Jesus is led to the desert by the Spirit where He encounters the temptation by the devil. Now in the other gospels we have a more detailed account of the temptation, but in our scenario, we have not heard any other account but this one. So what was the temptation that Jesus encountered in the desert? Well, what is the sin that Satan wants Jesus to commit. The answer is obvious. The greatest sin for us is the greatest success for Satan and that sin is idolatry, to whit to bow down and worship any god but God Himself, Satan prefers to be the object of worship, but he can take second prize to your idolatry. What is the temptation given to Adam and Eve? Reject God and follow the words of Satan. There is the promise, if they do what Satan suggests they will become like gods. They will lose friendship with God, but what matter is that if we are almost on an equal footing with God himself. Who needs God, when we can be like Him?

 

This is Satan’s temptation to Adam and Eve and you can rest assured that this is Satan’s temptation to Jesus. Idolatry. Further, as you know the number one sin in the Bible is idolatry. It is from this sin that all other evils come.

 

That same message exists for us.

 

The sin that brings forth the greatest evils is when we turn from God and seek other gods even if those gods are ourselves. The sin of idolatry is deceiving because we figure as long as we are not offering sacrifices to RA, we are not committing that sin. Or we can fall into the cliché of making something else our god, like money, sex, drugs work, career, etc. However, as I said, that is a cliché. Yes you can make those things your god, but the real problem is that you do not make God your god.

 

What is the fruit of a society that practices idolatry? The opposite of the promise. The promise is prosperity, the fruit is division and destruction. All evils come from this simple sin. This is why you have to beware of anyone who reduces the Catholic faith to morality and does not recognize that immorality comes from idolatry.

 

Even today, we see people complain that the world would be a better place if there was no such thing as religion, forgetting that those who are presently doing violence in the name of religion are practicing idolatry. We do not worship Allah in any way, shape or form. Allah is not the same God we worship and to worship Allah is a form of idolatry. When we listen to those who preach what is called a post-Christian philosophy in which they say, we do not need God anymore, we are listening to a form of idolatry. Are you really going to find truth in the philosophy aisle of the university bookstore or are you going to find it in the wisdom that is wrought from seeking Christ.

 

We worship the God who is, and is manifested to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Worship of that God is what leads us to a wisdom that teaches us who we are and what we are all about. If we seek anything else first, but that wisdom which is found only in Jesus Christ, we will get lost in the fruits of idolatry which lead to destruction and division.

 

This is why, we can understand that if Satan wants to destroy the world, he will lead people to succumb to the sin of idolatry, for that leads to all the other sins. If he can get Jesus to succumb to that sin, we become lost forever.

 

What are the signs of the sin of idolatry in our life? when God has no place in our lives. When we give God a form of lip service. When we encounter God on our terms or we dismiss Him altogether. However, if we order our life around our worship and relationship with God, we grow in wisdom that teaches us great truths. We learn which priorities matter. We learn what teachings lead us to order our life and we learn how to life for the future which is found in the promise of eternal life.

 

When God teaches us to accept whatever befalls us and to allow that to lead us closer to who Him, the greatest trials lead us to great treasures. When we reject God and do things our own way, everything that stands in our way is an obstacle that must be eliminated in order for us to get our way.

 

You can play a real life king of the hill and leave resentment, hatred and dissension in your path. This will ultimately destroy you after you destroy others or you can humbly seek the will of God and and find every obstacle becomes a blessing that bears a fruit greater than you can imagine.

 

Immediately, after his time in the desert, Jesus begins preaching the Kingdom of God is at hand, for the Devil is defeated by resisting him and his role as puppet master of humans is about to come to an end. Now you and I are confronted with the same choice. So many around us succumbed to the Devil’s temptation. We can too or we can, day by day, choose to worship God and be his servants. We can grow in wisdom and grace and lead others to do the same.

 

When we seek to be disciples of Christ in this way, we become revolutionaries of the Kingdom of God. Our revolution is one of humble service to the God of love, even if that humble service means dying a martyr’s death that others may live like the disciples of Christ who humbly sought God more than life at the hands of ISIS last week.

 

God bless you,

Fr. Robert J Carr

 

Fr. Carr is an alliance member of the New Song Community (Canção Nova). He is the pastor of Holy Trinity Quincy, MA and is the editor of this blog. He is the author of several books, blogs and hundreds of videos all of which you may find on Youtube. He also has a regular radio program on WebRadio Canção Nova. Which he podcasts on Mixcloud and here on Catholicismanew.
You can follow him on twitter as @frbobcarr and on Google Plus as +Fr. Robert Thoughts, comments on the homily? Let us know at Facebook