THOUGHTS OF A MONK

Homily for the First Sunday of Lent

February 2005

Years ago there was a comedian named Flip Wilson who was well known for poking fun at our penchant for giving in to temptation. With a twinkle in his eye he’d incarnate an ordinary example of human weakness and then deliver his unforgettable punch line: “The devil made me do it!”  What made him so funny was his uncanny ability to make us identify with him, to let us see ourselves in his folly, and so come to understand ourselves a bit more honestly. In our laughter, we felt our own dis-ease about temptation, experiencing the subtle and not so subtle ways we’d try to rationalize our own weakness.

I suspect most people feel threatened by temptation. As human beings, we know those human weaknesses only too well, so it’s difficult to see temptation in any sort of positive light. Strategies for dealing with temptation are legion: Fearing what they’re capable of, some folks retreat from life, trying to play it safe in a life devoid of color, interest and passion. Others, perhaps, try to stick to the straight and narrow by rigidly adhering to a detailed set of rules and regulations that keep them from thinking too much. Then there are those who have simply given up the battle and let their passions have their way with them. And many others. As strategies, most of these are evasive, and fall short in leading us to a life that is authentic, that is in harmony with our own deepest truth.

A famous Desert Father, Evagrius of Pontus put the lie to any way of thinking that keeps us from facing the temptation squarely. He helps to see temptation in a different light. In one of his more pithy bits of wisdom he said, “Without temptations, no one will be saved.” Temptation is a crucial component of growth that helps us become who we are called to be. While we can tend to think that temptations are trouble, a sign that something is wrong, actually they’re entirely natural, a sign that something is right. Whenever we marshal our spiritual energies in positive directions, the shadow side of our nature will arise as well, offering fierce resistance and whispering temptations of all sorts. That need not frighten us, for it is equally an opportunity to do good: whenever the temptation appears we can respond by choosing consciously to act in accord with our true selves, with ourselves in relation to God.

That’s precisely what we see in this morning’s Gospel. Having been driven into the desert by the Spirit after his baptism, Jesus undergoes three temptations, or better ‘tests’ by Satan. Having fasted for forty days, Jesus is at his most vulnerable, his most human. The significance of each temptation is that they all invite him to be false to his real identity as God’s son. The significance of Jesus’ responses is the quality of his consciousness. By refusing to perform miracles for personal gain, for show, or for power, Jesus affirms that identity which was revealed at his baptism. He is God’s Son. The manner he expresses this is striking: through obedience to the Word of God.  By being obedient to the Word of God, the living Word symbolically relives Israel’s testing in the desert and foreshadows Israel’s ultimate triumph, its ultimate conversion. Jesus does this as one who fully shares in the weakness of the human condition, which is why his overcoming these tests has real meaning for us. I mean, if Jesus was simply God in human costume then the temptations are simply cheap drama, of little relevance to us. His testing allowed the dignity of being human the chance to reveal itself, the call to freely choose our true selves as sons and daughters of God. The key is consciousness: recognizing the temptation, and knowing who we are. Such testing is the stuff of being human, a grace that actually helps us, so long as we don’t flinch whenever the moment of testing arrives.