Spiritual Combat and the Requisite Stamina
Our First Sunday of Lent, 2018, presents us with a “Spiritual Combat and the Requisite Stamina” to be victorious. Mark’s gospel presents Jesus in the wilderness in the company of wild beasts and angels. One wonders how a desert, known for the absence of water and vegetation could be a place of refuge for wild beasts, how a desert could be chosen as the place where angels live or are present, and why would the setting of Jesus’ test or trial be there? In fact, the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the desert in order for him to undergo trials.
Jesus receives support and consolation from the presence of the angels who “ministered” to him, even though his trial unfolds in the desert. Even in the desert, God provides for his Son; even in the midsts of wild beasts, no harm comes to Jesus; even in the absence of water and food, Jesus survives his trials. Nothing is said about the wild beast, whether the absence of water and food impinges on their existence; we are not aware of what role the angels’ presence in the desert accomplishes. What remains indisputably clear is that Jesus returns from the desert safe and sound.
When we cast our minds back to creation accounts and the Fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis 1-3, then we remember that the presence of God brings life into existence, that God shows himself as the sustenance and creator of every living being. In creating, he provides for the wherewithal of his creation. In fact, God hands over to his human creature the responsibility of assigning names to all the beasts his creative power gives life to, and Adam names them one after the other. Part of Adam’s privileges include frequent visits from God and a harmonious co-existence with wild beasts and the whole of creation.
Our gospel reading today takes us back to Genesis, to the beginnings of creation to point out to us that life gains its sustenance exclusively from God. It is the presence of God that gives life to all, both wild and tamed beasts, to spirits and angels. That the presence of God and dwelling in that presence is what guarantees survival agains every created force, and returns us to Genesis, the beginnings of God’s creation and vision for his creatures. A return to Genesis turns every desert place into fertile ground, renews the co-existence of all of God’s creation. Jesus’ journey into the desert is God’s return to creation to recreate it anew, and to fructify what is barren and to reconcile whatever is at odds with God’s purposes.
The Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to recreate what is on the verge of death and disappearance, to revive what is weary and to consolidate on the plans of God for his creation. The Holy Spirit takes Jesus into the desert to reveal to human beings the indispensability of the power of God in making situations and things that seem impossible possible. God’s Spirit makes the recreations of the God’s creatures possible because original creation in Genesis remains his handiwork. In order to survive in any kind of wilderness, it suffices to have the Holy Spirit and his power to weather every storm. Every desert is desert because it lacks water and life, but wherever the Spirit of God is, there is life – the water of life.
The second segment of today’s gospel reiterates the need for conversion and repentance – “repent and believe the good news”. The reason for conversion and repentance is the imminence of the Kingdom of God. The God who visits the desert and lives among wild beasts and angels wishes to recreate his Kingdom in every human community and each human heart. The gospel insists that the “time” is now for this recreation to take place. It (gospel) makes a radical differentiation between the “time” of the Kingdom of God” and the end of John the Baptist’s epoch. The period of human self-justification and righteousness cedes place to the time of the Holy Spirit. In the time of John the Baptist, “the Kingdom of God suffered violence, and the violent took it by force”. Not so with the time of Jesus Christ – those the Spirit of God leads are sons and daughters of God. “True worshippers of God will worship him in Spirit and in truth.” Yes, a new day is dawned, a new style of combat must hold sway – compassion and love, gentleness and meekness.
Indeed, a desert which kills is now a place of refuge and the abode of those the Spirit of God leads. The water of the deluge of the first reading that kills and exterminates human lives turns into the water of baptism that saves human souls. The “covenant” of the rainbow which guarantees life and perpetuates the presence of human beings on earth takes backseat because the “covenant” of baptism immortalizes the human soul and creates a new bond of adoption between God and the whole of his human creation. The God whose initiative wipes away a large chunk of his creatures with water of the deluge, becomes proactive and saves his creatures through the water of regeneration.
Today, and every day of Lent, is a spiritual combat day. Right now is the time to discipline the flesh in order to save the soul. Going into the desert is to prepare for trial, and only those with the Spirit of God will return victorious. Like every good student who prepares for examination prior to examination day, so are the children of God who discipline themselves in Lent. Make no mistake about it, our desert day will come, because Jesus was not spared either. The Spirit of baptism wishes to catch fire again in us to dynamize whatever that is lukewarm, rekindle whatever is dying, and to strengthen all that is weak.
Noah survives forty days in the ark because of God’s presence; Elijah travels 40 days from the power of a single meal, and Jesus fasts forty days and night by the presence of the Holy Spirit in him. You are I can do incredibly great thinks and achieve humongous feats when the Holy Spirit dwells in us and leads and directs us. The combat of Lent needs the stamina of the Spirit; to conquer sin and evil, we require the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus descends into the water of the river Jordan for baptism, but comes out of it Spirit-filled and with a declaration “this is my Son, the beloved”. Jesus’ solidarity with human beings, although he needed no purification from sin, shows what powers reside in the waters of baptism. As the second reading says, it is not water for the removal of bodily dirt, but the water of empowerment and transformation.
What are you doing with the power you received at your baptism? The new name you received at baptism as a challenge to imitate your patron saint, how far? The Spirit of adoption you received “crying out Abba Father,” to what purposes? The trials of life – the challenges of moral fidelity, the demands of charity to your neighbors, the obligation to be frugal with earthly resources and care for the planet earth, the thirst for justice and respect of refugees, the temptation to indifference and the lethargy to proclaim the imminence of the Kingdom of God – all these are deserts awaiting the Spirit of God to turn them around. Will you take the first step on this journey with Jesus Christ to turn deserts into habitable places? The desert of your soul, where all these wars are fought, there these trials await you to prove that you can be victorious.
Assignment for the Week:
Invoke the Holy Spirit (Come O Holy Spirit) daily, especially when your desert experience comes.