Reflection to the Word on the Sunday of March 9, 2025
The temptation of Jesus : “4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 4:2 where for forty days he was tested by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. “
Most religions have an opinion about fasting. Some of them have created even obligatory regulations. One of the most famous fasting stories was, when Jesus had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. However, in the Old testament also Moses had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. It looks like the fasting story of Moses inspired the New Testament authors to state the same thing about Jesus in a hagiographic style, which means that the content of the story is more a legend than facts telling.
The gospel says that Jesus did not eat, the book of Exodus says that Moses didn't eat and did not even drink. Nonetheless both periods are too long as usually a healthy human person can go for three weeks without eating and a maximum of two or three days without drinking. Beyond that the human body would be seriously injured and getting fatally ill.
In fact it, story-wise, happened that while Moses had spent 40 days on the mountain, the people down there thought that Moses perished within the mountain range, died and will not ever come back.The very mold of our Lenten behavior is shaped after Jesus fasting in the desert, though he might have drunk water, but we actually don't know what exactly and historically happened to Jesus, as the whole story is a literature framework around his struggle with pivotal temptations.
Nonetheless, a 40 day fasting is still too long, but our Lenten season nevertheless is based on the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert, allegedly fully fasting.Thus,our Lenten season comprises around 40 days but hardly any churches or any denominations take that seriously that anybody would really be fully fasting for 40 days. During the Lenten season Catholics do a little fasting here and there the Greek orthodoxy a little bit more but almost no Christians even attempt the 40 Days of full fasting.
The major regulations does not exist usually contain the obligation of full fasting, just refraining from certain types of food, mostly from meat. Some ancient religions have 40 days long fasting but they do it only during the day but after sunset they allow people something to eat or even much as they want so it is not the same thing what Jesus of Moses did according to the traditional, but hagiographic stories.
Some Protestant Christian denominations even deny the very significance of any physical fasting during Lent, and they are trying to put emphasis on spiritual practices to make the Lenten season fenced enough. They also let people personally decide what practices they want to have for themselves to make Lent meaningful.
And one of the major feature is the LENTEN SEASON that it is a transitional time, it is a preparation for the future, which is the WORLD to COME. Thus, we have to look forward to the future and moving on regarding the past. It is a wise advice from a wise adviser, as we face the reality, which surrounds us pervading our cells fate deep realized in long generations before us.
This realization became a slogan level saying all over the world, that we should take the things we can not change as they are, or it is as it is, and regarding the things we might be able to change for the better, we should strive to change them doing our best. With this approximate context we can read the book of the Ecclesiastes that :
" For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; (...) a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; (...) a time to keep silence, and a time to speak."
Nonetheless, whatever happens, we can not do anything good on our own, because everything, all beginning, all procedures and all outcomes are in the hand of the Lord. Meanwhile, it is also a wholegrain truth, that God is the very force behind the Universe, who gives us courage to overcome cowardice, gives us light to lead us in the darkness, gives love to weaken hatred, brightness to outsmart the evil, goodness to find meaning, God gives us a great heart to make a stand even against impossible odds.
Sometimes, it is not visible, sometimes it seems quite the opposite, but the direction of human history, including the direction of the whole universe, is the moving forward. The book of Genesis starts with the word in the Beginning, as “in the Beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.” However, we know from the Bible, that this world will not last forever.
In the Book of the Revelation, the author, after this world vanishes, had seen already the new one, as he wrote that “ I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more. ” As the prophets were able to see the future, as it had already happened. The second letter of the Apostle Peter Peter, in chapter three, corroborates this vision that the world will definitely will end, by saying that “the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”
And the letter does not stop here, but adds that “however, according to the Lord’s promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” Thus, God promises the the World to Come is coming, as it is written in the Book of Revelation, that “He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
We know exactly how important the past is, and the good traditions are there to be kept, respecting our elders is a moral must, also keeping a vigilant eye on the teachings and the deeds of our ancestors is one of the greatest pillars of wisdom. Yet we have to see that the universe, the world, the humanity are subjects of constant change, though King Solomon said famously that there is nothing new under the sun.
However, even the Sun is not stationary, and it is not only aging by every hour, but it also rushes in space with an astonishing and maybe hair-raising average speed of 720,000 km/h. We exactly know, that the Sun will not last for ever, just until the World to Come finally arrives, as the Book of Revelation describes it, that “ I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and (...) He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.”
Thus, every hour, every day, with every generation we move forward to the World to Come.
Generation by generation, one by one we are moving forward to the World to Come, which is salvation and Heaven. The Second Letter of Peter ask us, the believers, that “what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with God.”
May the Lord grant us the privilege to look forward favorably to the World to Come, by the Holy Spirit, AMEN.
