EXPLORING OUR RICHES IN JESUS CHRIST

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

Deut. 26:4-10; Ps 91:1-2,10-15; Rom 10:8-13; Lk 4:1-13

Our Riches in Jesus Christ

The first reading from the book of Deuteronomy presents the simple ritual of offering the first fruits, which Moses instructed the people to follow in presenting their first fruits to Yahweh. The people's offerings must always be through the priest who represents them before God, and recounting their history is to bring about humility and awareness of their humble origin. The humble disposition the confession brings about in them is necessary for God to accept their offering and commune with them. The offering of the first fruits symbolises their self-sacrifice to Yahweh, who saved them by destroying the firstborns of the Egyptians and those of their animals. By the mighty deliverance that God worked for them in the land of Egypt and through the wilderness, they now owe their lives to God. The purpose of the ritual is to renew this truth in their consciousness and to recommit them to true worship of God in the Promised Land. The offering was also to rekindle the spirit of gratitude or appreciation for the gift of the Promised Land they received from the Lord. So, the last part of their pronouncement reads: “He brought us here and gave us this land, a land where milk and honey flow. Here then I bring the first fruits of the produce of the soil that you, the Lord, have given me.”

By putting this ritual and the pronouncement before us this first Sunday of Lent, the Church wants us to learn the humble attitude we are to imbibe through our Lenten observance. The first is the knowledge of our humble beginning or background. We must know that we are nothing without God, everything we possess is a gift from him. The second is to understand that all our deliverance from sin and evil comes from God alone. So, we must call on our God in times of affliction for deliverance and safety. The Psalmist expresses this sentiment. “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High and abides in the shade of the Almighty says to the Lord: ‘My refuge, my stronghold, my God in whom I trust!” When we know God as our strong refuge and defence in every affliction, we will trust in him. The third is to develop a strong faith in God's word which reveals his goodness and goodwill to us. The remembrance and recounting of God’s deliverance evoke faith in his word and promises. Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans describes how our faith in God’s word works. “The word (that is the faith we proclaim) is very near to you, it is on your lips and in your heart. If your lips confess that Jesus is Lord and if you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved. By believing from the heart, you are made righteous; by confessing with your lips, you are saved.”

God works all the good things for us through his word. Hence, the word of God is our true riches. Faith is the good disposition of our hearts that unlocks the divine riches of God contained in his word. The offering of our whole being to God, as signified by the offering of the first fruits, must express our faith in God and trust in his divine providence. The psalm captures God’s response to such self-sacrificing faith and love. “His love he set on me, so I will rescue him; protect him for he knows my name. When he calls I shall answer: ‘I am with you,’ I will save him in distress and give him glory.” This faith makes us children of God, for we are given a new birth in the Holy Spirit. Because faith gives knowledge of God, it makes us share in the spiritual life of his Son, who is the knowledge of God the Father.

These holy sentiments and attitudes we are to imbibe during this holy season of Lent are demonstrated for us in the gospel by the Son of Man. Through his bodily fasting for forty days, he dedicated himself to God to accomplish his divine will. The fact that he was with the Holy Spirit reveals he did that by God’s will and for our salvation. “Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness, being tempted there by the devil for forty days.” His recourse to the scriptures in all his temptations is also for our instruction on the importance of faith in the word of God in our moment of affliction. The Son of Man overcame the temptations of the devil through faith and constant recourse to the word of God. The foundation of the victory of the Son of Man over the devil is his deep humility and humble trust in the love of the Father. In acknowledgment of our nothingness before God, we must wait on God to initiate every activity for our good and never presume. We see this in our Lord’s response to the devil’s quotation of the scripture to prompt him to act in presumption. “But Jesus answered him, ‘It has been said: You must not put the Lord your God to the test.’” In all our prayers and entreaties, we must wait for God to act for our deliverance. He has given us every spiritual blessing of heaven in Jesus Christ.  

Let us pray: Grant, almighty God, through the yearly observances of holy Lent, that we may grow in understanding of the riches hidden in Christ and by worthy conduct pursue their effects. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.