1st.
Sunday of Lent (A) 2020
(Genesis
2:7-9, 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11)
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I am afraid that, as
the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be corrupted from a
sincere and pure commitment to Christ. (2 Cor. 11:3)
‘Sincere and pure commitment’, was
indeed the attitude shown by Our Blessed Lord Himself when tempted by the devil
after His forty day fast in the desert; and, in order the better to appreciate the
wisdom of Jesus’ demeanour and learn from the reckless folly of Eve’s example, let
us turn to our first reading and study Eve’s attitude when she met with the
devil and talked herself into temptation.
The devil questioned the woman, not
the man; obviously, he did that not because his was a ‘sexist’ or ‘racist’ attitude
– although he did most certainly despise the human race -- but for the surer
success of his own plans. What were the
weaknesses that drew his special attention to Eve: was it that he recognized her
as personally being of a wilful, even rebellious, disposition; or was it that
he saw native curiosity, perhaps a tendency to conceit and personal vanity, as
being prominent in her make-up? Most
certainly she wanted to ‘know for herself about things’, above all, she wanted to
be able to form her own judgement concerning the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil concerning which Adam had told her about God’s prohibition. Such a wilful desire for independence from
God and self-determination and self-appreciation seems to have made it possible
for Eve to think she could take on, chat with, the devil, and impossible for
her to recognize him even when showing himself in his very first words, manifesting
himself to be what he is essentially and eternally: namely, the liar,
and the most implacable enemy of all who allow him to find a niche for himself
in their lives. How tragically ironic it is that Eve, preparing herself to be so wilful before the Lord seeking to
protect her, could be so very, very, simple and stupid before the devil seeking
only the downfall of these two privileged dwellers in Eden, despicable
human-beings that they were!
Recall again his devilish words, and
recognize his endeavours to portray himself as siding with Eve against God in a
pretended confrontation he himself was trying his very best to concoct and
promote:
Did
God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?
He knew full well that God had not
given any such command: the couple were living in God’s garden and eating its
good fruit, the devil’s words were simply a ruse to provoke Eve and find out precisely what had gone on
between God and the couple still walking innocently and unashamedly in His
garden before His eyes.
The very fact that Eve responded so
readily to the devil was amazing; for, after all, he was evil itself! Dolled-up, disguised, or whatever word you
may like to think, he was nevertheless, himself:
on this occasion somewhat of a flatterer, but above all the liar, lying
as always in order to destroy. Neverthless,
Eve sensed nothing at all untoward, she just talked with him freely and
listened to him carefully!! In doing so,
she revealed both her ambitious nature aspiring far beyond what God had
arranged for Adam and herself, and her deep dis-satisfaction with a humble life
of simplicity and obedience before God.
Adam, on the other hand, found
himself caught up in an already somewhat developed relationship between Eve -- secretly
alienating herself from God in her heart-of-hearts -- and the devil, with whom
Eve was now in open discussion. It was a
situation of which he was apparently unaware; and surprised , perhaps alarmed,
he behaved like a wimp who simply wanted to avoid trouble by going along with his
wife rather than actually take upon himself the responsibility of seeing that God’s
solemn warning and express command concerning the tree in the centre of the
garden was obeyed -- a command originally given to himself before his help-mate had even
been created -- both out of reverence for God and love for Eve:
The LORD God gave man
this order: “You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the
tree of knowledge of good and bad. From that tree you shall not eat; the moment
you eat from it you are surely doomed to die.”
The LORD God said: “It
is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him.” (Genesis 2:16-18)
No matter what God had commanded Adam,
Eve wanted to know for herself, to
be able to form her own judgement concerning that most attractive tree, bearing
delicious fruit and – oh! how very intriguing!! -- giving knowledge of good and
evil.
Such, dear brothers and sisters in
Christ, was the situation which brought sin and death into our lives; and such pride and irresponsibility,
such ignorance and indifference, are still haunting and thwarting us as
Christians and Catholics today.
Jesus however -- the beloved Only-Begotten
Son of God and the culmination and sublime fulfilment of mankind -- in His
confrontation with the devil, was not interested in promoting or confirming His
own human awareness and appreciation of His Father’s love for Him; and He was most
certainly not going to attempt to
prove anything before the Devil’s tribunal. He did not need to test, and convince Himself of, His divine power
by changing stones into bread, even though it would have immediately satisfied His
gnawing hunger; nor would He -- by a
farcically theatrical display – descend (quite
literally!) to demonstrating the reality of the Scriptures’ attestation of Himself
and the eternal significance of His mission as the Messianic Son of God to the
devil, who was desperately seeking to sow but the smallest seed of doubt and
mistrust into Jesus’ mind.
