At that time Jesus was Jesus led by the Spirit into the desert
to be tempted by the devil.
Mathew 4:1-11
Today we are presented with two great “temptation” stories in the Bible – the temptation of Adam and Eve in the garden and the temptation of Jesus in the desert. In the first temptation story, in the garden, Adam and Eve are tempted by the serpent. They are seduced into “giving in” and the serpent wins. In the second temptation story, in the desert, Jesus is tempted by the devil but refuses to be seduced and the devil loses. Both temptation stories present us with evil that appears, on the surface, to be good but underneath is bad. Adam and Eve fall for the serpent’s good-sounding offer. Jesus sees through the devil’s good-sounding offers and resists them.
At his baptism in the Jordon River, Jesus heard his Father say to him, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Not understanding what those words actually meant, he goes to the desert, a place free of distractions, to hear himself think, to discern his path forward and get some clarity about the direction of his ministry.
We are told that Jesus was “tempted” by three attractive options offered by the devil during his desert retreat. (1) The devil suggested to Jesus that he could attract a lot of followers if he would just turn rocks into bread. Jesus said “no” because he knew that there were enough resources already to feed the poor. What was needed was not “magic bread,” but people changing their attitudes toward sharing those resources with the poor. (2) The devil suggested to Jesus that he could get lots of followers if he would just suspend the laws of nature and jump from high buildings and land unharmed with the help of angels. Jesus said “no” because he knew that if people would just open their eyes, they would see that life as it is already a miracle. He knew that with a new way of seeing, they didn’t need dramatic stunts and cheap miracles. (3) The devil suggested that if he would just align himself with political power, he could easily accomplish his mission. After all, who would make a better king than Jesus? Jesus said “no,” because he knew that if they turned their sights toward God, they already had a king!
After rejecting these three attractive offers for going forward, Jesus comes out of the desert with his simple one-word answer. Metanoiete! Change the way you think! You don’t need magic answers! You don’t need dramatic stunts! You don’t need outside power! All you need to do is change the way you look at the things right under your nose, the way you think about things you see and you will see God already working right there in front of you!
The story says that Jesus was “tempted.” What exactly is a “temptation?” A "temptation" is a personal inner struggle between good and evil, both appearing to look good, with a choice that has at its base a desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise. Temptations are such a part of our everyday living that they get their own special mention every time we say the Our Father. We pray that we will "not be led into temptation."
I am reminded of our first reading from the Old Testament Book of Sirach just week before last. “Before you are life and death, good and evil, whichever you choose shall be given you. No one does he command to act unjustly, to none does he give license to sin.” (Sirach 15:15-20) That is worth repeating! "Before is life and death, good and evil, whichever we choose will be given to us!"
A lot is made these days of our "right to choose," but little is said about our responsibility to choose wisely and even less is said about our responsibility to accept the consequences of our choices. Many of us today are like kids who go through life eating the filling out of the Oreos and throwing the cookies away. We want freedom without the responsibility that goes with it! We want the right to choose, but we are not necessarily willing to accept the responsibility and consequences that go with our choices. Even our country is famous for its citizens' Bill of Rights, promulgated in 1791, but it was only this year that a new book by Richard Haass, entitled The Bill of Obligations about our obligations as citizens, was published to balance them.
We may have the right to eat French Fries and Chicken Nuggets three times a day, but we also have the responsibility to eat healthily. If we only exercise our right to eat whatever we want, without accepting our responsibility to eat well, we will sooner or later have to accept the consequences of our choices. In school, we have a right to skip classes, but we also have a responsibility to go to class. If we only exercise our right to skip, we must be willing to accept the consequences of our flunking out of school. If we only exercise our right to a credit card, without accepting our responsibility for paying for what we charge, we will sooner or later have to accept the painful consequences of our choices – a cancelled credit card and a ruined credit score for years to come! Our culture is filling up with people who keep trying to beat this basic truth!
One of the benefits of being a young adult is finally being able to enjoy the freedom to make your own choices. One of the upsides of the freedom to choose is the ability to build your own life the way you want it through a series of personal choices. One of the downsides of that freedom to choose is the freedom to ruin your life through a series of poorly-thought-out choices. The freedom to choose, combined with the ability to choose wisely, is the ideal. Yet there are many who cannot handle their freedom well and end up losing it. Giving into the temptation to choose what appears and feels good at the moment, without the personal discipline to choose what would actually be good over the long haul, is a recipe for disaster.
Hearing about people ruining their lives has actually become a favorite American entertainment. Many think it is funny to watch stupid people on trash TV tell the world how they have ruined their lives and the lives of those who have been associated with them. Every day people like Judge Judy, Jerry Springer and Maury Povich make big bucks featuring people who have ruined their lives and the lives of those around them because of the poor choices they have made. They have the "freedom to choose" but choose poorly. They have the "freedom to choose" but they don't have the ability to discern what is of value. Illegitimate children, ruined marriages, sexually transmitted diseases, financial ruin, family disintegration, squandered opportunities for a good education and loss of reputation are only a few of the consequences of making choices without the ability to choose wisely.
To be able to "discern what is of value," we must develop self-mastery. By self-mastery, I mean we have to be able to name and then "stand up to" our temptations, to our addictions, to our cowardice and to our laziness in order to create the life we want to have! We must be able to "handle" ourselves and "handle" our cravings - for a higher purpose and for our long-term good. We must be able to continually clarify what we really want out of life, constantly focus our energies to reach for what we want and consistently deal in truth rather than in deception. People with self-mastery approach their lives like an artist approaching the task of producing a work of art. People with self-mastery know how to discern what is of value and use what they have discerned to live on purpose! The spiritual disciplines of both East and West speak often of the practice self-mastery.
One of the sad things about our culture, in which freedom of choice is so highly honored, is the growing tendency to deflect responsibility for our bad choices after we make them. We throw the blame onto others. If our culture is to survive, the freedom to choose simply must be combined with personal responsibility. To demand the freedom to make our own choices and then throw the blame on others when those choices backfire is the height of cowardice and irresponsibility - and yet it is so very popular in our culture. As Flip Wilson's character used to say all the time, "The devil made me do it!" As we hear all the time on TV, "It was my parents' fault. They didn't raise me right!" "It was right there for the taking. What could I do but take it! They shouldn't have made it so easy to take!" Freedom without responsibility is wreaking havoc all around us.
When enough of us have the ability to discern what is of value and when enough of us have the self-mastery to choose what is of value, marriages will improve, families will improve, neighborhood will improve, the economy will improve, churches will improve, nations will improve and the world will improve. These problems can only be fixed one person at a time. In reality, no one can save us from us, but us! Yes, lack of self-mastery has a direct impact on the quality of multiple areas of people’s lives. Those who cannot establish mastery over their appetites and impulses will no doubt see many aspects of their lives quickly unravel. The ability to subordinate a lower impulse to a higher value is the essence of a satisfying life. Leonardo da Vinci was right when he said, “One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.”
The ability to discern what is of value and self-mastery in the face of severe temptation is at the heart of Jesus’ desert experience. To do his Father’s will, not his own, Jesus had to be able to see the difference between what “looked good” and what was “actually good.” Once he was able to discern what the will of his Father was, he had to have the self-mastery to follow it, no matter how tempted he was to do otherwise!
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