O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the meditations of our hearts. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
A young man was sent to Spain by his company to work in a new office. He accepted because it would enable him to earn enough to marry his long-time girlfriend. Their plan was to pool their resources and put a down payment on a house when he returned.
As the lonely weeks went by, she began expressing doubts that he was being true to her. After all, Spain is populated by beautiful women. The young man declared that he was paying absolutely no attention to the local girls. "I admit," he wrote, "that sometimes I'm tempted. But I fight it. I'm keeping myself for you."
Soon afterwards, the young man received a package. It contained a note and a harmonica. "I'm sending this to you," his girlfriend wrote, "so you can have something to take your mind off those girls." The young man sent her a email telling her that he was practising on the harmonica every night and thinking only of her.
When the young man returned home his girl was waiting at the airport. As he rushed forward to embrace her, she held up a restraining hand and said sternly, "Hold on there. First I want to hear you play that harmonica!"
Every year the season of Lent starts with the story of how Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the devil.
I think that many of us are alarmed by the fact of temptation, by the fact that when we pause and look into our hearts we notice that there within them are desires that we know are wrong, wants that we know if indulged will lead to evil.
We are alarmed because we think of ourselves as good people - basically honest, hardworking, upright people - yet there - lurking inside some of us is anger, jealousy, envy, racism, hatred, lust or bitterness...inside still others of us, there are cravings of every sort - from the desire to own ever more material things than we now own, to the desire to possess other people - to control other people - to be able to use their bodies for our own pleasure - their time to meet our own needs - their talent to earn praise and profit for our own selves.
The fact of temptation, the fact of evil desire, insofar as it exists in us, as it exists in me, is distressing.
For some people, the more vivid the sense of temptation - the more disturbed they become. They begin to question their spirituality, their faithfulness, their ability to do good, they begin to feel inferior - weak - uncertain - and insecure.
I think that at the heart of this uneasiness, at the heart of this distress, lies the thought that if we are really doing what we should be doing then we would not experience the temptations that we do experience, that our impulses would all be for the good, that our habits would keep us from even considering doing something we ought not to do.
To this feeling the Gospel today replies - No! That is not how it works.
Temptation is a part of the human condition - indeed it is so much a part of our humanity - that when we are most connected to God then we are most tempted.
Look at Jesus for a minute - He is raised in righteousness by Mary and Joseph, he studies, he works, he observes the Sabbath, and sits with the teachers of the law, and finally - when the time is right he is baptised by John in the Jordan and the voice of God approves him and the spirit of God settles upon him and then wham - he is tempted in the wilderness...not once - not twice - but three times and we are told that when the devil finally leaves Jesus - he does so only to wait for another time - for an opportune time says my translation...
The good news of today's gospel reading lies in the fact that Jesus himself was tempted.
You are not spiritually or morally inferior because there lies within you desires that are unworthy, you are not less than faithful simply because you consider cutting a corner or two here or there. In fact the opposite might well be the case - you might be experiencing temptation because you are worthy of being tempted.
My friends - if you are already travelling toward's a particular destination as fast as your feet can take you - and that destination happens to be the one that the devil wants you to arrive at - he is hardly going to stick out his leg and try to trip you - he's not going to suggest that you turn around and go the other way is he?
You are not spiritually or morally inferior simply because you experience temptation. Nor are you a sinner because you feel sinful desires. Sin only comes in when you succumb to temptation, when you indulge the impulses that you should not indulge.
Some people break down temptation into three categories - categories that roughly match the experience that Jesus went through while wandering in the wilderness in the days immediately after his baptism.
First there are physical temptations - the urges we have to satisfy our physical wants regardless of how we go about it.
Then there are emotional temptations - temptations to indulge one's feelings - one's ego - to make oneself the centre of all things - to receive all glory and all praise and all power - all the attention that you want - that you should have...
And then their are spiritual temptations - the temptation to test God - to dare God to prove his love - to manipulate God - to get God to use his magic powers on your behalf that you may impress others with them - that you may show to others your favoured status in the eyes of the Lord.