Throughout all this, Jesus would not
entertain any wish other than that, in all things, His Father’s will exclusively might be done in Him for the
fulfilment of the mission for which He had been sent by His Father:
My food is to do the
will of the One who sent Me, and to finish His work.
I delight to do Your
will, My God. (John 4:34) (Psalm 40:9)
At the beginning of the season of Lent,
dear People of God, it behoves us to learn from the tragic failure of faithless
Eve and feckless Adam as we, disciples of Jesus, seek to walk more faithfully
with Him for the praise and glory of His and our heavenly Father; and Mother
Church has given us, in our second reading, a text of Saint Paul that can help
to interpret the whole situation for us:
Just as through the
disobedience of one person the many were made sinners, so through the obedience
of one the many will be made righteous.
With regard to his own converts in
Corinth, Saint Paul said that he feared for them lest their thoughts might be, or have become, corrupted from a sincere (and pure)
commitment to Christ, and the corruption he feared was, basically, a lack
of simplicity in their bearing as disciples of Jesus, a lack most strikingly exemplified
for us both in the behaviour of Eve, ambitious and conceited, wanting to know
for herself and decide for herself, and that of Adam, indolent and – out of
pseudo-consideration for his wife – not wanting
the responsibility of taking hold of the reins, so to speak, to see that God’s
will was done.
As we turn directly to Jesus for
guidance, we see that -- as distinct from the spineless and accommodating Adam –
He took hold of the reins most firmly when the devil offered Him all the
kingdoms of the world in their magnificence if He would but prostrate Himself
and worship him. Up to that moment Jesus,
facing questions about His own power, and His position in the Scriptures, had
been dismissive of the devil, answering him with but a few chosen and decisively
interpreted words of Scripture. However,
as soon as the devil sought to invade His Father’s realm by seeking worship for himself, Jesus immediately
revealed the devil’s personal identity and his evil essence by the irresistible
power of His own authoritative command:
Get
away Satan! It is written: ‘The Lord
your God shall you worship’.
In a like manner He gives us guidance
with regard to ambitious and self-assertive Eve gladly hearing the devil speak
most disrespectfully of God:
You certainly will not
die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of
it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and
what is evil.
Eve’s evil example and baleful legacy
Jesus utterly condemned by His own selfless and absolute commitment to the
honour and glory of His Father, the God Who had sent Him, and Whom -- by the
Spirit -- He served wholeheartedly to His earthly death, and now rejoices, in
the heavenly glory of their mutual beatitude, for all eternity.
Of course, Eve gladly listened to the
devil because his words expressed what she wanted to hear… he didn’t so much
deceive her as proclaim and apparently support her secret hopes and desires in
order to stir up her rebellious inclinations.
I am afraid that, as
the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be corrupted from a
sincere (and pure) commitment to Christ.
Dear People of God, the New Testament
bears repeated witness to Jesus’ preferred understanding of our eternal
fulfilment as our becoming, in Himself, children
of God; and His whole life gives us constant
inspiration, guidance, and spiritual power towards the fulfilment of that purpose. And so it is that, in our readings today, Mother
Church chooses -- as we have seen -- to give us further insight into the
authentic make-up of a true child of God, by showing us how Adam and Eve both
failed in that respect.
Saint Paul calls to our minds the
threat and danger of a corrupted, insincere, commitment to Christ, which
consists, he tells us, in a lack of simplicity
in our relationship before God our Father and with Jesus our Saviour; and we
have seen such a lack of simplicity and transparency at the root of the behaviour
of both Adam and Eve, in his spineless acquiescence and her self-centred and
ambitious conniving.
People of God, only simplicity before
God allows God’s Gift, the Spirit of Jesus, to work freely in us and form us in
the likeness of Jesus for the Father … and it takes both true humility and significant courage if such
a reign of the Spirit is to become a decisive feature of our lives. For simplicity embraces what is essential and
most beautiful in the Christian life: it springs from deep trust and sure hope;
it enfolds calm patience and long-sufferance; it requires a pure gaze of
self-surrendering love fixed most devoutly on the Lord Himself in all His
beauty, if we will but advert to His Spirit addressing, calling, and wanting to guide
us throughout the course of, and even to the final dénouement of, our earthly lives
for and before Him.
Let us, therefore, aspire to, love
and pray for, such a humble but beautiful virtue. Spiritual simplicity is unknown and indeed
inconceivable for the majority of men and women today, but it was most
admiringly recognized and treasured by St. Paul as he constantly prayed for, and
most ardently aspired to, full maturity in Christ Jesus his Lord and Saviour,
both for us and for himself.
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