March 9, 2025 I am at Saint Gregory Abbey in Shawnee, OK
Deuteronomy 26: 4-10 + Psalm 91 + Romans 10: 8-13 + Luke 4: 1-13
The temptations of Jesus are the temptations of Christians in all ages, and the victory of Jesus over Satan was no once-and-for-all victory. He won the battle but not the war. There would be other times when he would confront evil, and it is the same with all of us. Some people think that they should reach a certain stage when they will be beyond temptation. Jesus never got there and neither did any of the saints. We would do well to get over that thinking. The spiritually mature know this, and they learn to manage temptation knowing that it will come again and again. And so, now and then a little time in the wilderness is a good thing.
A great problem for all of us is a failure to know ourselves, to recognize evil and deal with it within ourselves. We are born with conflicting impulses, so that doing good is always possible but never easy. In fact, the easy way is usually the wrong way. It’s always easier to lie than tell the truth when telling the truth brings consequences that may demand a change. It’s always easier to join a conversation that hurts someone than speak up in their defense and look different.
There is something really wrong with dismissing bad behavior by saying, “It’s just human nature.” We do believe that humanity, as created by God, is good. Sin does not belong to humanity. In fact, sin is really a failure to be human – to be as God made us – to be good.
Pay attention to the way Satan speaks to Jesus in these verses. Each time he says: “If you are the Son of God.” The real temptation is to get Jesus to doubt who he is as the Son of God so that in doubting he will try to prove his identity because he doubts it. Doubt is the temptation, and it is a temptation we all face. We doubt that we are really good, called by God, chosen, filled with the Spirit and children of God.
Once that doubt takes hold, we begin to live for material things like a full belly, a big home, a fancy car, and clothing that impresses others with our taste and our style. When that doubt takes hold, we seek our own glory rather than God’s glory, longing for recognition, affirmation, seeking love in the wrong places all because we have doubted how much God loves us just the way we are.
Just as with the three temptations Luke describes, doubting our place in the heart of God can lead us to abandon the worship of God for the worship of power as humility gives way to self-serving pursuits that lead us away from church, from prayer, and from the very relationships that should remind us of who we are as brothers and sisters, children of God.
We have begun this week our wilderness time. Forty days to meet our demons, our addictions, our lust, anger, and need for approval. This is a time to rediscover or reaffirm our humanity and its goodness. It seems to me that what Jesus faced was a temptation to dodge his humanity and be everything but human. After all, he could turn stone to bread. He could, by his command, grab all the empires of the world, and like Captain Marvel he could jump, fly, and run all over the place. But he didn’t because he knew who he was and that he was sent to restore humanity to its beauty and goodness and teach us who we are as children of God.