A very small word (in the English language), it can determine much of life… IF…
IF… suggests some conditions,
opens up possibilities,
outlines options,
implies choices,
calls on a person’s freedom…
It is the very word that we find repeated three times in today’s gospel text (Matthew 4:1-11).
Satan, sometimes referred to as ‘the Devil’, uses this expression in addressing Jesus.
He frames in this way the temptations with which he challenges Jesus.
Twice, Satan says:
“If you are the Son of God…”
Having failed to obtain what he wants, Satan changes the format of his attack and says:
“If you will bow down and worship me.”
The strategy of the Devil is threefold, it is all at once:
- a challenge to Jesus very identity,
- a test of his total commitment to the only God,
- a promise of reward for giving in to the temptation.
Our daily life presents us with many ‘IF situations’…
They have the same purpose:
challenging our identity and testing our commitment to God,
with a promise, of course, to satisfy our longing, and our craving, for some desired ‘good’.
Often times, we are faced with these words or similar ones:
‘If you think about it, you will agree that…
‘If you see what others do, you will accept also…
‘If you remember what happened, you cannot refuse…
‘If you love me, you will do this…
Each one of us can make his/her own list of IF statements of confrontation, or provocation.
Every one entails a decision that will make clear who we are, and to whom we have committed ourselves.
This period of Lent is precisely a moment of becoming aware of
who we are,
and who God is for us.
The very challenge that Jesus faced.
He cannot fail to help us respond to it as he did.
Note: Another text is available on a different theme, in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/1er-dimanche-du-careme-annee-a-2023/