During the past few
months, television news programs have featured daily interviews with
some of the ordinary men and women—the
“grunts” Navy commanders call them—who
comprise our nation’s armed forces and now find themselves stationed in
Kuwait.
Many of these
soldiers have been training in the Kuwaiti desert and, in their
interviews, have discussed the impact the desert has had upon them. For
example, they’ve seen nothing but a vast expanse of sand before them.
They’ve also felt the dramatic change in temperature as day turns into
night and night turns into day. And, they’ve come into contact with
some rather strange critters whose home is the desert.
All of the soldiers
I’ve seen interviewed agree that the desert is no place for a vacation.
For them, the desert is a place they’d rather be from than in.
And, they concur, the desert tests one’s sense of purpose and direction
in life, one’s mettle and resolve, as well as one’s courage and
conviction.
Based upon these
interviews, I’d also add that the desert is a place where these soldiers
are being tested to mature in two very important ways.
First, as they
confront the “nothingness” of the desert, each soldier is tested to see
what he or she really values in life. Surely, their experience in the
desert reminds the soldiers of the many “creature comforts” at home they
may have become so accustomed to that they took many of those things for
granted. But, the desert also reminds the soldiers about people
and relationships. Finding oneself somewhere out in the middle of a
godforsaken desert, one’s spouse, children, family and relatives,
friends, and acquaintances are distant by miles yet present in memories,
perhaps frozen on a photograph carefully secured in one’s breast pocket.
The soldiers don’t
know with any certainty whatsoever if they’ll ever enjoy those creature
comforts or see any of those people again. If and when they do,
however, their testing in the desert may well teach the soldiers the
importance of making sure that they invest themselves and their energy
not so much in passing and transient creature comforts but in those
relationships which add so much value to human existence, as short or
long as that may be.
Second, the
experience of the desert also tests each soldier’s sense of self and
confidence. I’m not talking about becoming more self-reliant and
invincible, a veritable force unto oneself. No, to be self-possessed
means that an individual has clear insight into one’s talents and
limitations and, most importantly, those bedrock values that challenge
personal and spiritual maturity as well as nurture and sustain a
meaningful existence. Because of this, a self-possessed person does not
fear stating what one believes or standing for what one believes unflinchingly and forthrightly.
Now, don’t confuse
this type of confidence with arrogance. True confidence is steeped in
personal character and enables self-possessed people to speak the truth
unflinchingly and forthrightly from their hearts and to stand up for the
truth on their own two legs. Less self-possessed
people—who
lack the depth of experience that would otherwise enable them to be in
possession of their true selves—fear
to state what’s in their hearts. Instead, they reiterate what they
believe others want to hear or what the crowd says. They also
stand for everything which really means that they stand for nothing.
Like our soldiers in
the Kuwaiti desert, Jesus spent forty days in the Judean desert where
his mettle and resolve as well as his courage and conviction were put to
the test. The gospel relates how Satan—the
primal force of evil—tested
Jesus, just as the wild beasts—those
odd critters—did.
As a result of this extended period of testing, Jesus grew in
self-possession and confidence and he emerged from the experience
stating the truth unflinchingly and forthrightly. He said: “This is the
time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and
believe in the good news.”
“This is time of
fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand.”
The truth Jesus
learned in the desert and which took root deep in his heart through his
forty days of testing was, actually, something quite simple. Yet,
as simple as that truth is it is very
difficult to achieve in terms of integrating this truth into one’s
character and one’s daily life as tests emerge time and again. In our
language, Jesus was saying: “Everything that God has promised is going
to be fulfilled. Get ready. God’s reign is just around the corner.”
Think about it.
Jesus teaches us
that everything which gives depth, meaning, and purpose to human
existence will soon be ours. What we hope for as a reward for living a
virtuous life to be achieved beyond the grave is actually coming to
fulfillment very soon. We don’t have to die to get there! To
participate in this time of fulfillment as members of God’s kingdom, all
we have to do, Jesus says is: “Repent, and believe in the good news.”
The repentance Jesus
was preaching about was not that of “feeling sorry” for one’s sins. No,
Jesus was calling for something much deeper and something far more
personally and spiritually challenging than that. What Jesus is calling
people to change is how they think about their lives and relationships
and, in particular, to stop choosing evil over good when tested in the
desert. That is, when human beings sin, they fail a test and transform
the gift of life that God has breathed into their souls—a
life each human being is free to enjoy to the hilt—into
a vast desert wasteland where nothing is enjoyed.
We all know how a
hot temper or choleric disposition can explode and ruin a quiet moment
in an all too busy day, a celebrative holiday gathering of family and
relatives, or a peaceful meal as a family. When an individual chooses
to unleash the full fury of one’s anger, this person turns a home and
the possibility of a rich and happy family life into a desert where
everyone would rather be from than in. What God has
intended for spouses and for every child to enjoy, this individual’s
turns into a desert. If only that person would change the way he thinks
and learn to control his hot temper or choleric disposition, all that
God has promised spouses and children—all
that human hearts hope for—is
just around the corner. This is what Jesus teaches.
