Mt 4:1-11
Dear Friends, when I was a young seminarian I especially remember one retreat out many because the priest talked about the Golden Calf. I thought it was a silly example. The priest and I both shared a profound ignorance of the Old Testament typical of almost all Catholics at the time. However, this priest brought some wise life experience and I brought some awesome youthful arrogance.
Today, my knowledge and love of the Old Testament is drastically different. I also bring a goodly amount of life experience to today’s Scriptures. /so now I really relish the Golden Calf story.
The temptation story of Jesus is rooted in the Golden Calf story. The Jews, in the desert, failed the call to trust and faithfulness. Jesus, the new Israel in the eyes of Matthew, rejects the call of Satan. Each temptation and each responding quote by Jesus is taken from chapters six to eight in the Book of Deuteronomy where the Old Testament story of the Golden Calf holds center stage.
All these failures of the Jews mirror our failures today. They are rooted in the basic pull of the human heart.
The modern day version of the Golden Calf comes in many forms. The human heart has a seemingly inexhaustible ability to create new idols that basically give us a false sense of security and make us the center of reality. This process is called sin. Our addictions and distortions in the area of money, sex, drink, drugs, prejudices, hostilities and so many other activities are simply the advanced model of the old time Golden Calf.
The human heart is always tempted to produce new idols to replace the true God. We do not like the insecurity of being creatures. Our sins are a way of making smaller gods that we can control and that basically make us the center of reality.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus shows us the true model of faithfulness in the midst of the devil’s slick deceptions and illusions. Jesus will not accept the version of the Kingdom according to the standards of Hollywood or Wall Street or Main Street. Only the Word of God will reveal the true Kingdom. Jesus shows us the way of faithful acceptance of the Father’s call where there is no space for the comfort and illusion of the Golden Calf.
Lent is a time of fasting and prayer, penance and almsgiving. Lent is a time of preparation. The hope is that these sacrifices will open and cleanse our heart to help us celebrate more profoundly the great events of our faith, the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ in the final days of Holy Week, the Triduum.
