Lead us not into Temptation...
Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent: Matthew 4. 1-11
As Christians, our core prayer for over two thousand years has been the "Our Father", the prayer Jesus himself taught us. Yet have you ever thought deeply about the petition, "lead us not into temptation"? Does it seem strange that we should be asking God to keep temptation away? Wouldn't God do this out of his love for us?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that the Greek verb is a little tricky to translate- the Greek means both "do not allow us to enter into temptation", and "do not let us yield to temptation". The Catechism goes on to say that "we ask him not to allow us to take the way that leads to sin. We are engaged in a battle 'between flesh and spirit'; this petition implores the Spirit of discernment and strength".
The battle is very real; and we can look to Christ Jesus as the model for resisting temptation. And by looking at today's readings, we can deepen our resolve to avoid sin and turn to God.
With the Genesis account of the fall of Adam and Eve, (Genesis 2. 7-9, 16-18, 25; 3.1-7) we are witnesses to the first temptation- to be like God and be without Him. We recognize this sin of origin to be one that is inherently lacking in trust of a loving and faithful Creator. The union was breached, and sin entered the world.
The second reading from Paul's letter to the Romans (5.12-19) beautifully unites the story of the Fall with the story of our Redemption in Jesus Christ: "For just as one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous."
And so we come to the account of Jesus' fast in the wilderness. He has come, remember, right after his baptism in the Jordan, and is now preparing for his mission. Satan arrives and offers three temptations. There have been countless interpretations of the meaning of these three, and one of the best I've come across is by Richard Rohr, OFM, in a Lenten Anthology God For Us. Fr. Rohr explains them this way:
The three temptations here in Matthew are the universal temptations to three abuses of power:
1) the misuse of social or cultural power (turning stones into bread in a way that would be spectacular and draw attention to himself);
2) the misuse of religious power (to stand on the parapet of the temple and to quote scripture for his own purposes);
3) the misuse of political or dominative power (looking down at all the kingdoms of this world from a high mountain position)
Throughout the temptations, Jesus reveals himself as the "new Adam", obedient to the Father's will. He comes out of the wilderness, abiding in this Love.
For us... The temptations of Jesus are our temptations as well. To abuse whatever power we have: as spouses, parents, teachers, managers, workers, religious... whatever our vocation, we can misuse our power, or throw our power away (another misuse!). If we allow our egos and desires to get in the way, we fall into the great temptation of being our own god. During this Lent, take time to reflect on how you may be tempted to misuse the power and gifts given to you. And pray fervently to the Father that He will
... lead us not into temptation.
With the Genesis account of the fall of Adam and Eve, (Genesis 2. 7-9, 16-18, 25; 3.1-7) we are witnesses to the first temptation- to be like God and be without Him. We recognize this sin of origin to be one that is inherently lacking in trust of a loving and faithful Creator. The union was breached, and sin entered the world.
The second reading from Paul's letter to the Romans (5.12-19) beautifully unites the story of the Fall with the story of our Redemption in Jesus Christ: "For just as one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous."
And so we come to the account of Jesus' fast in the wilderness. He has come, remember, right after his baptism in the Jordan, and is now preparing for his mission. Satan arrives and offers three temptations. There have been countless interpretations of the meaning of these three, and one of the best I've come across is by Richard Rohr, OFM, in a Lenten Anthology God For Us. Fr. Rohr explains them this way:
The three temptations here in Matthew are the universal temptations to three abuses of power:
1) the misuse of social or cultural power (turning stones into bread in a way that would be spectacular and draw attention to himself);
2) the misuse of religious power (to stand on the parapet of the temple and to quote scripture for his own purposes);
3) the misuse of political or dominative power (looking down at all the kingdoms of this world from a high mountain position)
Throughout the temptations, Jesus reveals himself as the "new Adam", obedient to the Father's will. He comes out of the wilderness, abiding in this Love.
For us... The temptations of Jesus are our temptations as well. To abuse whatever power we have: as spouses, parents, teachers, managers, workers, religious... whatever our vocation, we can misuse our power, or throw our power away (another misuse!). If we allow our egos and desires to get in the way, we fall into the great temptation of being our own god. During this Lent, take time to reflect on how you may be tempted to misuse the power and gifts given to you. And pray fervently to the Father that He will
... lead us not into temptation.
No comments:
Post a Comment