Homily 1st Sunday of Lent - 26th February 2023

Homily 1st Sunday of Lent - 26th February 2023

We near the end of Winter and Spring will be upon us. More light comes in through the windows and the days get longer, it is easy to see how much we have hoarded over the Winter months. The light shines into the shadows revealing what is hidden. With courage, we can start to dispose of things that may not have any real purpose or value. Most of what we buy is well-wrapped and then wrapped again. These items are quite suitable for the game of “Pass the Parcel”.

But once the game has finished and the small item inside is revealed, what is left about us is all the rubbish that needs to be tidied up and thrown in the bin. We may have had a little joy but then comes the pain of clearing away.

Our lives can be seen in a similar way. With Lent, we have the opportunity to see where in our lives we sin. The light shines on us and we can see what there is dragging us down. The only question is, do we recognise what those sins are, or have we rationalised them away to make them more palatable?

Last Wednesday we were reminded that we come from dust and will return to dust. God modelled us out of the soil, shaped us and blew air into our nostrils so we could breathe. If you have ever seen a child being born, it is an amazing sight to see the baby take his or her first breath. For roughly 40 weeks the child has developed in the mother’s womb, surrounded by amniotic fluid. The oxygen and carbon dioxide flows through the mother’s placenta to the baby’s blood vessels, heart, and lungs helping with the child's breathing. So, although the child’s lungs are full of liquid at birth, it is only the drop in temperature that triggers the child’s system to suck in air inflating the lungs. Another miracle of life.

At the other end of life, at death physically we stop breathing, our heart stops, our temperature lowers and we become still. All that we have done or accumulated remains behind. The bonds of this world are broken. We return to dust.

Yet, as Christians, we believe the journey has not ended. Our spirit lives on. However, that spirit is stained with sin. Sin is what caused death according to what Paul says in his letter to the Romans. In both Genesis and Matthew’s Gospel we are shown every human being is tempted by Satan. We are all tested.

Eve knew to take the fruit from the tree of knowledge would lead to death, yet she listened to the lie told to her by the serpent. Then Adam also went against what he had been told by God. Then their eyes were opened, both at the same time. And what they saw filled them with shame. When God came by, they hid in the shadows. Their actions made them not want to be in the presence of God.

We know, when Jesus was baptised, the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove, as John the Baptist witnessed. Then Jesus was led into the wilderness, and for forty days and nights, Satan attempted to do with Jesus what he had done with Adam and Eve, to drive him away from God the Father. But at every turn, no matter what the serpent suggested, Jesus, the Word of God, used scriptures as his defence. He wore the full armour of God, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword and prayers of the spirit. Jesus like us was being tested but did not sin. Yet, he was as human as we are.

Paul tells us every single human being there has ever been, is and will be, Satan will try and tempt them away from God’s salvation by using lies and deceptions, not necessarily in big things but more often in the small things, that seem less important to us.

You are in a shop; you buy some groceries handing over a ten-pound note. The cashier gives you your change and as you are about to get into the car you notice the note is ten pounds and not five pounds. It’s pouring rain, and you are cold and want to get home. Do you go back and get the correct change or drive on? I would imagine you would go back. But what if the goods cost fifty pence, you gave a pound and accidentally given a pound back as part of the change, what would you do then? Remember it is in the small details the devil gets us.

We are tested every day, but it is not the test that causes the problem, but how we react to it. How our inner being is tempted to follow the deceptions before us. We may be forced to ‘do’ things against our will, but to ‘be’ what we should not be, means we are being led by our own hearts. This is where temptation comes from, from our inner being outwards, our motivation, and what drives us to do things and be someone we should not be.

The way to salvation is through Our Lord Jesus Christ. We have forty days of Lent to look at what is in our lives driving us to sin. Perhaps it is not chocolate we need to give up but something else, deep within us that we need to repent. To pray for forgiveness. Use this time to ‘be’ what Jesus wants best for us so we can spend more time in his presence.