TEST OR TEMPT?
Today’s
Gospel tells us, ”The Spirit drove Jesus
into the wilderness and he remained there for 40 days, and was tempted by Satan
(Mark 1.12). Matthew surely startles us when he states that the Spirit led Him
into the wilderness “to be tempted by the devil.” (Mtt.4.1).
We are startled. This certainly can’t mean
that the Holy Spirit – the third person in the Trinity should intend that
Jesus, the second person of the Trinity become Man, would sin – deliberately
offend God. It would amount to God persuading God to do something ungodly –
sin.
When we pray that God should not lead us into temptation we don’t suspect He might be tempting us to sin. We’re asking Him to prevent us from getting into
situations we can’t handle and not allow us to get ourselves tangled up with
people who are up to no good. We are
also asking God to protect us from over-confident selves.
The
Letter to the Hebrews helps us here, “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet
without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of
grace, that we may receive mercy and
find grace to help in time of need.(Heb.4.15).
In the divine scheme of things
it is was of vital importance that the Son of God, the Son Man, one of us
should be exposed to the experience of our first parents, Adam and Eve – to
come face to face with sheer evil - Satan himself, who in his nastiness
contrived to dislodge the beauty of their holiness, their godliness. Sad to
say, they were enchanted by such seductive charm.
The Spirit led Jesus to be exposed to the same tempter, for Jesus
to confront, defy, and triumph over him. This nasty testing was a glorious
triumph for Jesus. What is so consoling is that we have Jesus on our side. The nasty temptations that spring on us by
surprise do not make us sinners. The grace Jesus won for us through
His own vanquishing of the devil enables us to react and resist if we choose to
do so. It’s a very different matter if we thrive on our temptations, lap them
up and look for more.
Sometimes God wants to test
and challenge us so as to bring out the very best in us. He wants us to come
through as champions. He provides us with
the graces to do so. His grace is sufficient for us. We may not welcome
this but we deal with this as He would want us to.
On the other hand, the tempter
, who has no love for us, will strive to bring the very worst out of us. He
tried this on Jesus and got nowhere. He will play on our weaknesses, which vary
from person to person. With cunning he will suggest to us that what know to be
wrong is not so bad after all. . There’s something in us that is all too ready
to yield to what we fancy . We even feel comfortable in doing so.
For my Lenten reflection I’ve
chosen this passage from the Letter of St. James, “Blessed is the man who
endures trial, for when he has stood the TEST he will receive the crown of life
which God has promised to those who love him.
Let no one say when he is TEMPTED, "I am
tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted with evil and He Himself tempts
no one; but each person is tempted when
he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is
full-grown brings forth death, (James 1.12-5).
During this Lent let us be good to ourselves. Guided by God let us
discern what are the temptations most damaging to ourselves. For us they are
occasions of sin. For us it is best to avoid them. And don’t we need to pray
for ourselves and for each other?
God bless you
PETER CLARKE, OP
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