Jesus is tempted to use creation just for himself.
This can happen with money, other people, the environment and religion. We are called to look after God’s creation, not control it.
To be co-workers with God is our call – to focus on people as well as plans, to feel the needs here and abroad.
One view of God is that he looks after the world for good or bad, and we are just the receivers. The other is that we are co-workers in developing the world and God’s creation. Jesus was tempted to throw himself away from the world as he knew it, but he did not. He would live by the word of God, and God would care for him as for the parents in the first reading.
‘A Christian who doesn’t safeguard creation, who doesn’t make it flourish, is a Christian who isn’t concerned with God’s work, that work born of God’s love for us’ (Pope Francis, 2015).
The temptation to Jesus was to take him off the path of his father. Like him, we are often tempted to use the creation of God just for our benefit. Our call is to be co-creators of the world with God.
Imagine a garden where everything is beautiful. It is the ‘creation’ of a gardener. Then imagine that someone has ruined one corner of it – notice the difference. Apply this to how we treat God’s creation. May we care for your creation, O Lord, with the love you have for creation and for us.
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