1st Sunday of Lent 17 Feb 2013 Sermon

1st Sunday of Lent 17.2.13 Innocence


We can meet fire with fire but it is sometimes better to meet it with water – to put the fire out.

When confronted with the evil of the world we might respond in kind but it is far better to respond with good and so defeat it, as Our Lord resoundingly defeated the devil in the temptation scenes.

It is possible to look on this world as a jungle in which we must eat before we are eaten. Under this approach success would appear to belong to those who are the most ruthless, and most determined to finish at the top.

Many a Christian will be tempted to abandon the ways of Christ, the apparent humility and gentleness of the Saviour – for the sake of making their way in the world. Being meek and gentle, for instance, how far can one get in business or politics like that?

The temptations the devil put to Our Lord in the desert amount to this kind of thinking. If you are going to get anywhere in this world - the devil is saying – you have to cut a few corners; tell a few lies; break a few promises. Do things my way and you will be Somebody.

Our Lord replies with the simplicity and directness of divine truth: Man lives by the word of God; we cannot tempt Him; we must worship and serve only Him.

He refuses to descend into the sordid world of the devil, the world that so many people occupy.

He offers us instead a purer world with clean air and the beginnings of heaven, if we are prepared to trust Him.

The importance of being innocent! Innocence is one of our greatest weapons. It might seem like weakness at first sight but is actually a great strength. It is strength because it puts us in close union with God, the Source of all strength.

Our Lord, through His complete innocence, was able to recognize and dismiss evil. Our Lady also was able to crush the head of the serpent through her being sinless.

We are not so fortunate and not so innocent.

But the next best thing is to be forgiven of our sin and cleansed of it. So we seek that remedy.

We seek to get the poison out of our system, the poison of sin. Sin has crippled us. Now we want to stand tall and walk free.

We want to re-discover lost innocence, to turn around wrong ways of thinking. It is very hard when false ways are ingrained but it can be done with exposure to the light, to the truth.

Innocence means doing things God’s way. Thus we find ourselves to be more alive; more in tune with the source of all power; free of the weakness of sin.

We are better off without sin as we are better off without sickness. Would you rather have a headache or not, a stomach ache or not, arthritis or not...? Of course we prefer health to sickness. So it must be in the spiritual world. We prefer innocence.

This is how Jesus overcame the devil. I don't need your deviousness, your falsehood. I can do better with the truth, from above.

So we drink in the goodness, the simplicity of divine truth and it clears the way for us.

We may be persecuted by evildoers. We may not get to the highest places or be in the world’s richest elite. But we will be rich in the grace of God, and be storing up heavenly treasures.

Lent is the way to Easter; the Cross leads to the Resurrection. This is the path we are on. If we cannot avoid the Cross we will certainly encounter the Resurrection.