of Israel after Genesis continues where, several centuries later, the people have become oppressed and forced into slave labor by the Egyptian Pharaoh, as recounted in the Book of Exodus (Exod. 1:8-14). The birth of Moses at the beginning of Exodus, followed by Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, constitute the remainder of the Pentateuch. These books recount the story of two generations, the one that experiences the exodus and their offspring, who roam the wilderness for forty years.
The book of Deuteronomy, used on this first Sunday of Lent, serves as a last will and testament of Moses, consisting of several speeches made by him to the Israelites prior to his death. These speeches contain a reiteration of the laws found in the previous books, as well as additional instructions which serve to enhance the worship of Israel as a people as they enter the Promised Land. One of these is what we read about today.
In this passage, the people have completed their forty-year journey through the wilderness and Moses is now giving them instructions for a ritual to perform as a thanksgiving for the harvest. As described in the reading, the priest receives a basket full of fresh fruit from the harvest and places it in front of the altar of the LORD. The people are then instructed to recite an abbreviated account of the history of the Exodus – the way in which the Egyptians oppressed them, their cry for mercy to God, the signs and wonders created by the LORD to accomplish their release from slavery, and their journey and deliverance to the Promised Land.
This recitation suggests that the harvest of the Promised Land is just one of the many aspects of the Exodus that God’s chosen people have to be grateful for. Because of their sinful nature they had suffered many trials in the wilderness and God was always present to help them throughout the forty years. We might compare and contrast their trials to those experienced by Jesus in the Gospel.
This Gospel passage, the Temptation of Jesus in the Desert, is familiar to us because it is always read on the First Sunday of Lent from either Matthew, Mark, or Luke. It begins with Jesus being led by the Spirit into the desert after his Baptism in the Jordon. There Jesus undergoes a forty-day trial of temptation by the devil, some of which is not much different from what the Israelites faced in the wilderness. However, as opposed to the Israelites who sinned against God over and over again, Jesus remains staunch and unwavering in his faith because of his sinless nature.
For example, when the Israelites became hungry in the desert, they complained against God for taking them out of Egypt where they had plenty of food to eat. In response, God provided them with bread from heaven, known as manna, and quail to satisfy their hunger. Jesus, on the other hand, although hungry from a forty-day fast, did not give into the temptation of the devil to turn stones into bread to satisfy his hunger. Rather, he challenged his tempter by recognizing that “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” (Lk. 4:4 cf. Mt. 4:4b).
In addition, when Moses ascended the mountain of the LORD and remained away from the people for a long period of time, they demanded that his brother Aaron create a golden calf for them to worship as they had no inclination that God was in their presence. Whereas, when Satan promised to give Jesus power over all of the kingdoms of the world in return for his loyalty, Jesus rebuked him with “It is written: You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve.” (Lk. 4:8).
Finally, in an incident at Massah and Meribah where the Israelites complained against God over their lack of water and thirst, they quarreled with Moses leading him to question them: “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to a test?” (Exod. 17:2b).
We can contrast this with the situation of Jesus when the devil taunted him to throw himself down from a high parapet of the temple. Satan promised that God’s angels would protect him from harm. But Jesus refused to give in to the temptation declaring, “You shall not put the LORD, your God, to the test.” (Lk. 4:12).
Both the Israelites and Jesus experienced a period of temptation encompassing the number forty. As we embark on these forty days of Lent, the readings give us something to think about. We might consider the tests and temptations that we face in our lives and how we respond to them. Will we be like the Israelites who misjudged the omnipresence of God and took every opportunity to grumble about His actions? Or will we be like Jesus who was faithful and trusting in every situation?
Before we consider our mindset, we should be reminded about something very important that is available to us to guide our outlook and actions. Jesus tells us that “One does not live by bread alone.” Rather, we live with the sacred, ever forgiving reassurance of the presence of Christ in the bread from heaven we receive at every Mass, the Eucharist.
