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March 07, 2007
Steve's Lenten Temptation study-reflection
By observing the forty days of Lent, Christian’s are imitating Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days. So I thought, tonight, we would focus on the wilderness story itself as a basis for our Lenten reflection.
In the story the devil comes to Jesus at the end of 40 days. Jesus must have been, quite literally, starving. It would have been very hot and dry in the day, yet cold at night. I guess night-times would be pretty dark, too. The devil was probably only one of a number of ‘terrors’ he saw and heard in his tired and very possibly disturbed psychological state.
Three questions for pondering
1. How often do we do things in the heat of the moment? When we’re hungry, thirsty, tired, sexually frustrated, gagging for a fag, at our wits end…It’s so easy just to say: “fuck it” and opt for immediate satisfaction. The book of Genesis tells the story of how Esau sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for a bowl of food — he was so hungry after a day’s hunting. We’re definitely a culture that opts for short-term pleasure over long-term gain. We easily lose sight of the big picture.
It’s when we’re overwrought, overwhelmed, at our wits end that we’re in danger. Let’s take a few moments to think of the things we’ve done, said, or not done that we should have done, in the heat of the moment, recently. Maybe it’s something ongoing. Maybe there are things we can do to help stop us getting into those situations again — ways of making the decision before the decision, if you no what I mean. Maybe some of these things we need to take some time to say sorry over.
2. Our culture is obsessed with money, power, prestige, fame. And people will do anything to get any of it. OK so none of us may be queuing up to get on Big Brother, but, I think, there is an element deep down in everyone that wants to be in Cool and the Gang, wants kudos for what we do, that enjoys an ego massage from time to time.
I guess this section demands that we think about that classic Sunday school question: who or what is getting our worship at the moment? What trade-offs are we making? What deals have we struck to ease our path? Be honest, what do you really aspire to. Then think about what your life would be like if it came to be. Be careful what you ask for, it might come to pass.
3. The third temptation or test is a slightly strange one. Was the devil taunting Jesus into a petulant display of power? Or was he sewing seeds of doubt into Jesus’s mind about who he was? We need to remember that, as far as we know, this sort of thing was pretty new to Jesus.
Do we know who we really are? The John O’Donohue talk we listened to the other week, helped us get a sense of how beautiful and treasured we might be. I wonder, because we maybe don’t truly apprehend it, whether our sin is not putting God to the test, sometimes? We do everything in our power to ensure we never have to. Will he really send his angels to lift us up?
In the Church calendar Lent ends in the Easter Weekend where we’re reminded that, for all the evil that came against him, Jesus never once rose to the bait. Even unto death Jesus was playing it cool.
Posted by Paul Northup at March 7, 2007 10:44 AM