From Trials to Triumph
Today’s readings are a perfect start to Lent: they rewind to the creation of the human race and return to where we stand today. They are cathartic, to say the least. They invite us to renew our faith in Him who sent His Only Son to save the world from the havoc caused by our first parents.
The First Reading (Gen 2: 7-9; 3: 1-7) speaks of the Garden of Eden, where it all began. If it weren’t for Original Sin, the history of humankind would have been different, you may say. But then, why think only of the negative side of the Fall? God, who cranks out good from just anything, tweaked it in our favour. Felix culpa, therefore, “O happy fault that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer,” as the Exsultet (Paschal Vigil Mass hymn) chants.
In the Second Reading (Rom 5: 12-19), St Paul gives a striking description of how “sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned.”
Further, “if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”
That is, sin came in through Adam; grace, through the Second Adam, Jesus Christ. So, the Apostle to the Gentiles wraps it up as follows: “Just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so, through one righteous act, acquittal and life came to all. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous.”
In the Gospel (Mt 4: 1-11), Jesus, the New Adam, reverses the wrong that Adam committed in the Garden of Eden. And behold the spirit and substance of the Son of Man: whereas Adam feasted and fell, Jesus fasted and did not fall. Jesus in the desert represents the new Israel and the new Moses (both of whom spent forty years there) and the new Elijah (forty days).
What a pearl of wisdom Jesus presents when the devil tempts Him in His human state! Jesus says: “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” This has since become the one invigorating thought for when we are tempted by power, knowledge and riches that the world deceptively offers.
Humankind, marked by sin since its inception, is now at a crossroads. We have misunderstood His loving kindness and have taken Him for granted. Finally, having quite lost the sense of sin, we are at a loss to know how to regain our innocence and obtain divine grace. Life feels like a combat, a minute-to-minute battle between the forces of good and evil, grace and sin, God and Satan, only to those with a pang of conscience.
How long can we continue this? Life is short and unpredictable. Let us be steadfast in God’s love, embrace the Cross, and experience God’s mercy. Let us not be disheartened, for if Jesus did experience umpteen trials and temptations, why won’t we? Like Him, we too shall triumph over sin and see the light of the Resurrection.
Banner: Sandro Botticelli's Temptations of Christ, Sistine Chapel (1480-82)
