Do Not Be Afraid

“When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate
and were very much afraid.
But Jesus came and touched them, saying,
‘Rise, and do not be afraid.’”

Matthew 17:6-7

“Listen to him” were the words the Father spoke at the Transfiguration. At Jesus’s baptism, the Father spoke to the Son “You are my beloved son and with you I am well pleased,” affirming Jesus’s identity as Son. Now, the Father affirms Jesus’s identity once again before the three Apostles and gives them a command “Listen to him.”

Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John up the mountain and was transfigured before them, giving them a glimpse of His glorified state. When Jesus was transfigured Moses and Elijah was present too, representing the Law and the Prophets. When the Voice of the Father spoke, the Apostles covered their faces in fear (for if one should see the face of God they should die) but Jesus touched them and told them to stand up. They no longer needed to fear the Voice or Face of God for they are looking at it now (Jesus) and when they do, not only will they not die, they will be saved. Moses and Elijah were also gone, telling us that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. So then truly as the Father says, we must “Listen to him.”

And what is it that the Lord says that we must listen? To deny ourselves, pick up our crosses, and follow Him daily. To go and bear fruit that will last. To feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick and imprisoned, to comfort the sorrowful, to spread the Good News. In other words, to love God and love neighbor as yourself.

Brothers and sisters, the Lord invites us up the mountain today to encounter Him, to see His glory, and to listen to His Father’s Voice. Where is the mountain in our lives that the Lord is asking us to climb? Where is that mountain that we rather not go up? Where is that place that we try to not think about because it causes pain and anxiety but we know we must. The Lord waits to encounter us there to bring healing, to cast out all fear with His love, and to raise us up as He did Peter, James, and John. There is no need to fear — no matter how high the mountain, how treacherous the terrain, how dark or scary it is — for we only need to “listen to Him” and His glory will shine forth, casting out all fear and darkness and making all things new.

Led By the Spirit

“At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert
to be tempted by the devil.
He fasted for forty days and forty nights,
and afterwards he was hungry.”

Matthew 4:1-2

On the First Sunday of Lent, the Church always invites us to reflect on the Temptation of Jesus. In the Matthean account, we hear of the three temptations with which the devil tempts Jesus: changing the stones to bread, jumping from the parapet, and bowing down to him. Those three temptations can really be summed as as pride, fame, and wealth or possessions.

If Jesus listened to the devil, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread,” He would have fallen into the temptation of needing to prove that He is the Son of God. Jesus did not need to prove anything. He knew who He was, and He would not let His authority be a play of pride. We see this in the very beginning when we are told “Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit.” Jesus was obedient to the Father and followed where He led. In knowing who He was, Jesus knew that where the Father led, He must go, and where He goes the Spirit will be with Him, and where God is, evil cannot stand.

Notice that the devil from the very start attacks Jesus’s identity, “If you are the Son of God…” One who is confident in who he or she is has no need to prove to others who they are or what they can do. If we know and believe that we are indeed the Father’s beloved sons and daughters, then we will have no need to prove anything to anyone. We must know who we are and we must be confident in that, otherwise, our foundation will become shaky and when the devil comes to rock it with his lies, it will not be hard for him to crumble it. We are the Father’s beloved sons and daughters.

Another important detail is the duration of Jesus’s fasting. The forty days remind us of several things – Noah and the flood, Moses on the mountain, Elijah and his journey to Mt. Horeb, the Israelites in the desert. So, Jesus’s 40 days should remind the Jewish reader that something important is going to happen. After these 40 days, Jesus began His public ministry, teaching, preaching, healing, comforting, and raising the dead. But as we know already, this was not welcomed by all. The very fact that Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights tell us that He has come to fulfill and not abolish. He is remaining true and faithful to the traditions of His ancestors and the Mosaic Law – that He was a Jew through and through, but now He is bringing the Jews to where God has promised them – true freedom, a life with God.

The 40 days Jesus spent in the desert also represent our lives. In our lives we ought to retreat and go into the deserts of our hearts, seeking God and asking for His strength and grace. There will also be times when we will be tempted by the devil. We will be among all types of people, people who like us, people who dislike us, those who wish us well and cheer us on and those who wish our failure and rejoice in our defeat, but God’s angels will never fail to minister to us and Jesus Himself, the bread of life will always sustain us and nourish us on this journey.

As we begin our Lenten observances, let us remember that Jesus is with us and is truly like us in all things but sin. Like in this passage, we are told that after all His fasting, Jesus was hungry. Jesus has a human nature. He knows our struggles and our difficulties. He knows the lure of the devil. But He also knows triumph over evil. This Lent let us journey confidently through the deserts of our lives, being led by the Spirit, knowing who we are, whose we are and trusting that Christ journeys with us.

Come Holy Spirit, teach me to follow Your prompting and be led by You so that I might know what God’s will is for me and so live it out.

Even Now…

“Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.”

Joel 2:12-13a

Lent is such a privileged time for all Christians. It reminds us of who we are, to whom we belong, and how that great chasm between God and man was bridged. It tells of the greatest story mankind has ever heard, the story of an all-powerful God who has become one of us so that we might be saved – not by magic or spells, but by His very own blood, His very self.

On the first Sunday of Lent we always read of the Temptations of Jesus, and what strikes me each time I read and ponder that passage (in all three synoptics) is that Jesus was led by the Spirit. That even before He started His public ministry, Jesus showed the importance of obedience. All that Jesus does is from the Father and He does nothing apart from the Father (see Jn. 5:19). We know Jesus stays true to this His entire earthly life. Even when the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees plotted and schemed to get rid of Him, Jesus remained steadfast in carrying out the will of His Father. Nothing can get in the way between the Father and the Son – no trials, no difficulties, no hardships. Throughout His public ministry, Jesus showed us what it means to be sons and daughters of the Father and what that relationship should look like.

Relationship is at the very heart of the story between God and man. From the moment Adam and Eve disobeyed God until the time of Jesus, a great chasm existed between God and man. Sin was great and the desire to return to God was weak. God sent prophets, appointed judges, and anointed kings, yet the people still chose to not listen and placed their trust in other gods, resulting in slavery and captivity. “Return to me” is what God said to the people through the prophet Joel. God desired that His people return to Him so much so that He did the unthinkable – He sent His only Son into the world to take on our human flesh. He came not to condemn but to save, and He did so by giving Himself completely to His Father and to His people, all the way to the Cross. When Jesus stretched out His hands on the Cross, He bridged the gap between heaven and earth, for in Him humanity and divinity are one.

Even now — even in our sinfulness, in our wayward ways, in our stubborn pride, in our selfishness — even now, say the Lord, Return to me. The Lord does not care where we are or where we’ve been, what we are doing or what we’ve done, He simply cares that we are here now, at this moment, desiring to return to Him.

This Lent, may we grow closer to the God who cries out to us, “Return to me.”

Adapted from the introduction to “Return to Me,” our Lenten reflection devotional.