FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
Gen 2:7-9.3:1-7: Ps 50
Rom 5:12-19; Mtt 4:1-11
JESUS OVERTURNS THE FALL OF ADAM AND EVE
The first reading for the first Sunday of Lent tells us about how the harmonious world created by God, was destroyed by man’s sin of disobedience.
God created the whole world and made man in his image and likeness and entrusted to man all he had made. There was a symphonious relationship between man and God, man and woman and man and nature. Man’s fall destroyed the harmony in creation. The temptations of the devil represent the three weaknesses in man which prevent him from doing good. These weaknesses are known as “the triple concupiscence”. These are seen on the temptations in the garden of Eden. In Genesis 3:6 we read
“the woman saw that the tree was good for food
and that it was a delight to the eyes and
that the tree was to be desired to make one wise…”.
The three statements actually represent the three temptations of man. They lie at the root cause for all the sins of man. John captures them better when he describes them as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. (1 Jn 2:16).
Man’s fall to the temptations destroyed the gift of harmony and man seem to be torn in himself, towards God and towards one another (man and woman representing the whole of humanity). Let’s take a look at the three temptations.
“the woman saw that the tree was good for food…” is the temptation that John describes as the lust of the flesh. These are the temptations for forbidden gratifications and the pleasures of the senses and of the life of ease. It leads to sexual sin of any form, rape, gluttony and any kind of drug abuse.
“that it was a delight to the eyes…” this obviously is the lust of the eyes. It is the temptation of the covetousness of the world’s goods. It is the disordered desire for possession which is rooted envy, jealousy and greed. It leads to theft, armed robbery. It leads a man to do anything to get worldly goods and power. The story of David killing Uriah in order to take Beersheba is a good example of this concupiscence. (2 Sam 11).
“tree was to be desired to make one wise…” this is the temptation of the Pride of Life. The serpent told the woman that it would make them like gods. The temptation to put oneself in place of God. The temptation to think that we are masters of our fate.
The fall to these temptations caused man to suffer subjection to the three concupiscence. There is always a struggle, without any consolation, with this wound to our capacity to do good. This struggle is what Paul describes when he says, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me, that is my flesh. I can will what is right but cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me” (Rom 7:15-20).
But this struggle does not have to go on forever. God is faithful and loving. He does not abandon us in our helplessness. He gave us Jesus. Jesus comes to redeem us and heal us of the weaknesses of sin through his paschal mystery.
In the gospel we see how he saves us. He overcomes the temptations of the devil in all the three levels of man’s weaknesses. He triumphs where Adam and Eve failed.
By this Jesus overturns the fall and triumphs over the ancient foe of man.
In lent we journey with Jesus to help us overcome our temptations and weaknesses. Jesus alone can help us. With him we can stand up to the devil. We do so through the Lenten observances of fasting, prayer and almsgiving.
May the Lord strengthen us.
God bless you.
By Fr. Delight Arnold Carbonu
