Temptation
“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, was led by the Spirit in the wilderness where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”
These are the opening words of today’s Gospel. Jesus is driven, compelled by the Holy Spirit to face the fundamental dilemma of every human being: either to choose obedience to what is true and good as established by God, or to choose disobedience to God and surrender to the plan of Satan.
Every lent begins with this story. Jesus is in the wilderness fasting for 40 days, struggling against the wiles of Satan. This event comes after a high point in Jesus’ life. At his Baptism in the Jordan, Jesus heard a voice saying: “You are my son, the beloved with whom I am well pleased.” But it seems that this extraordinary blessing is not enough to equip Jesus for ministry. It seems that it is necessary for his own will and understanding to be engaged so that he will be strong and not stumble. And indeed, it is the Holy Spirit that leads him to struggle with the enemy. Jesus needs to get clear what it means to be Gods son and how he is to achieve his mission – And Satan basically tries to confuse him and lead him away from his mission.
And so here we are – the first Sunday of Lent once again. Lent seems to me to be a time for second chances. We have six weeks to mindfully repent, turn around, turn toward or maybe just stop in our tracks and take account of our lives. In a way during Lent each of us is being driven into the desert. We are all called to repent – to turn towards justice for the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the prisoner.
Finding a quiet spot in our desert will allow us each to examine our consciences – both as individuals and a community. Only when we are aware of the subtle corruption that power and privilege bring to our spirits and our lives can we make choices that allow us to follow the example of Jesus.
We live in a society that is given a great deal of power and privilege – and lent is a time when we are urged to examine how we use that power and privilege. Power can be used to exploit others – sadly as Canadians are now very aware. The way of Jesus is to use power for the good of all who will be affected.
Jesus not only battled temptation in the desert, in fact, he battled temptation until he gave up his spirit on the cross. He was able to choose faithful obedience to the father and that is the example that must be reproduced in each of us.
Temptation is something we each face every day in our lives. It is a battle between the Holy Spirit, driving us to choose Christ as our strength, our companion, and our lord – and the person of Satan with the aim of rejecting Christ.
Temptation is in fact necessary. It is the lifelong struggle to choose what is good and beautiful in the sight of God. Unless we are tempted and make choices, our faith is at best an intellectual prop. Temptation is not a sin. Sin is the free but wrong use of the good things God has given us. But temptation is the opportunity we need to use those gifts accordingly to Gods plan.
Temptation is the way God tests us to trust him, and also to let us see what the motivators in our hearts really are. Jesus humbly accepted the same challenge by being driven by the spirit to encounter Satan and all his works – to do battle with them – and prevail.
Temptation then is not for temptations sake. Because of Christ’s victory temptation is the route by which we more deeply enter into his mind, his sentiments, his heart, his style, his suffering, and his joy. So, fear not temptation. It is in our response to temptation that we allow ourselves to surrender to the work of God in each of us – to bring us to repentance and lead us home to God. God does to test us beyond our ability, so trust in him no matter what trials and temptations come your way.
Let me leave you with a visual example of how temptation works. There are many tribes in the jungles that hunt monkeys for food. They have a very simple way of catching the monkeys: They secure a hollowed gourd and place in the gourd a sweet fruit that the monkeys really like. The monkeys stick their fists in and grab the fruit, but the opening is not large enough for them to get their closed fists out. To save their lives, all they have to do is let go of the fruit – but they don’t! They just can’t bear to let go, and it costs them their life.
Lent is a time when we have to let go of something to make room for God and the meaning and purpose God offers to us.
–Dcn. Terry Murphy