A very overweight man decided that he had to shed a few pounds so he decided to go on a diet. He changed his usual commute to work so that he would avoid passing his favorite bakery. One morning, however, he arrived at work carrying a large, sugar-coated, calorie-loaded coffee cake.
Everyone in the office chided him for bringing such a tempting snack to work but the overweight man smiled and said, “What could I do? You see, by force of habit, I drove by the bakery this morning and saw this luscious cake in the window. So I prayed, “Lord, if you really want me to have one of those delicious coffee cakes, let me find a parking space right in front of the bakery. And sure enough, on the ninth time around the block, there it was!”
Had I been fasting for forty days, maybe I would have been tempted to do the same thing! Temptation is as a much a part of life as breathing, eating and sleeping. Temptations come in so many shapes and sizes. Some are downright blatant; others are quite subtle and even deceptive.
Today we hear how the devil tried to use his power to tempt Jesus, first with sensual pleasure, then worldly recognition, and finally, despair. In each case, Jesus withstood the devil’s efforts to lead him into sin.
In our most frequently recited prayer, one composed by Jesus himself, we ask our Father to “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Could you picture God ever leading you into temptation? Not at all, but God endeavors to deliver us from evil. He sent his son into our lives to save us from the evil one.
We think of temptation as a cause to sin but for many early Christians, temptation meant a time of testing. The Jewish word for temptation meant a time of trial; a time given to someone to choose being faithful or unfaithful to God. In the gospel, we find Jesus passing the test with flying colors.
Every one of us is put to the test daily. Like the man who passed his favorite bakery, we are lead into temptations of one kind or another throughout the day or we lead ourselves. Perhaps they are not as dramatic as the ones we find in the gospel but then our resistance to the evil one is not as strong either. While Jesus was prepared to resist temptation, we are more apt to give in.
More than once, I have been rebuked, “Father, you shouldn’t talk so much about the devil and sin.” I don’t care to, but Jesus often did and for good reason. Sin poses a real danger for us that we too often downplay. For those who deny that the devil is real, Cardinal Jorge Medina had this to say, “We know there are Catholics who doubt the existence of the devil, but this is an article of faith of the Church. Whoever says the devil does not exist is no longer a believer.”
When we renew the vows of our baptism, the first questions asked of us are not, do we believe in God but do we reject sin, the glamour of evil, and Satan, the prince of darkness?
The devil, whose name in Greek means “the deceiver,” seems to have a bottomless sack of tempting tricks available for his use including the notion that he doesn’t even exist! His methods and approaches vary from person to person but his strategy remains the same. Each time the devil succeeds in luring us to sin, the next temptation becomes a little stronger and the next fall becomes a bit easier. Before long, we become hooked and possibly oblivious to the gravity of our own sins.
We need not be afraid of the devil and his temptations. St. Augustine compares the devil to a dog tied to post. He can only harm us if we get within his range.
If we are inclined to dismiss the notion of church authority or believe we can be good Christians without the sacraments or moral guidance of the Church, then we are ignoring the very tools we need for staying clear of him and out of trouble.
Speaking of tools, there is hardly any tool in the mechanical world greater than the wedge. Once you get its thin edge in, it is only a matter of time and force how far the remainder shall be driven. The hardest stone or the toughest wood are not able to resist its power for separation. Likewise, beware the thin edge of sin. It can and will sever us from God.
Let’s not kid ourselves. We have our desert full of trials, our serpent, and our temptations. Lent is a time of entering into the desert with Jesus, of deepening our prayer. Have you ever noticed, though, that when you try to set aside a time to pray that something always comes up? All of a sudden, you remember some chore or some person you should talk to or more likely, you want to take a quick look at the TV or the internet, or getting yourself a snack. The devil will do almost anything to keep us from praying. Many families tell me about their trials every Sunday morning, getting ready for Mass. Do you think that this is just a coincidence? Not at all. The devil wants to stop us from praying, no matter what.
But we can’t afford to give him that victory. This is the time to turn off our televisions and other distractions, to draw close to Jesus through scripture, worship, the sacraments and prayer, to really learn from him that we do not live by bread alone, but “by every word that comes form the mouth of God.”