Personally I am not convinced by this threefold division of the nature of temptation - though we are tempted in all three ways.
I not convinced - because when all is said and done temptation is always a spiritual matter and because temptation rarely comes to us as a clear cut decision between good and evil.
Temptation always comes to us shrouded in goodness - in plausibility - in attractiveness. It comes as an outgrowth of the circumstances that we are in - circumstances that have their own logic and their own appeal.
Do we put on our sweats and walk or run this morning? No. It's raining and we don't want to get sick.
Should we talk about the issue that we have been avoiding with our spouse?
No - the kids will be home soon and we'll be interrupted.
No - she is not in a good mood.
No - it won't do any good anyway...
Should I go to the doctor about the pain in my chest?
No - it's probably just gas.
No - if it is serious then it won't make any difference anyway.
No - other people are sicker than I am and I don't want to abuse the health system like others do.
We face situation after situation everyday, some of them relatively trivial, and some of major consequence, in which the choice is not between good and evil, but between what is hard and what is easy.
To be tempted is to accept what comes naturally - food when hungry - water when thirsty - sex when lonely - power when an authority - condescension when working with inferiors - impatience when dealing with the slow, the old or the feeble - rudeness when dealing with those who are paid to serve - intolerance when dealing with those who don't fish or cut bait - hatefulness when dealing with those who contradict you - smugness when considering one's own performance... pride when thinking of ones' own humility, one's own generosity, one's own political astuteness, social grace, tolerance, or faithfulness.
All these things are natural - all these things are easy - and - as you know - all these things are common. They are the fruit of temptations that are hard to refuse.
You're hungry Jesus - if you are the Son of God - do what comes naturally to you - turn these rocks into bread. Use your advantage to your advantage - it won't hurt anyone.
You want to change the world - to make a difference - to see justice done - to help the poor - to set your people free - all you have to do is simply bow down right now and worship me...
Jesus - you know God loves you. Your plan will sell a lot easier if people see that you are special to Him. Let God save you from certain disaster - let his angels carry you up from the ground in the presence of the priests and the teachers and everyone in Jerusalem. You won't have to go around from home to home then - preaching and healing people. You won't have to work to convince people to follow your way - they'll line up for miles and miles just for a chance to see you...
Temptation is a natural thing. It appeals to our natural impulses - both for good and for bad. Temptation is also an easy thing - that is a major part of it's attraction.
And there is only one cure for it - That cure is focus - or faith.
Christ showed us the way - by rebuffing the things that tempted him with his focus on what God revealed to Israel through Moses and the prophets.
When tempted with the easy way - he drew from his heart to his mind the word of God that he had been taught: One does not live by bread alone - Worship the Lord your God and serve only him. Do not put the Lord your God to the test..
Christ resisted the easy way, the natural way - by recalling God's way - by speaking it out in the midst of his vision, his dream, his temptation.
And so can we - and even more so. More so - because Christ is in us, he who won the victory over the evil one, he who resisted successfully - dwells within us.
He knows how hard it is to walk the walk and talk the talk - he knows how easy it is to close your eyes to the troubles around you, your ears to the cries of need and despair and your hearts to the hearts of those who live with you or near to you. He knows the attraction of the quick fix and the struggle to keep on the difficult road. And he stands ready to help when we call upon him.
When we touch the Christ who is in us. When we reach inside ourselves and ask of ourselves - What would Jesus do here and now -then we are on the road we should be on.
At the end of our days God will not ask us if we did wrong - nor will he ask us if we have been tempted - but he will ask us if we have learned to play the tunes of love on the spiritual harmonica he has given us. He will ask if we have walked the road that Christ was on in the direction that Christ walked it.
And if we have - and in doing so we happened to stumble and fall once in a while - God will bandage the wounds and wipe the tears from our eyes - and give us a hug - for we will have done all that he expects of us.
Praise be to his name. Amen.
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