1st Sunday of Lent: “If We Know Who We Can Be True to Who We Are.”
1st Sunday of Lent: “If We Know Who We Can Be True to Who We Are.”
“Temptation is said to be a suggested course of action that is not in our best interest or in the best interest of others.” We begin the Lenten season with a reminder of how Jesus resisted temptations.
Jesus was pushed out into the desert by the Spirit after his Baptism. For 40 days he reflected on his mission in life. His was a difficult task. Jesus followed in the footsteps of the Old Testament prophets. He was going to preach a message of conversion. Jesus was going to preach against sin. He was going to call people to a holier way of life. We are told the devil tried to undermine Jesus’ confidence in the Lord.
Satan first uses an enticement that almost brought the Israelites to spiritual ruin in their Exodus experience. If we remember that story, we recall how the Israelites left slavery in Egypt. When the Israelites went out in the desert with Moses they were starving. And they quickly lost trust saying, “If God is with us why doesn’t he keep our stomachs full. When we were slaves, we at least had food to eat.” Does being full, mean God is blessing us more than the starving? Jesus does not believe this. Even though he is starving after forty days he believes he is still the beloved of God.
Second, Satan uses the logical idea that if God loves us, we should always be safe in this world. He asks Jesus to throw himself off the top of the temple. “The angels won’t let you fall to the earth if God cares about you,” he says. We can have the same idea. As we contemplate the Corona virus coming our way we might doubt God cares for us? When we see the stock market plunging the past week, we might ask how God could allow economic peril. When there is danger we wonder about a loving God. But Jesus rejected the argument. Jesus will suffer, but he still will believe that he is God’s beloved son.
The third tactic the devil uses to try to throw doubt into Jesus mind is the idea that the only way we can succeed in this world is to hold to the world’s value. If we want to be influential, we must be willing to step on others. We must play political games. We must be two faced. We should be willing to disregard our principles if it is going to cost us too much. Jesus would be politically powerless, but he still knew that he was the beloved Son of God.
What is the lesson in the temptation story? The lesson is that if we know who we are and where we came from, we can resist temptation. When we lose touch with who we are, then we will quickly fall into sin and despair. Temptation fools us into thinking that we should make fast decisions. If we can slow down, if we can remember our values, then we come at things in a completely different manner.
Our political leaders seem to fall into temptation all the time. Doesn’t it seem like they some even cash in when they leave office. But not always.
Harry Truman seemed to resist the temptation to make money when he left the presidency. His story sounds so quaint today, but it also shows us there is a different path. When Truman left the office of president in 1953. He boarded a train from Washington. He road with his fellow citizens back to Independence Missouri to live in the simple house that he had lived in before he was president.
Truman’s only income when he retired was a veteran’s pension of $13,500 a year. He had no secret service protection. When he went on vacation, he drove his own car. He paid his own office staff. He licked his own stamps.
He was offered seats on corporate boards where he would have received a large salary. His response was, “You don’t want me you want the office of the president. It does not belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it’s not for sale.”
Truman knew who he was. He knew where he came from. Because of that he didn’t fall into the traps ex politicians usually do. He was able to resist temptations that others fall into easily. The world would probably say he was stupid or rigid. But ethicists would say as an ex-president he was principled and an example of right living.
Do we know who we are? We are beloved daughters and sons of God. When tempted do we use fall easily because we want to take a worldly course. If we are faced with temptation, we need to slow down, pray, discern, remember what our identity as disciples of Jesus. As venerable Catherine Mc Cauley foundress of the Sisters of Mercy prayed let us always pray:
Grant, O most merciful redeemer, that whatever you ordain, or permit may be acceptable to me. Take from my heart all painful anxiety; let nothing sadden me but sin, let nothing delight me but the hope of coming to the possession of you, my God and my all in your everlasting kingdom. Amen.
Please note: rought draft, grammar may not be perfect