CONQUERING BY THE WORD
Rev. Fr. Kingsley Chukwunonso Ogbu
St. Bernard 's Parish Ojiegbe Onunwakpu Igbeagu Izzi LGA Ebonyi State
Abstract
In this First Sunday of Lent reflection, Fr. Kingsley Chukwunonso Ogbu, SMMM reminds us that victory over temptation comes through the Word of God. Just as Jesus conquered the devil in the wilderness by proclaiming Scripture, we too are called to know, believe, and speak God’s Word in our trials. When we stand firmly on the Word, we overcome; when we doubt it, we fall. Lent is our season to return to Scripture and conquer by the Word.
Homily for 1st Sunday of Lent Yr A by Fr. Kingsley Chukwunonso Ogbu,SMMM
Today God is calling us to conquer our life circumstances by knowing the word of God and using it appropriately in proclaiming to our tempting situations. By so doing, we shall overcome our temptation. For every trial/test that comes our way, the correct answer/solution is already there by the corner. Our success lies in the ability to find the correct answer and bring the right solution to the problem. We can only find this in the Word of God.
The Bible tells us in Rev. 12:10 "... and the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God". In vs 12 it says "and they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the words of their testimony Thus we see th manifestation or what the word of God said in Prov 18:21 that the power of life and death is in the tongue. If we proclaim and live out the word of God to our situations, we conquer our situations. But if we close our mouth and refrain from proclaiming and living out the word of God to our situations, our situations conquer us. You can see this reality from the two temptation episodes of Jesus in the wilderness and Adam and Eve in the garden. (cf. Gen 3:1-7 and Mtt 4:1-11)
In the Gospel pericope of today (Mtt 4:1-11) we see Jesus Christ conquer the devil who is the tempter, by the Word of God. When the Holy Spirit took Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, the tempter first tempted Jesus, using his situation of hunger, to go against the Divine will and turn the stone into bread, given that Jesus was hungry, after 40 days and 40 nights of Fasting. But Jesus overcame the devil with the word of God written in Deut. 8:3, that man does not live by bread alone.
Secondly, the tempter tempted Jesus to mock the providential care of God by risking his life unnecessarily, thereby mocking martyrdom and even his passion that was to come in the future. The devil having seen that Jesus used the word of God to conquer his temptation, now uses the word of God to tempt Jesus by quoting Psalm 91: 12 that God has commanded his Angels to guard Jesus in all his ways. "They shall bear you up in the hands lest you strike your foot against a stone". But Jesus still used the word of God written in Deut 6:16 to defeat the tempter. This word of God says, "you shall not put the Lord your God to the Test".
Thirdly, the devil tempted Jesus to derail his loyalty and mission. The tempter took Jesus to the high mountain and showed him the glories of the world and asked Jesus to fall down and worship him the devil in order to get all the wealth and glories of the world.
If Jesus had done as the devil said, he would have failed the first Commandment. He would have derailed his loyalty from God to the devil and would have failed on his mission of saving mankind from the devil back to God. Many of us men and women of today worship the devil just to get wealth. But Jesus strongly used the word of God written in Deut 6:13 to rebuke the devil. "Begone Satan! For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him alone you shall serve". Then the devil left him and the angels of God came and ministered to him.
The Temptation of Jesus vs The Temptation of Adam and Eve
In his temptation, Jesus knew the word of God and used it to conquer by standing up to the devil and the devil fled from him (cf. James 4:7). But Eve in the first reading of today, (Gen 3: 1-7) knew the word of God but did not believe and use it to conquer. She rather began to consider the word of the devil and the word of the devil seemed nicer to her than the word of God.
God said don't eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. If you eat the fruit, you shall die. The devil said "you shall not die". Eve believed the devil instead of God and she eventually died. Her death was a spiritual death of falling away from the state of grace where God originally placed them.
Brethren, let us always believe the word of God, act it out in our lives and we can use it to conquer our temptations.
MARANATHA