12 At once, this same Spirit pushed Jesus out into the wild. 13 For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by Satan. Wild animals were his companions, and angels took care of him. 14 After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee preaching the Message of God: 15 "Time's up! God's kingdom is here. Change your life (REPENT) and believe the Message.”
Mark keeps Jesus temptation in the wilderness short and simple- “he was tested by Satan”. Sounds easy. Matthew & Luke add more details but make it sound like just a quick quote of scripture and the devil is on the run. But really, was it that easy for Jesus? Is it that easy for us?
Or is Nikos Kazantzokis closer to the truth when he depicts Jesus temptation ending with this struggle and cry:
“Jesus fell on his face. His mouth, nostrils and eyes filled with sand. His mind was blank. Forgetting his hunger and thirst, he wept - wept as though his wife and all his children had died, as though his whole life had been ruined.
“’Lord, Lord’, he murmured, biting the sand, ‘Father, have you no mercy? Your will be done: how many times have I said this to you until now, how many times shall I say it in the future? All my life I shall quiver, resist and say it: Your will be done!’”
The Last Temptation of Christ, p.252
This is no casual thing which is happening. It is the beginning of a life of testing and staying true to the will of God for his life. It was necessary for Jesus to be tempted for only when he could say no to God was he free to say yes.
Temptation is not something to be eliminated from our lives. For to be so pure we are not temptable, probably means we are also so anemic, so passionless, so flat and cautious that nothing exciting and alive can touch us either.
Sometimes we have to get it wrong - and repent - change direction - before we can get it right.
As Alan Jones says in “Soul Making’:
“I wander far from my Trinitarian and communal home and this wandering can be very important because it is the only way I ever learn anything - by getting it wrong.”
When we do get it right we are with Jesus on the road to discovering the joy of living with God in God’s Kingdom, being servants rather than masters. All the time being loved beyond our wildest dreams and being asked to do more then we ever dreamed possible.
“I wander far from my Trinitarian
and communal home and this wandering
can be very important
because it is the only way I ever
learn anything - by getting it wrong.”
Alan Jones
Prayer thought for the week: “Lord, be patient with me. I get it wrong a lot.
Help me to keep trying until I get it right. Your will be done.”
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