Genesis 9:8-15 / 1 Peter 3:18-22 / Mark 1:12-15
Nowadays, traveling out of the country is not as easy and not as convenient as before.
Because when we enter into the other country, we will have to be quarantined for a number of days, and it is usually around 14 days.
Similarly, for foreigners, or when we return to Singapore, we will have to serve a Stay-Home Notice of 14 days.
We may think that those 14 days should pass by quickly and all we need to do is just eat and sleep. That sounds quite easy-going.
But for those who had served a Stay-Home Notice, they will say otherwise. In fact, they say it is quite depressing and they felt like they were in some kind of prison.
Well, if 14 days is hard to go by, then how about 40 days? Actually, we had gone through a bit of that last year during the “Circuit breaker” which lasted for 1 month, 3 weeks and 4 days.
That was tough, as we had to stay indoors, we can’t go out and also there was nowhere to go. We won’t want to go through that again, certainly.
But if we think that was tough, how about spending 40 days in a big boat, and in an ark, with 8 persons and a whole lot of animals, and it was raining non-stop and there was nowhere to land.
Certainly, our endurance, patience and tolerance are put to a stress test, with outside being wet and cold and inside being stuffy and smelly. The ark was certainly not a luxury cruise ship.
Well, that was the situation with Noah’s ark and we heard about it in the first and second readings. That makes the “Circuit breaker” look like quite a piece of cake.
In the gospel it was quite another situation. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness without food, being tempted by the devil, there were wild beasts and the only consolation was that the angels looked after Him.
Even so, the wilderness was far from comfortable. In fact, besides being all alone, life is also stretched to the edge.
And with the devil coming in with the temptations, then Jesus had to call upon every ounce of strength to keep focused and firm.
The gospel did not say how the devil tempted Jesus. But going by our own “Circuit breaker” experience, we can guess what it was.
It is the favourite tool of the devil and it is called despair. Despair comes from two Latin words, “de” which means down, and “sperare” which means hope.
So, despair means to give up hope. Because when we give up hope, then there is nothing else to look forward to, and we lose faith and the devil will then use us.
Yes, despair is scary. We can imagine if despair sets in Noah’s ark, and they give up being patient and tolerant and they go for each other’s throats. Then they will not see any rainbows at the end of the 40 days of rain.
With Jesus, He could have given in to despair in the harsh surroundings of the wilderness and the disturbing temptations of the devil.
If He had given up, then there will be no Good News to proclaim.
But having gone through the 40 days and resisted the devil’s temptations, Jesus then set off to begin His mission with these words: Repent and believe the Good News.
And that is the shield to resist the devil’s temptations. Repentance is the answer to despair. Believing in the Good News gives us hope.
So, in our 40 days of Lent, let us persist in prayer, in fasting and in alms-giving.
We repent of our sinfulness and put our hope in God’s forgiveness.
Then we will be able to see the rainbow of God’s love and be filled with the Good News of joy.