As they travel on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus throws his disciples into confusion by telling them about the suffering and death he must undergo. The disciples simply do not understand. For centuries, the Jews have awaited the coming of the Messiah, whom they envisaged as a glorious warrior king, not as one who would suffer and die the most ignominious of deaths, on a cross, of all things. A person condemned to die on a cross could not be the Messiah; rather, according to the Old Law, he had to be “cursed by God” (Deuteronomy 21: 22-23). The disciples cannot see the divine plan for our salvation, while the command for all who would be saved to ‘take up his cross and follow me’ must have seemed both strange and terrifying. To reassure his disciples, Jesus allows them to witness his glorious body through the transfiguration [ … ]

The temptations of Christ in the wilderness follow immediately upon his baptism by John, the descent of the Spirit upon him and the declaration of Christ as the Son of God. Jesus has offered himself to perform what is now our first act of Christian initiation, to be baptized. When we are baptized, we are born again in Christ, and we recall the rite practised by John as we imitate Christ. As we embark upon Lent, once more following Christ’s example, we are called to renew our baptismal promises through the acts of penitence we make, once more following Christ’s example [ … ]