Do we truly believe that Jesus is Lord
and Saviour in our hearts? Because if we truly believe that Jesus is Lord and
Saviour, then it will be manifested in the way we live. It will be manifested, not just
in words, but in deeds. Otherwise, the confession of faith is empty. This
confession of faith in Jesus as Lord is critical. That is why in today's Gospel,
you notice, the temptations of the devil is about Jesus' true identity. We know
that Jesus stripped Himself of His divinity and became man to lead the way,
to show us that it is possible to live a life of love, a life of truth as a
man. And so, Jesus was a man like us in all things. And He was also tempted, like
us all. And we take note of the temptations. Twice, the devil said to
Jesus, "If you are the Son of God, turn the stone into a loaf. If you are the
Son of God, throw yourself down. For the scripture says, 'He will put His angels
in charge of you.'" If. The devil wanted Jesus, to hesitate His identity.
He was testing Jesus' confidence in Himself and in His Heavenly Father. He
wanted Jesus to prove that He is the Son of God, and to test the Father, to see
whether the Father would save Him. But Jesus refused to test His Father, because
He knew who He is. And that is the reason why many of us, you notice, we are
so insecure. We always need to prove ourselves. Those who are insecure are
always trying to prove themselves, to let people know they are very good, they are
very capable. If you know yourself, there is no need to prove. There is no
need to blow your trumpet of who you are. If you are confident of yourself,
if you know your identity, if you know your talents, you just live it out.
Insecure people are always trying to prove themselves. That's why they are
never happy. No matter how talented they are, always trying to prove
themselves. They have no self confidence. Their confidence come from
the acclamation of the people. My dear brothers and sisters, today, we are
invited, therefore, to take our baptismal vows seriously. This allusion to
the Sacrament of Baptism is a reminder that this is what Lent is preparing us, so
that we will be able to confess with conviction that Jesus is Lord, and that
we will be able to enter into the death of Jesus and rise with Him, because it is
the Paschal Mystery that saved us, the passion, death and resurrection of our
Lord. The Sacrament of Baptism is a re-enactment, so to speak. The Sacrqament of
Baptism is to make Jesus' Paschal Mystery real in our lives, dying to sin, rising to a
new life. That is what the baptism is all about, so that we will become sons and
daughters of God. The same questions will be asked of us on Easter Vigil, or
Easter Sunday, when we are called to once again renew our faith in Jesus,
first by renouncing Satan, the world and sin. And that is why Jesus showed us the
way, "You shall worship only the Lord your God, and no one else." And so, I
ask you, my dear brothers and sisters, as we begin this season of Lent, as we
begin this journey, will we be able to have that confidence to regain our
identity as sons and daughters of God? Because over the days, over the years, we
have forgotten who we are. We live like the world, we live like pagans. We have
worldly values, although we say we are Christians. Even the devil, my dear
brothers and sisters, he can cite the scripture for his own purpose. We too. We
twist and turn the Word of God to suit our preference, not because we live in
God. We twist and turn like the devil. And we need to be very careful. Because
that is what the Lord is asking us. Are we true to ourselves? If we submit to
Jesus, simply because He is Lord and He is the Word of God in person. If you
truly believe in Jesus, you will believe in all that He has taught us. We will
subscribe. If we want to be confident of
living a Christian life, regaining our sonship, to be proud of our sonship, to be
able to declare to the world that we are sons and daughters of God, we are Christians,
then my dear brothers and sisters, we need to ground ourselves in the Word of
God, Meditate on it, pray over it, share it. But most of all, we need to live out the
Word of God. Only in this way, my dear brothers and sisters, can we truly
arrive at Easter with this clear conviction of Jesus as our Lord and
Saviour.
