Why would God do it? Luke comes straight to the point at the beginning of the Gospel for this first Sunday of Lent: “The Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted.” In other words, Love led God into the desert. Nothing but Love.
The “desert experience” has always been the place of wrestling for the human heart, mind, body and soul. From the Israelites’ 40 year journey in the wilderness to the deserts we face today in our own lives, it is often in these very places where Satan tries to whisper – and sometimes shout – that we are not redeemable, not loveable, and not worthy of God’s grace and mercy.
For so much of our lives, we often believe this. In fact, before we know it, we make our home in this desert.
Make no mistake, though: it is all a lie.
For so many years, as an eighth grade teacher, I had students who would come to me, covering arms scarred with evidence of cutting or wearing baggy sweatshirts to hide the eating disorder. For some young people I taught, the pain reflected in their eyes indicated horrors at home of which they could not even begin to speak out loud. In all of these desert moments of their young lives, Satan would often come to them, whispering lies to their minds and hearts: Lies meant to tear-down and destroy one’s worth. Lies used to keep us focused on the unimportant and trivial. Lies meant to chain souls to sin and self-hatred.
That’s exactly what Satan was doing here with Jesus in the wilderness: lying to him. But, oh, did those promises seem so attractive: fill your hunger with cheap pleasures; seek power by any means possible; jump into the abyss of nothingness and despair and you will be free of the chains of morality and God.
Nothing but lies.
And Love led Jesus right there, to that very spot where love fought back against the tricks and trappings of evil and hate.
Jesus went there – allowed himself to be led there -- because He knew we would go there often in our lives, sometimes by our own poor and sinful choices; sometimes because others (including the culture) led us there. Christ went out of love to show us how to fight back. In fact, He offered us a detailed roadmap:
First, he shows us: know your enemy. Jesus knew Satan would show-up and he was ready for him. The temptations of evil did not take Christ by surprise. Nor should the temptations surprise us, not if we are willing to do the hard work of coming to know ourselves. What temptations seem to grab hold of you, especially in moments of exhaustion, depression and emotion? When you are in a rough spot in the desert of life, do you turn to drugs, excessive alcohol, gossip, porn, recklessness in relationships? What’s your go-to when Satan starts whispering lies to you?
Jesus would say: Fight back.
Yes, it often seems easier to give-in: to eat the stony bread or genuflect before the darkness or jump from the parapet into the arms of nothingness. Yet, we must be clear: it will not make us happy or content, no matter how attractive Satan makes those things seem.
If I may, it might be appropriate here to speak specifically to a temptation that plagues so many of us in modern culture, one that we think will satisfy our loneliness or need for connection with others: the lie that casual hook-ups and pornography are no big deal.
Satan whispers: “Who’s it hurting? You’re made for this.” The culture screams: “Don’t let your religion make you a prude. Don’t be chained by old-fashioned morals.” And man-oh-man, does evil make cheap-and-easy sex (in all its forms) look attractive. It is anything but.
God has made us – our bodies, our sexuality – to be a gift. It is not meant to be given away cheaply or casually, nor is it meant to be used by another for their own selfish pleasure. How have we gotten to the point where Academy Award winners praise the practice of prostitution? How have we allowed pornography to be viewed by 7-year-olds? Why are we telling each other that sex outside of marriage does no harm whatsoever?
It’s all lies. Lies Satan uses to cheapen the gift of who we are made by God to be. Lies that cheapen everything from our own bodies to the institute and sacrament of marriage. Lies that break hearts and shatter lies once the hook-up ends or the porn is repeatedly watched.
Satan rejoices in these moments, for we have eaten the cheap bread and jumped from the tower.
The question, then, remains: once you know the enemy (whatever the tempting enemy may be), how do you fight back?
Like any good soldier: use the weapons provided by the General. For each of us, that weapon may be different, or used in different times and in different ways depending upon the battle at hand. Yet, Lent reminds us that the Lord and His Church give us so many means to walk through the desert and fight back against Satan:
Pray every day – make time for it, just as you would the gym or homework or anything else deemed essential. Frequent the sacrament of Confession when the sins weigh heavy; let Christ take them from you. Receive the Love of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament – His is the True Bread that reminds us of our worth. Put the phone elsewhere when you are tired or depressed or anxious. Pick-up the Rosary; our Blessed Mother is always there to defend us in battle. Talk the temptations out with a trusted priest, family member or friend; Satan wants us to believe we are very much alone and that no one could possibly understand.
Lastly, use the very things this season of Lent offers us so as to strengthen our resolve and willingness to fight: fasting from a favorite food or music or social media is not meant to prove to God how much we love Him or to prove to ourselves that we can do it. Rather, fasting trains our minds, bodies and hearts to know that when I offer-up some good as sacrifice, God in turn uses it to train me to fight in those moments when a perceived-but-false good tries to pull me from His grace. In addition, give of yourself to others and the Church through time, talent and treasure: doing so reminds us that the world doesn’t revolve around us and that we aren’t meant to walk through the desert moments alone.
Maybe Lent’s purpose when all is said and done is simply to remind us that Love went to the desert to show us that we never have to face it alone. Love will always triumph over evil if we are willing to fight back against the cheap and empty promises of the one who pretends to offer contentment, but instead holds out nothing but cheap stones, fake genuflections and meaningless jumps into the abyss of hate.