Habitat for Spirituality - Lent Temptation

Lent Temptation

Temptation is a universal human experience.

And it starts very young.

I have watched Anushka wrestling with temptation,

wrestling the desire to touch what is forbidden,

to turn the light on and off

and on and off

even though Daddy says no,

I have watched her wrestle and I have watched her lose the fight.

But she is after all not yet two and so we will forgive her, her transgressions.

But what about the rest of us? What are we tempted by? What makes us succumb?

And what is the cost of the fall?

For the Franciscan Priest Richard Rohr, the passage that we read today in Luke follows a ‘classic and rather universal pattern of initiation: trial, testing, facing and experiencing death and coming out with a new identity and mission’.

Imagine if this Lent, we too could go on such a journey.

Rohr also writes that the temptations that Christ faces are ones which we all face at different parts of our own ministry journey.

The first temptation is mulit-layered. And it starts with a challenge.

‘If you are the child of God why do you not turn these stones into bread?'

The key word here is IF.

That one, magic, little word that plants the seed of doubt, deep in the soul.

IF you are…then prove it.

IF you are the son or daughter of God.

The IF is repeated twice…and the unspoken question is:

‘Who are you really? Are you up to this, well are you? Come on, who are you kidding’

This devil voice is the voice of the doubter, the challenger, the cynic.

And it can speak to us as an internal whisper, or as a cultural cry.

This is the shadow that wants us to doubt who we are.

And who are we really?

Children of God.

When we remember this, when we remember that we are not alone.

When we remember who we are called to be,

suddenly, somehow, the ability to resist the temptation to give in and walk away becomes just that little bit less powerful.

The first temptation is also partly, at a more literal level,

about giving into the lie that our collective culture tells us when it declares

that the material world is the only one that matters.

As Richard Rohr writes: Certain missionaries and church organizations have succumbed to this first temptation. They give out bread instead of giving out love. Perhaps they feel guilty; perhaps they need to feel effective. Perhaps they doubt they have anything of faith to give. Perhaps it is just easier to feed a person a meal rather than sharing yourself at a deeper level.’

This is the temptation to see the church as simply another type of welfare agency.

The temptation to go with the quick fix and the easy option.

The temptation to send off the donation rather than to engage socially and politically with WHY the family, (in our world or the developing world) is hungry in the first place. Which of course doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t give what we can, when we can:

be it widows mite or millionaire donation

but we shouldn’t let this bread giving stop us from engaging

in the heart to hand to humble holy moment.

I was speaking with one of you this week and you shared with me a simple little story about shopping for fruit and vegetables at your corner store.

A simple little story with a profound message that captures the essence

of some of what we are talking about today.

You told me how the shop had been run down by its old owners

and of how the new owners, a young Muslim family,

were doing their best to make a go of it.

You then told me that some of your friends wouldn’t shop there,

because the family were Muslim.

It struck me how in your actions, you were giving this family metaphorical bread

but that you were also giving them something much more precious than that.

You are giving them community, and inclusion and dignity and trust and you are saying NOto the devil of the world who whispers mistrust in your ear.

You are living out your baptismal call to be a child of God,

in the same way that Christ was living out his in this story that we heard today.

The second temptation that we are given is the temptation to be overwhelmed by the power of the world

and to give in to the idea that:

nothing we do can possibly make any difference

and if we cant beat them join them

and to be convinced by the Darkness when it argues, that there is no kin-dom of God

and that all ‘this’ really does belong to the shadows and to the powers that be:

to money and media and big business and global corporate forces

and so we may as well enjoy the spoils along with everyone else,

may as well not worry about investing ethically,

or eating cruelty free food

or shopping in a way that doesn’t add to the misery and exploitation of the planet.

I’m just doing my job, just following orders, just protecting my family.

If I don’t do it someone else will. Lets worship false kingdoms-everybody else is!

Jesus refuses to buy into the shadows offerings:

‘I will only worship God’ he says,

‘I will only give my energy and passion towards love and light.

I wont get caught up in the kingdoms of the world

and I will strive to be part of the birthing of love.’

What do you say?

The final temptation is to give in to a naive and passive form of faith

which refuses to take responsibility for our own lives and futures,

it is the temptation to make God totally omnipotent.

It is the temptation to not grow up,

To continue wanting the daddy God (whose job it is to make everything OK).

It is the temptation to give in to a faith which relies on showy signs and spectacular actions and which wants God to perform as a private magician in our own personal drama.

It is the temptation to believe (as some in the more evangelical movements do)

that God rewards the faithful with prosperity and punishes the rest.

And to this temptation Jesus simply says:

Don’t play games with God.

Don’t play games or in other words Grow Up!

Don’t turn God into what God is not,

Don’t be ridiculous and medieval about the power of our creator.

Let go of the child image of God who catches us when we fall

and instead stand side by side with the God who calls to us

to be co transformers of creation.

3 temptations, each a little more tempting than the last,

each offering an easy way out.