First Sunday of Lent (B)

February 21, 2021                                                 

Readings:

First Reading: Genesis 9: 8-15

Psalm 25 “Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.”

Second Reading: 1 Peter 3: 18-22

Gospel reading according to Mark 1: 12-15

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Homily:

After Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist, as “an act which began with a personal confession of sins, thus, to go down into the river and be washed was a gesture of humility, a humble prayer for pardon and grace.  In other words that descending is a symbolic dying of the old life to obtain the grace of a new life.  If Jesus, […] without sin, joins the file of sinners lining up for the [baptism], if with the public gesture he makes himself one with sinners, receiving the sacrament of sinners, at that moment begins his hour, the hour of the Cross.  Jesus becomes our representative and carries the yoke with us” (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Journey towards Easter, 1987, p. 13); then the Holy Spirit descended upon him and afterwards God the Father recognized him as his beloved Son, then the Holy Spirit brought him into the desert to test his Sonship and fidelity to God.  “The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan” (Mark 1: 12-13).  The Holy Spirit, who was with him from then on until the end of time, led him in to the desert to be tempted by Satan.   He allowed him to be tested by the devil with regards to the power of God to feed the hungry with bread “alone,” the economic, the material things, (stone into bread) food that satisfy the hunger of many peoples.  But Jesus debarred the thought of the devil when he turned to him and said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt. 4: 4; Lk 4: 4).  And the other temptations Satan gave to Jesus to defeat him, and instead of obeying God he wanted to be obeyed by Jesus, the Son of God, Lamb of God, the Messiah, but Satan did not convince Jesus and win in tempting him, for Jesus was firm in his faith, obedience and fidelity to his Father, the Creator of all things.

To understand the term desert where Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit, and to experience life in the desert, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger helps us in his reflection on the meaning by “the desert.”  He said, “The desert is the place of silence, of solitude; it is the absence of the exchanges of life, its noise and its superficiality.  The desert is the place of absolute, the place of freedom, which sets us before the ultimate demands.  In putting aside all preoccupations we encounter our Creator.    The desert is also the place of death: there is no water there, the basic element for life.  And so the place, with its burning light, appears to be the extreme opposite of life, a dangerous threatening waste.  Next the desert is not only the region which threatens biological life, it is also the place where the power of the devil manifested, the “murderer from the beginning” (Jn 8: 44), (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Journey towards Easter, 1987, p. 14).  He continued, “Entering into the desert, Jesus exposes himself to this power, opposes himself to this power, continues the action of baptism, the action of the Incarnation, descending not only into the depths of the waters of the Jordan, but descending moreover into the depths of human misery – as far as the region of the broken love, of destroyed relationship, in that solitude to be found throughout the world marked by sin” (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Journey towards Easter, 1987, p. 14-15). In our case, how do we define desert in our lives?  Have we experienced desert life?  What kind of desert did we experience (if we were involved in the desert experience before)?

The desert is not only the place of silence or of solitude, the place of absolute, the place of freedom, the place we encounter our Creator, is also the place of death, it is also the place where the power of the devil manifested, but also the place of wild beasts. “He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him” (Mark 1: 13).  The desert is truly a dangerous place for those who are weak, duwag, fearful, abysmal and terrified, but for those who are brave, courageous, fearless, matapang at buo ang loob, it is a place of encountering God and his angels.  After Jesus won over Satan and his temptations, the angels of the Lord God served him.

After forty days in the wilderness, he learned that John the Baptist was arrested by the soldiers of King Herod and put him into prison.  Instead of going back to his native town, Nazareth, he proceeded to Galilee, where nobody knows him, for he was not yet calling his future Apostles and disciples.  “After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God, ‘This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent and believe in the Gospel’.” (Mark 1: 14-15).  He was alone proclaiming the Reign-Kingdom of God, teaching repentance and the Gospel of God.  Jesus was free to preach the Good News.  Only few listened to this new prophet in town, and nobody arrested him for Galilee is a free town to all religions, beliefs or unbelief, cultures, Jews and non-Jews (pagans and gentiles) were living harmoniously.  A place for ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue.  Here, in Galilee, Jesus will start his mission: to bring all peoples to one flock, one family of God, One God Father of all and to bring salvation to all.