Temptations

Homily Lent 1A 2020

Fr. Dale Matson

In our Gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus suffered three major temptations in his encounter with Satan in the Desert. 3The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."  4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'" Temptation 1: To use his Godly powers for himself. Jesus was hungry because of forty days of fasting and Satan challenged him to turn the stones to bread. Here Jesus is tempted through his physical desires.

5The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, [It was given to Satan by Adam] and I can give it to anyone I want to. [which is another Satanic lie. Satan doesn’t want to give anything away] 7So if you worship me, it will all be yours." 8Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" Temptation 2: Satan then offered Jesus dominion over the world if Jesus would bow down to Satan and Jesus refused saying that he would worship and serve only God. Here Jesus is tempted through his human need to have power over others.

9The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. 10For it is written:

”‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully;11they will lift you up in their hands,so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"  12Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" Temptation 3: Here Jesus is tempted by his human need for personal pride.

I would also note that in all these temptations Satan would have controlled God if Jesus had acted on any one of them. And that is the real struggle on a cosmic level.  When we sin, we don’t just sin against God, we become allies with Satan. Each time Jesus was tempted there was a cosmic struggle between good and evil and we saw Jesus defeat Satan.

The monastics have taken these temptations of Christ very seriously for they know they are engaged in a cosmic struggle between good and evil.  On a personal level they make vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience in response to these temptations of Christ.  The monastic’s guide their entire vocational life addressing the struggle against the physical desires (poverty), personal power (obedience) and personal pride (chastity).

Now let’s look at the most tragic episode in the history of humankind and use our understanding of the three temptations of Jesus to understand what happened to Adam and Eve.

3 Now the serpent was craftier than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. I see the temptations for Eve as similar to those for Christ in the wilderness.  Physical desire, Power over others and Pride. These are all ego needs.  "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom". The birth of the ego is the beginning of self-consciousness and the loss of innocence. It brings with it a separation from God. It is in being born again that we are remade in the Image of Christ. We are no longer ego-centric, we are Christ centered.

Here you have the temptation addressing the physical needs [fruit], The need for Power [you will be like God] and the Pride [you will know good and evil], Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so, they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. It is in a larger scope an opportunity to view the cosmic struggle between Good and Evil, between God and Satan and on a smaller scale it is the battle within us.  With our baptismal vows, we have decided to join this battle on God’s side. “Do you reaffirm your renunciation of evil?” “I do.” Do you renew your commitment to Jesus Christ?” “I do and with God’s grace I will follow him as my savior and Lord.”

Consider Lent as a time for introspection and self-examination.  Think of the areas Jesus, Adam and Eve and we too are tempted.  We are attacked through our physical needs, our need for power and our pride.  It has been said that the Psychiatrist's couch has replaced the confessional booth.  The problem with the Psychiatrist’s couch, where one expresses both false guilt and real guilt is that there is no acknowledgement of and absolution for the real guilt.  When we have repented and confessed our sins to God, God remembers them no more.  If you still feel guilty about a sin you have repented of and confessed, then it is not God reminding you of this sin.  Another name for Satan is the accuser and it is he that is bringing you the false guilt.  Real guilt is a psychological pain that drives us to act just as the pain of a burn causes us to act.  In both cases the pain is real and intended to warn us of a problem.  If we ignore the problem, we ignore it at an even greater peril.