Christ, Cast Out for Our Sake.

Christ, Cast Out for Our Sake.

 

The temptation of Christ in the desert has a shocking beginning.

 

“At once the Spirit drove him out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him” (Mark 1:12-13).

 

According to St. Mark, “The Spirit drove him out”.

 

The original Greek verb is, ‘ekballō’, which literally means ‘to throw out’, ‘to cast out’ .

 

It is a term that is used to refer to ‘exile and banishment’.

 

As per St. Mark’s words, ‘Christ’s desert experience was a more radical embrace of fallen humanity that first meets the eye’.

 

Pope Benedict XVI says in his book, Jesus of Nazareth: “It is a descent into the perils besetting mankind, for there is no other way to lift up fallen humanity.”

 

According to him, ‘The wilderness of Judea is a kind of anti-Eden’.

 

‘Rather than the lush landscape full of flowers and fruit, it is a desolation’.

 

‘It is a dry desert, in contrast to the four-rivered paradise’.

 

‘Adam had been charged with guarding the garden. Now it has been overtaken by wild beasts’.

 

 ‘Satan had slithered into Eden, now he reigns supreme over the wasteland’.

 

Jesus’ journey into the desert then is like a rescue mission.

 

 In the words of  Pope Benedict XVI, “Jesus has to enter into the drama of human existence, for that belongs to the core of his mission; he has to penetrate it completely, down to its uttermost depths, in order to find the ‘lost sheep,’ to bear it on his shoulders, and to bring it home.” (Jesus of Nazareth, 26).

Jesus takes upon himself the human ugliness, its weakness, even punishment for its sins.

 

He is not only the victor for us, but also the victim on our behalf.

 

The ‘casting out’ of Christ into the desert is a sacrificial casting out.

(Read Leviticus 16:10, 20-22)

 

  Christ’s temptation in the desert is a model for Lent.

 

The desert experience is directly linked to the cross.

 

 Lent leads right into Good Friday.

 

The temptations are part of Jesus’ ‘descent’ into our human condition.

 

Jesus was like us in every aspect  except sin.

 

 Lent is not only a period of preparation but also already a participation in Christ’s   work for our salvation.

 

During the Lenten period we must contemplate Christ’s agonies in the desert—his hunger, lack of shelter, exposure to the devil, and the horror of isolation.

We must also mediate on His suffering on the cross.

 

It is His sufferings that will lead us to eternal joy.

 

Lourdu Selvam.