In the rhythmic cycle of liturgical year, the First Sunday of Lent invites us to venture into the wilderness. The Gospel of Luke places Jesus in the desert for forty days, where he faces fundamental temptations that challenge his identity and mission. Each represents a distortion—physical need, worldly power, and spiritual presumption—and each offers a shortcut around suffering. Jesus' responses reveal that true nourishment comes from God's word, authentic authority through service, and genuine faith trusts without demanding proof.
This wilderness journey connects to Deuteronomy, where Moses instructs the Israelites to remember their history: "My father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt." This ritual acknowledgment recognizes that faith is born in displacement, in journeys through hostile terrain. The offering described celebrates not just physical provision but spiritual liberation—freedom from slavery to become a people defined by covenant rather than circumstance.
Paul's letter to the Romans unpacks what this faith looks like in practice: "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart." Faith is not a distant ideal but an intimate reality that transforms both speech and conviction. When he writes that "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved," he affirms that salvation transcends boundaries, fulfilling the promise that all nations would be blessed through Abraham's descendants.
Together, these readings reveal that temptation is not peripheral to faith but central to its development. In the desert—whether literal or metaphorical—we discover what truly sustains us. The wilderness becomes not just a place of testing but a space for clarification where, in the absence of distractions, we face fundamental questions about our needs, identity, and relationship with God.
Lent invites us into this desert landscape, calling us to examine what we hunger for, what powers we serve, and what securities we cling to. This journey through temptation is not about perfect performance but faithful perseverance. The cross that lies ahead reminds us that the path of faith often leads through suffering rather than around it. Yet this same journey promises that what awaits beyond the desert is not just survival but abundant life, not just resistance to temptation but completely life-changing through it.
©2025 James Dacey Jr.
