I always get fired up in a movie when I see someone who is a warrior. One of my favorite warrior characters is Gandalf from the “Lord of the Rings” movies. I love the fact that he is a gentle and caring father figure to so many in those movies, but when push comes to shove, Gandalf is ready to throw down and fight. One of my favorite moments is when he is facing the huge monster called the balrog in the mines of Moria. The Fellowship of the Ring are all with him–the hobbits, Gimley, Aragorn and Legolas. They all need Gandalf’s protection, because he knows that this gigantic, fire breathing monster is too much for the rest of them, so he tells them all to run while he stands his ground on a bridge. The balrog approaches, and Gandalf bellows, ”YOU SHALL NOT PASS,” and slams down his magical walking stick, bringing forth a burst of light and making the bridge crumble, taking the balrog with it. And even though Gandalf gets pulled down with the monster as it falls, he has accomplished his mission–saving the others. Also, spoiler alert, he comes back later.
Something about the bravery of these characters is so stirring to us. When I watch those moments of heroic self-sacrifice like Glandalf’s moment on the bridge, it fires me up to go to battle myself. Today we see the ultimate warrior, Jesus, go to battle with Satan in the midst of the desert. With each of Satan’s temptations, Jesus responds in strength, using the truth of God in Scripture to repulse every one of his attacks and finally telling him, “Get away, Satan!” He is victorious and Satan is sent packing. Awesome!
But when we see this amazing victory of Jesus, it is easy to only think of it in exterior terms. We see Jesus and the Temptor duking it out and Jesus, God the Son, stands strong against the enemy’s work. And that is true. Jesus did contend with the Devil in the wilderness and win the victory over him, as He would time and again throughout His life. But there is more at work here. Jesus isn’t just giving us an example to follow when we are in temptation, He is showing us what we can experience when we let Him fight for us. This story about Jesus in the desert isn’t just His story, it’s all of our story, because we are Baptized into Christ, and as St. Paul reminds us, it is no longer I, but Christ who lives in me.
I believe this is one of the major reasons we sometimes get discouraged in our fight against sin. It’s easy to look at some of our fictional heroes and even some of the saints and feel a bit intimidated. We see Gandalf kicking butt and maybe part of us thinks, “Wow, that is awesome, but if I were in a battle, I don’t know what I’d do.” Maybe even some of you have been in battle and done the courageous thing, but then looked back and been haunted by not being able to do as much as you thought you should. When we look at the courage of some of the great martyr saints–St. Maximillian Kolbe, St. Polycarp, whom we just recently celebrated in the Church, St. Andrew Dung Lac and his companions–we might find ourselves wondering, “If I were tested in my faith like them, would I have the courage to act as they did?” St. Maximilian Kolbe gave his life in exchange for that of a complete stranger in Auschwitz. St. Polycarp, a disciple of St. John the Apostle, was unafraid to be stabbed to death for the sake of Jesus. St. Andrew Dung Lac was beheaded for his faith. When I look at that kind of courage, it can be a bit intimidating. Maybe you feel the same way.
But the truth of the matter is, in the most important battles we fight in life, big or small, the necessary courage comes not from ourselves, but from Jesus Christ. So when we see these incredible examples of courage, both fictional and real, it should remind us that we, as Christians, have within us all that is necessary to be supernaturally creative, because it comes from the triumphant Lord Jesus who dwells in our hearts.
This is what Jesus shows us in the desert today. He is stripped down to the basics–alone in the desert, hungry, solitary, and probably very physically weak. But with just His humanity and His Divinity, Jesus has everything necessary to meet and repel every attack of the Evil One. He is not swayed by the temptation to make food and bodily things an idol. When the Devil tempts Him in this way, He stands firm in the truth that His relationship with the Father is more primary than any bodily pleasure, however strong or enticing. When faced with the temptation to try to force God’s hand by recklessness, Jesus stands strong, knowing that He has nothing to prove because He is the Son of God and is secure in His relationship to the Father. Finally, He turns away from the temptation to make worldly power an idol, because He Himself is the source of true power, the Word through Whom all things were created, and He knows that power is not based in domination, but in loving self-gift. These are awesome victories, and Jesus wins them, not for His own sake but for ours, to show us that when we stand in Him, we will know His victory.
This Sunday, let us remember where our true identity and strength come from. It isn’t in ourselves, but in the One who has redeemed us by His precious blood. In the reading from Genesis, we see what it looks like when we rely on ourselves. Our first parents were defeated because they allowed the lies of Satan to turn them against the God who loved them into existence! They forgot who they were because Satan planted a seed of doubt in their minds, tempting them to believe that God didn’t have their best interest in mind. He overstates the limit that God set for them and makes it seem like God’s command to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge was a command not to eat from any tree. And we know all too well that Satan continues his hateful temptations up to this very day. We are all too familiar with those temptations to distrust, to recklessness, to idolizing the good things of this world, to the pursuit of power for its own sake.
But the awesome reality is that we no longer live with the burden of the defeat of the first Adam. As Christians, we live in the reality of the glorious victory of the new Adam! Praise God! So as we voluntarily take on penitential acts of prayer, fasting and almsgiving which present challenges to us, let us remember that all of these acts of penitence are chances for us to encounter Jesus more deeply, to open up our hearts more fully so that He can reign within us. Being in the desert of Lent, giving up those comforts that we don’t really need, gives us the chance to be more grounded in the love and strength of Jesus within. Just as Jesus, with His humanity united to His divinity was powerful in the desert, so we can be powerful when we allow our frail humanity to be united to His divinity! The more Jesus reigns in us, the more we will see His power giving us victory in the fight against the temptations of the World, the Flesh and the Devil.
Going back to “Lord of the Rings,” there is an awesome moment when a huge army of orcs is threatening to win and all of a sudden, Gandalf appears at the top of a big hill with reinforcements. As they all charge down the hill into the midst of the orcs, the sun blazes behind them and blinds the eyes of the orcs, making them helpless before Gandalf and the army of men with Him. This is such a perfect example of how Gandalf’s power is not just from Himself, but clearly is rooted in the Truth, represented by the glorious sun behind him. It is this same way with the heroic saints that we honor. Their courage and all of their other virtues might seem a bit overwhelming, but that is the point. They displayed a power beyond what is normal because they allowed Jesus to conquer in and through them. Their ultimate victories were the result of many smaller, daily victories where they allowed Jesus to win the battle in and through them. So when we see the saints’ supernatural courage in the midst of difficulty, we glimpse what it looks like for Jesus to work through someone in a powerful way. This is the reality that we all live in as baptized sons and daughters of God! So let us be confident as we face our daily battles with temptation!
+ Father in Heaven, we praise and thank you for the victory available to us through Your Son. Jesus, our warrior King, help us to be confident in Your power within us when we face temptation. Holy Spirit, give us the confidence to turn to Jesus’ power in our moments of need, so that we might become victorious through Him! We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen. +