The Temptations in Today’s Wilderness - Missionary Commentary Sunday February 18, 2024

Readings for the First Sunday of Lent

Genesis 9:8-15
Psalm 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
1 Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1:12-15

USCCB Link to the Readings

Download a shareable .pdf

In many of the nations that Christian missioners live and work in, accompanying people of cultures and languages that are new to them, oppressive regimes can take over and adopt policies that put their natural resources up for sale to powerful companies, enriching those who are already wealthy and powerful, and increasing economic disparity, as well as ecological havoc.

We may think that God’s love for the human family was all that motivated our Creator to save us from sin and death, and bring us the Reign of God, but the Creator’s vision is much broader than that.  There is a holistic dimension to the drama of God’s gift of salvation that comes out in today’s readings, one that challenges the short-term and selfish views of oppressive rulers, complicit in the plans of large, amoral corporations, and the indifference of industrialized nations.

The covenant agreement that God enters into with Noah benefits not only his family and their descendants, but all living creatures.  Similarly, Jesus is not by himself in the wilderness, in today’s Gospel reading, but is attended to by angels “and wild beasts” in this testing space, before he defeats the power of evil and starts his mission, announcing the Good News of the arrival of the Reign of God in word and deed.

This holistic perspective stands in stark contrast to the objectivizing and recklessly exploitative and covetous gaze of modern industry, leading to destructive, toxic treatments of our natural world, as well as a disregard for its effects on developing nations and their climates: that is, on their inhabitants, their land, their water, their air, their wildlife and their forests.

May we proclaim with our lifestyles and words the mission of Christ, through which we are restored to a harmonious relationship with God and with one other, recovering our perspective of direct connection with our cosmic family, especially with people living in poverty, who are the most susceptible of us to the effects of the ecological injustices that arise from our blinkered collective viewpoints, and the shortsighted decisions of technocrats.

Notes on the Sunday Readings

First Reading
Borrowing from the available literary sources and oral traditions among the peoples and cultures of the Middle East, the inspired authors of Genesis write of God as reestablishing all life on earth, including the human race, after the flood. God enters into a covenant, a solemn agreement between parties, with Noah and his family, promising not to destroy the earth. The appearance of a rainbow will always remind God of this promise.

Psalm
This part of a psalm of lament (different from other kinds, such as psalms of praise, or royal psalms) focuses on the “way” of the Lord, who mercifully guides repentant sinners and the humble into this path to justice and peace.

Second Reading
Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection are not only exemplary for Christian conduct in the world, but, through the waters of baptism, provide the effective power for them to be able to lead this way of life with confidence. In this way God patiently saves us, just as God saved Noah and his family from the flood, Paul writes.

Gospel
Jesus, like other biblical figures (Moses, David, Elijah), and like the people of Israel itself, is tested in the wilderness. This foreshadows the Passion narrative of this Gospel of Mark. He survives this trial, overcoming evil and beginning his mission, proclaiming the good news that God’s victorious reign is at hand.

Notes and commentary by Fr. Bob Mosher, 
a member of the Missionary Society of Saint Columban.

To stay up to date on the latest developments,
 visit https://uscatholicmission.org/go-forth

Support our work – make a donation at
at https://uscatholicmission.org/donate

Please pray for the missions.
May God bless you in all the ways you Go Forth…