We all know the
power of pride. When an individual chooses to be unwilling to admit
that she is wrong, that individual allows his pride to transform her
life into a lonely desert. The prideful individual sets into motion an
attitude through which her relationships with other people slowly but
surely wither on the vine. If only that person would change the way she
thinks and choose to adopt a more humble view of herself, all that God
has promised in terms of friends and memorable moments—and
all that human hearts long for—would
be just around the corner. This is what Jesus teaches.
We all know that
self-chosen acts like lying, breaking promises, and violating vows teach
others that they cannot trust our word. Yet, whenever an individual is
tested to lie and fails to tell the truth, whenever an individual is
tested to break a promise and fails to uphold one’s promise, or whenever
an individual is tested to violate one’s sacred vows and fails to live
according to those vows, he dupes himself into believing that he can get
away with his duplicity. This individual turns his life into a desert
of his own making, a desert that is characterized by mistrust. If only
that individual would change the way he thinks and choose instead to
adopt truth as his standard, all that God promises in terms of dynamic
relationship characterized by mutual and lasting trust and fidelity—once
again, all that the human heart longs for—would
be just around the corner. This is what Jesus teaches.
We all know that
addictions to alcohol, drugs, tobacco, and pornography lead self-made
addicts to conclude that they can’t live without those things. When
tested, addicts choose to walk the pathway rendering them incapable of
recognizing how they’ve grown dependent not free. In reality, addicts
are not really living even though they breathe! Addicts turn their
lives into deserts and their experience of life is parched, becomes
lifeless and, ultimately, rots away into nothingness, eventually
indistinguishable from the earth itself. If addicts would only change
the way they think, they would recognize that the freedom God has
promised them as His sons and daughters—what
the human heart longs for—is
just around the corner. This is what Jesus teaches.
By choosing to sin—and
we all do in one way or another—we
transform the precious yet fleeting life that God has breathed into our
souls into a desert. This desert is no place for a vacation. It is a
place we would rather be from than in. But, as the
soldiers in the Kuwaiti desert remind us in their interviews, the desert
is a place that tests one’s purpose and direction in life; it also
tests one’s mettle and resolve; and, it tests one’s courage and
conviction.
Like Jesus, we must
learn lessons from our deserts as we contend with Satan and the wild
beasts. We need to examine those places in our lives where we’d rather
not take a vacation and to be from rather than in and,
ultimately, to realize how the choices we have made have transformed the
gift of life that God has breathed into our souls into the desert in
which we find ourselves and into which we’ve forced others. In this
vast, desolate, and lifeless space, we will be tested in order to
strengthen our purpose and direction in life, to strengthen our mettle
and resolve, and to strengthen our courage and conviction as well. In
each and every test, the choice is ours to make.
The good news is
that while we may have been unfaithful to God and may have forsaken the
gift of life that God has breathed into our souls, God has promised
never to be unfaithful to us.
Today’s first
reading from the Book of Genesis reminds us that God placed the rainbow
in the sky after the flood. He did so not to remind us of His
promise never to destroy the world with another flood. No, the text is
explicit: God put the rainbow in the sky to remind Himself of His
promise to us. No matter how much we’ve turned our lives into a desert,
God will never unleash His destruction upon us. The only destruction
that will visit us is that which we unleash upon ourselves and inflict
upon others from our deserts as we freely allow the power of evil to
rule our minds and hearts.
It’s
so very easy to think about the season of Lent as a time to focus upon
sin but, in light of the message conveyed in today’s scripture, it may
well be a misdirected focus. Lent is the time to concentrate upon our
baptism and how God has already freed each and every one of us from the
power of evil. “Baptism,” St. Peter wrote in today’s epistle, “is not a
removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear
conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” What needs to be
tested in the desert is how we think and all of the reasons we’ve used
to justify the evil choices which have caused our consciences not to be
clear. Then, through this time of testing, we will find ourselves
strengthened to change how we think about things and to recommit ourselves
to the pathway Christ has taught us.
In baptism, we
embark upon a pathway and lifestyle that will keep our consciences
clear. The season of Lent provides time to review where we are now headed.
Is it toward the kingdom of God and the fullness of life that God has
breathed into our souls and the promises He has made to us? Or, do we
find ourselves lost somewhere out in the middle of a desert—parched,
almost lifeless—and
losing hope in the promise made by God? Do we find ourselves believing
that God has a right to and will unleash his fury upon us for the lives
we have destroyed by choosing evil?
Like each of us,
Jesus was tested in the desert. His test—just
like ours—was
not an enticement to sin. Instead, it was a test that would reveal the
guiding force in his life, the power of evil represented in Satan or the
power of good represented in his Father.
When we are tested
to choose evil in the deserts in which we find ourselves, it is a test
not so much to sin but an opportunity to strengthen our purpose to live
as Christians, to strengthen our resolve to act virtuously as Christians
do, and to strength our conviction to be Christians in name and in fact.
What will prove to
be the stronger power in our lives when we find ourselves tested in our
desert, the power of evil or the power of good? What is it we truly
desire, creature comforts or a clear conscience? If it is the latter,
“Repent, and believe in the good news.” This is what Jesus teaches.
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