The wonderful poet Mary Oliver wrote that "there are so many stories more beautiful than answers." We Episcopalians pride ourselves on being people of the Christian Story and trying to ask the right questions rather than imposing someone's easy answers to life's hard issues.
The tale is told of a man and his son who moved into a house near a canal. Seeing that the water was polluted, the father ordered his son to stay away from the canal. A few days later, the son arrived home carrying a wet bathing suit. The father asked if the son had been to the canal and he admitted it, but noted that he was carrying the suit and, so, gave into temptation and swam. The father asked why he had a bathing suit with him while walking along the canal, and the son replied that he had it with him in case he was tempted! Perhaps many of us have a similar view of resisting temptation.
Jesus today is tempted in the desert for forty days (Jewish code term for a long time.) The gospel of Mark simply tells us that it happened, Matthew embellishes the tale with a three-prong set of grave temptations. In today's gospel reading, Luke (4: 1-13) repeats those three but changes the order of the temptations in order to present last the temptation addressing an issue of special importance in his community.
In the first temptation, Jesus refuses to convert stones into bread. Obviously One who can, and does, change bread and wine into his sacred body and blood could also change rock into loaves of bread. The point, however, is that we are not simply animals for whom satisfaction of physical needs and wants will suffice. We must have the spiritual dimension. Lent reminds us to turn away from self- centred desires to spiritual concerns. Our disciplines of fasting and abstinence keep us on that track.
The second temptation, in Luke's order, finds Satan showing Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus may have unlimited wealth and power if he will surrender to the Dark Side, but he refuses, reminding us that power must always be exercised for the good of others. That is a hard sell in our reactionary, pseudo-Christian culture. Jesus elsewhere even says that the passion for accumulating wealth is the single greatest danger to one's spiritual health. So now in Lent we find new avenues for the service of others.
In the final temptation, Satan transports Jesus off to the top of the Temple in Jerusalem and there challenges him to jump off the roof, so that God's protection will be shown miraculously by saving him before he hits the pavement. Jesus again survives this temptation, reminding us that we are not to try to force God's hand. God is not our cosmic bellhop or personal servant. God will do what God will do in God's good time. What we do will be fructified according to God's timetable, not ours. We must not attempt to manipulate the Divine for our personal purposes. We must be on God's agenda, exercising patience, and in that we will find blessing this Lent.
To solidify that last point, I close with an ancient Chinese tale. A poor boys' horse is stolen, and when the boy tells his father, the father says "Maybe that is good, maybe that is bad." Next day the boy spots a wild herd of horses, and tells his dad, who says "Maybe that is good, maybe that is bad." On the following day the boy tries to break one of the horses and is lamed. When he hobbles home, the dad comments, "Maybe that is good, maybe that is bad." The next day the Chinese Army comes to conscript all the able-bodied young men to war.
No comments:
Post a Comment