REFLECTION

Gospel

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, One does not live on 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 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.

​​Luke 4: 1-13

Reflection

Lent is truly a time for us to focus upon God’s Word – the written Word we find in our precious Bible as well as His spoken Word to our hearts as we spend time quietly contemplating our loving God and what He has in mind for each of our lives.

Jesus himself provided a specific example of how we might effectively focus our mind & heart during our 40 days of Lent. In the fourth chapter of Luke, we find the description of Jesus’ journey into His 40 days in the wilderness.  He was tempted there by the devil, an environment much like ours today where it seems as if the devil is constantly seeking to overpower us.  Jesus used this time to fast – perhaps to convey the message to us that “It is written, One does not live on bread alone” – but as we earlier read in Matthew, on “every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”  Spending a large amount of time meditating on God’s Word during Lent would definitely seem to be a worthy use of our time.  The devil’s second temptation of Jesus resulted in Jesus' reminding us that, “You shall worship the Lord, your God, and Him alone shall you serve.”  Once again, this serves as a powerful message for us to make sure we are worshiping God and God alone.  It is so very important to spend time thinking about the things in our lives that we think are important – the things that we may be allowing to rise to the point of worship.  The final piece of the devil’s  challenge of Jesus involved asking God to prove His power & influence.  Once again, Jesus simply reminds us not to “put the Lord, your God, to the test.”  This could be viewed as a warning to us.  As we go above and beyond our normal routine of focusing our lives on Jesus during Lent, we may begin to think God owes us something for all this effort.  Of course, we must continually guard against allowing such pride to seep into our hearts.  Lent is a time for us to focus upon our amazing God who loves us unconditionally, so much more than we could ever comprehend or truly appreciate.  We need to carefully consider how indeed we are choosing to respond to that love and to ponder how we are actually living out every moment of our life.

Dear Heavenly Father, as we seek to draw closer to you throughout this season of Lent, open our hearts to you.  Allow us to begin to grasp the enormity of your redeeming love. Help us to honestly evaluate how we are actually choosing to respond to our Lord and Savior’s calling.