Homily for the 1st Sunday of Lent

Our faith tells us that Jesus is divine and human, like us in all things but sin. We know that He experienced love for people, sometimes grew frustrated with the silly arguments of the Pharisees and even His disciples, and even experienced righteous anger, as demonstrated by His response to the merchants in the Temple. So, it makes sense that Jesus would also experience temptation, as He did in today's Gospel passage when He was directly approached by the devil, making Him promises in the desert. He understands our temptations and the struggle to say no to them.

Of course, Jesus experienced these things without sinning. He relied on His divine nature and strength from His Father and the Holy Spirit to resist the temptations to put things and power above God.

In today's Gospel, Jesus doesn't just give us the ideal of resisting temptations; He leads us by His example because He experienced real temptation but did not fall prey to it.

Let us pray that Jesus' example and the power, strength, and resolve that we get from God may help us in our times of temptation and keep our focus on God's kingdom, which is to come.