Today's Gospel in Art - Jesus was tempted by Satan

Feb 20th, 2021

Three Little Devils, Illustration by Antonia Vesna, 2016 © Antonia Vesna artist

Gospel of 21st February 2021 - Mark 1:12-15

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness and he remained there for forty days, and was tempted by Satan. He was with the wild beasts, and the angels looked after him.

After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the Good News from God. 'The time has come' he said 'and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.'

Reflection on the Digital Artwork

Today we read about Jesus being tempted by Satan in the wilderness. It reminds me of this story of three junior devils coming before Satan as they prepared to visit earth, in order to destroy people's souls. The first junior devil said that he would like to try to trick us by telling that there is 'no heaven'. Satan replied that people have a natural hope and that this lie would not work very well.

The next one stepped up and said that he would try to convince people that there is 'no hell'. The devil responded that this wouldn't work either because every person has a conscience which warns them of hell, so he told the junior devil that this strategy couldn't fool them for very long.

The last demon offered his deception by simply stating that he would whisper to people that 'there is no need to hurry'… Satan loved this plan!

The devil knows that we love to put things off. We will start committing tomorrow, we will go to mass next week, we will help the homeless when it is Summer and warmer out there, etc… But if we procrastinate in little things, then we will delay the more important things too… And certainly for our spiritual lives this would be dangerous. CS Lewis puts it beautifully: like motoring, don't wait until the last moment before putting on the brakes but put them on gently and quietly while the danger is a good way off…

LINKS

Today's story - https://christian.art/en/daily-gospel-reading/720
Christian Art - www.christian.art/index.php

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