First Sunday of Lent
Have you ever had a string or a chain that seemed to be tied up in knots, so much so that it feels like it’s impossible to untie? Of course, we always find those knots when we have the least amount of time, and need that chain or that string to be used without it being all bundled up in knots. Sometimes the knots can be the result of lots of jostling in the pocket or in a backpack, and what started out as two individual sides to the chain or string, suddenly appears to be inseparable without breaking it.
In our first reading today we hear about a familiar story. Adam and Eve tie themselves up in knots. We all know the story: God gives them every good thing on earth, but forbids them to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of course, that’s the tree that Satan tries to get Eve to eat, which Eve then gives to Adam. That was the first knot. And then Cain murders Abel: the second knot. And the knots keep on getting more and more entangled with each other as human history unfolds. Sure, there are some Godly men and women who manage to untie a few, but the chain seems irrevocably tied up in such a way that it can never be returned to its original form.
Now, the story we heard, called The Fall, is usually presented as Eve’s fault. Maybe some of you ladies received a little elbow nudge from your husbands during that first reading. And certainly, Eve was the one who disobeyed God first. But did you hear what St. Paul said in our second reading from his letter to the Romans: “Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned…” St. Paul places the blame not on Eve, but on Adam (this is where you ladies can give a little elbow nudge back to your husbands). Adam was the head of the human race, and in Adam’s good choices or bad choices, all of humanity was to receive blessings or curses.
So what does Jesus do in our Gospel? He starts to untie all the knots. Jesus, the new Adam, the new head of the human race, who was also fully God, starts to untie the knots that sinful humanity, starting with our first parents, had created. And Jesus starts by taking it to the one who really caused the mess in the first place: Satan.
In one sense, Jesus begins at a disadvantage: he has a human nature, which is subject to temptation. Jesus had also been fasting for 40 days in the desert, so that human nature was weak. But Jesus was proving that, even in our weakness, united to God, humanity can defeat Satan. Satan, for his part, gives the three most common areas where humans fall: physical desires, not trusting in God, and worshipping false gods. How many times have each one of those (or even all of them together!) been the downfall in our lives?!? How many times has it taken far less tempting than Satan did to Eve to get us to fall?!? And yet, Jesus stands firm and rebuts Satan’s temptations with the Word of God.
Jesus unties the knots by resisting the dominion of Satan. The final knot is untied when Jesus offers Himself, the unblemished Lamb, who knew not sin but took sin upon Himself, and sacrifices even the good of life for the lives of all of humanity. And the gift of the new Adam, as St. Paul reminds us, far outweighs the punishment that the first Adam brought upon us. “For just as through the disobedience of the one man [Adam] the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one [Jesus], the many will be made righteous.”
What knots have we tied ourselves in? How have we so entangled ourselves that we can’t seem to get things straight? How have we given in to the Tempter’s seductions? Whatever they are, they do not stand a chance against Jesus. Jesus knows how to untie each knot, but we have to ask Him to do so. It is evidence of the evil one to force himself upon us. God always invites us to accept His way, but never makes us do anything.
We are not condemned to a life where we constantly give in to the temptations which seek to tie us up, to bind us in the chains of slavery. If we are baptized, we have all the grace we need to say no to the major temptations of life: misuse of physical desires, mistrust in God, and giving more attention to lesser goods than to the One who is Goodness Himself: God.
It would be easy if temptations were really two little angels, one of which looked light and glowed, the other of which was red, surrounded by fire, and carrying a pitchfork. But that’s not the way life works. The knots we get tied up are often knots that look good, that appeal to our lower appetites, that seem to attractive.
But Jesus is always there to help us see temptations for what they are: empty, fleeting, and wholly unsatisfying. And the same way that Jesus fought temptation is a sure recipe for success for us: knowing the Word of God and allowing it to illumine the path we want to take to find out if it’s the path God wants us to take. Let Jesus untie your knots. Find freedom in obedience to God’s way and friendship with Him.
