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Introduction
I remember during my childhood we had an aunt and an uncle who used to pay long visits to us. I and my brothers and sister looked forward to their visits because the aunt was a good story-teller. The stories she related were not only those she got from the novels she read but also stories of the past experiences of our relatives and grand relatives. Those stories gave us a sense of belonging and identity.
In the book of Deuteronomy the Lord God even gives a command to the chosen people of God to recount what the Lord God taught them to their children: “And you shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Deuteronomy 11:19.
The proclamations of today help us to learn and remember the journey of our predecessors and they tell us what our response should be. The Entrance Antiphon is the doorway to enter the message of the proclamations.
The Entrance Antiphon
The Lord has been my strength; He has led me into freedom. He has saved me because He loves me.
The First Proclamation
The priest shall then receive the basket from you and shall set it in front of the altar of the Lord, your God. 1 Then you shall declare before the Lord, your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien. But there he became a nation great, strong and numerous. When the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed us, imposing hard labor upon us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and he heard our cry and saw our affliction, our toil and our oppression. He brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders; and bringing us into this country, he gave us this land flowing with milk and honey. Therefore, I have now brought you the first fruits of the products of the soil which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And having set them before the Lord, your God, you shall bow down in his presence.
Prayerful Awareness
As suggested in the entrance antiphon the people of God were reminded time and again of the incredible role the Lord God played in their individual and collective life. They believed that the Lord God was instrumental in bringing about who they were, and what they had in terms of land, laws, leaders and even the various individual talents. As a people they showed their indebtedness by offering the first fruits of all their labor.
Let us read the Gospel proclamation to see how Jesus who was heir to this wonderful tradition of the people of God responded.
The Gospel Proclamation
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, and ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” Then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. The devil said to him, “I shall give to you all this power and their glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours, if you worship me.” Jesus said to him in reply, “It is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve.’” Then he led him to Jerusalem, made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and: ‘With their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him in reply, “It also says, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’” When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.
Gaze at Jesus
Jesus after being under the tutelage of His blessed Mother for thirty long years had set off on His own to determine His future role as part of God’s people. As a beginning He decided to be baptized into the experience that His cousin John the Baptist was offering. In short, a radical repentance or turning back to God and His reign. The zeal and sincerity of Jesus’ desire in stepping into the Jordan for baptism opens the heavens and God pours forth His Spirit of Sonship upon Him.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit that Jesus received was not the end point but rather the beginning of His mission of experiencing and bearing witness to divine sonship. Given His zeal for God’s reign, Jesus opts to be ‘driven’ by the Holy Spirit into the solitude of the desert to be confirmed in His mission. In the desert Jesus overcomes the temptations to go contrary to the mission of divine sonship.
Does the victory of Jesus over the temptations in the desert benefit us who has answered His call to “Come follow me”?
The Second Proclamation
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we preach), for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. For the scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, enriching all who call upon him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Our Sonship
We are called upon to claim in faith the victory that Jesus gained on our behalf in order to be saved. How wonderful it would be to reclaim the experience of the devout people of God who saw the hand of God in all aspects of their lives.
Prayer Starter
“Father, through our journey through the season of Lent, help us to understand the meaning of your Son’s death and resurrection and teach us to reflect it in our lives.”
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