Mark 1, 12-15:
Sunday, 21th February 2021 (1st T C B)
Every first Sunday of Lent the Word of God reminds us of the temptations of Jesus in the desert, before he began his public life. This year we hear the version of St Mark the Evangelist, the shortest and most concrete.
All of life is like a desert that has to be crossed, and in which temptations are experienced. Jesus too, like every human being, experienced temptations. The apostle James tells us in his letter that “temptation comes to everyone when his own desires draw him away and entice him”. But like Jesus, we have the strength to overcome them. We have the strength and action of the Spirit. If the desert is the place of trial, it is also the place of encounter with God.
After the temptations, St Mark gives us the first words of Jesus’ public life: “The time is fulfilled; the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel”.
It is a new opportunity. Jesus challenges us again at the beginning of Lent. The Kingdom of God has begun in us. It is possible to live the same illusion that moved Jesus. Believe the good news of the Gospel. It is the new covenant that God wants to make with us (as he did before with Abraham, Noah or Moses). Jesus is the sign that the Father offers us: with his life, death and resurrection he obtains a new life for us all. He asks us to listen to his word and to set out towards this new life.
What will be my response this Lent?
Juan Ramón Gómez Pascual, cmf
