First Sunday of Lent   Mt.4:1-11

A world without God is a world of extreme hopelessness. Such a world is completely in the hands of the power of evil, which is entrenched in the hearts of human beings as a system of domination. Eugene Drewermann interprets Satan and his demons of the Gospel from a psychoanalytical perspective. At objective level they are interpreted as internalized “personal images” of the parents and on a subjective level as one's own shadow or one's own persona. On an existential level they appear spiritually as the temptations and dangers, which the repressed polarities of existence pose: of finitude in the depressive, of infinity in the schizoid, of necessity in the hysterical, and of possibility in the obsessive-compulsive character structure (Drewermann, Structures of Evil).

Satan in the narrative is using power in a negative sense, namely, to coerce, to dazzle, to force obedience, and to destroy. Temptation is viewed by the Gospel writer as a normal experience. Even the Son of God is not spared from this conflict. It is an innate struggle of human existence to escape from the pain of life. Acquisition of bread, power, and faith are the means by which man tries to escape from the traumatic experiences of life and its agonies. Jesus is positively confronting these conflicting realities of day-to-day existence to show mankind a path to harmonious existence based on a trusting relationship with God. 

He said, ‘No' to the evil of human drives:

One of the greatest problems of life is procure-ment of food for survival.   Man cannot survive more than 3 months without the intake of food. For food, man would kill animals and kill other human beings. In the civilized society man's drive for food, sex and other amenities of life leads him to develop aggressive systems of exploitation and domination. Many wars were fought for secure supply of food and luxuries of life. Developed nations have invented many weapons of domination in the so-called “civilized world” to ensure a steady supply of food and resources for the well being of their citizens. The tempter approaches Jesus, when He feels utmost the pain of hunger and poverty. The tempter said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread”. He said in reply, “It is written: One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”   Jesus voluntarily accepted poverty and experienced its pain and spiritual worth. In his struggle to escape the trauma of human existence, man believes that he could save his life through ensuring a steady flow of food and affluence. He grabs the food and basic needs of his neighbor.   Thus man starts a spiral of violence, which explodes into wars and mutual annihilation. True renunciation and life of poverty is an essential condition to experience the power of God's providence in our lives. A trust and total dependency on a merciful God is a victory over the power of drives that leads us to a pseudo sense of well-being. 

He said ‘No' to fatalism:

One of the dangers of human life is to succumb to a mental state of hopelessness and helpless-ness. Religious leaders have developed a theology of hope for the disadvantaged and the social outcasts by teaching them to accept their present hell-like-existence as a temporary stage in the process of total redemption by God. Every calamity and sorrow is thus interpreted as events designed and determined by God. Human responsibility for actions and events is thus negated and eventually human society submits itself to a fatalistic and deterministic attitude of life and faith. Thus the oppressors always succeed to make an unholy alliance with the theologians of their times to hold a society in subjugation and fear for their advantage. The devil took Jesus to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his   angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone'”. Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test'”. By these words, Jesus rejects the attitudes of determinism and the blind acceptance of human sufferings and sickness as God designed realities of life. His challenge of the Jewish beliefs and practices, His opposition to the structures and systems of domination by a non-violent protest is the   greatest rejection of a faith based on determinism. He was unwilling to put the Lord, His God, to the test. 

He said ‘No' to the evil of power:

Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”   At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written: ‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve'”. It is said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Power is a process of influencing another person's behavior. Coercion, intimidation, showering of privileges on the subjects, threatening and punishment are negative uses of power that enslaves another human being. Leaders of all sorts - secular and religious survive in this world on the security they have built on their organizational and money power. Jesus has an insight into the evils of power. He refuses to accept a life of domination at the expense of a spiritual life understood as service that would influence the behavior of the believers towards the establishment of a society based on love, justice and truth.   The forces that destabilize and destroy the balance of our lives and others are deep within us. It is hard to own up our actions and easy to blame the devil for the same. Say ‘No' to the evils of the drives, power & fatalism and live like Jesus.

Homily taken from the book ‘In the Path of Awareness' Jose Puthenveed (p.68-70)