Month: March 2022

Jesus came to save us by entering into the fullness of the condition of fallen humanity and offering all to the Father. He was like us “in all things but sin” (Hebrews 4:15); he was also subject to temptation, but never succumbed in any way. These temptations in the desert were not the only time, nor the last time, that Jesus endured temptations (at the end of this scene, it is revealed that the devil “departed from him for a time”). But we see in these temptations the way Jesus turns the trajectory of fallen humanity away from its downward spiral and back toward the Father. He enters into our fallenness and lifts it up.

Adam in the Garden was well fed, had dominion over the rest of creation, and was not subject to death. The Fall changes all that; because of the Fall, we are separated from God, from each other, and from our true selves! So the New Adam enters into the situation of creation after the Fall. He is hungry, humble, and will offer himself to the Father in death to reconnect us with God, with each other, and with our true selves. And yet, our fallenness remains, so we easily desire pleasure and comfort, self-sufficiency and control, prestige and praise.

The temptations in the desert are addressed to reach into this fallen condition and prey on all that has been lost. Jesus refuses to engage on the enemy’s terms and transforms the battle. He counters each temptation with words from Moses in Deuteronomy, defeating the enemy who has led every heart from the beginning of time through the labyrinth of selfwardness and sin.

When the enemy dangles the possibility of bread to eliminate hunger, Jesus answers, “One does not live on bread alone” (Deut. 8:3), subordinating his physical needs to a higher ideal.

When the enemy shows him all the kingdoms of the world and promises power and glory to overcome Jesus’ humility, Jesus replies, “You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve” (Deut. 6:16), humbly recognizing that only God is self-sufficient and we depend on Him.

When the enemy challenges Jesus to throw himself down and prove his immortality to counter death, Jesus says, “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test” (Deut. 6:13), rejecting the instant fame that such a spectacle would have secured and rejecting the rejection of death.  

The enemy’s tactics haven’t changed much. Over and over again, in history and in our own lives, we see the temptation to what I call the “5 P’s”: pleasure, power, popularity, prestige, prosperity. All of these stem from the One Main P: Pride. We are not exempt from the battle, but Jesus has redeemed temptation and given us strength to fight for his Kingdom by exercising our love, humility, faithfulness, and obedience.

During Lent, let’s use the “weapons” of Confession and Communion, penance and prayer, to overcome the “P’s” in our own lives!

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We are living in a strange time where the order of creation seems to have reversed itself and those things which we once held dear have somehow become less in our hearts, while the things that are less we tend to hold more dear. If we go all the way back to Genesis we can see the progression that God intended, nature first, then animals, and human beings as the crown of creation. All throughout Genesis we hear that God created all things as good and then finally we hear that man is created as very good. 

But look around you today and how often do we treat our pets better than our fellow man? The order seems to have been plunged into chaos. As I ponder over this, I think perhaps the main reason is that animals don’t grapple with sin. When you watch an animal do something monumentally stupid, you aren’t as harsh with them because you know a lot of it was just instinctual. But when a human being does something stupid we tend to be much more judgmental because we can see the freedom and will that was involved in that action. They chose to do wrong on one level or another. 

Some might look at this freedom and see a flaw within the human race, but I prefer to look at it and see it as THE component that allows for us to love. God has created us apart from the rest of the world. We have the ability to choose and though it is that ability that can sometimes get us into trouble, it is also the ability that frees us to make choices of love. To me it makes sense then that this is what Satan wants to attack. One of the very things that sets us apart from the rest of creation and allows us to share in the life of God is terrifying to Satan, so he gets us to believe things like “all human beings are awful since the fall” or that “there is no hope that a free person could be a good person.” 

It’s this mentality that forces us to retreat into the idea that our pets are more safe or more trustworthy or more good, but remember back to Genesis when it was the human being who was declared as very good, apart from the rest of creation. And then we hear this beautiful line from today’s readings, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord, but rather in his conversion, that he may live.” God gives us freedom not to laugh at us when we fall and fail, but he gives us freedom so we can choose him and live with him forever. He wants our good. During this time of Lent let’s try to reflect on the fact that God has made us all as set apart and that our actions should reflect who we are, good children of God who are loved. From all of us here at Diocesan, God bless!

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