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Thought for the
Week 10 February 2008 – 1st Sunday
of Lent
The
Temptation of Christ In
November 1880 the Russian writer Dostoevsky finished what turned out to be
his last work as he died a few months later. It was what was intended to be
the first part of a greater work and was called The Brothers Karamazov —
the fully-completed work
was to be called The Life of a Great Sinner. Superficially the story is about
the degree of complicity by sons in the murder of their father, but at
another level it is a deeply spiritual novel about faith, doubt, reason and
free will. Not only was it his last work but it is considered his greatest — but further, world thinkers
such as Freud and Einstein have considered it to be one of the greatest
achievements in world literature. The
most famous chapter in the novel is Book 5, and is published as a stand-alone
book. It’s about the Grand Inquisitor and the unexpected return of Christ.
The Grand Inquisitor is from the Spanish Inquisition and a sort of tyrant
who, although acting in the name of the Church, puts Christ in prison and
says to him “Why hast thou come now to hinder us? … We are not working with Thee but with him…
We took from him what thou didst reject with scorn, that last gift he offered
Thee, showing Thee all the kingdoms of the earth. We took from him The
universal happiness of humanity about which the Grand Inquisitor was speaking
was a liberty that humanity would appreciate within the bounds set by the
tyrant himself. As opposed to the liberty that was given to humanity by
Christ’s very rejection of Satan’s advances; a liberty that could not be
understood and was therefore not a liberty at all. Hold on to that thought,
as I will return to it. Let’s
get back to the Gospel text. Matthew, remember, was writing for the first
century Christians — the Jewish community of Christians. Christ
had been crucified, their numbers were being persecuted and reassurance as to
the reality of the Messiah was needed; Matthew made it his task to reassure
these people through his Gospel. He was writing for the Jews, and was
determined to show that Jesus Christ was the long-awaited Messiah of Jewish
history and writings. To this end he was determined to show that Jesus was an
Israelite amongst Israelites. God had
been let down badly by Adam who, in a very short time, failed the test by
simply doing the single thing God forbade him from doing, and as a
consequence of which humanity became tainted with Adam’s original sin. Having
been failed by one man God sought out a people to carry out his purpose. The
Israelites; but as we know they failed God as well and from a very early
time. This people were taken into slavery in They
failed. To such
an extent that Moses lost his cool with them and told them “You rebelled
against the command of the Lord your God. You did not trust Him or obey Him.
You have been rebellious against the Lord ever since I have known you.” Time
and again Moses interceded for the Israelites as they were continuously found
wanting. Jesus
mirrors the testing of the Israelites in his desert experience. Instead of
the Arising
out of Jesus’ experience I just want to mention three issues. The
first is: notice how Jesus shows himself to be immersed in the Jewish holy
writings — something
that would have appealed to Matthew in his establishing Christ’s credentials
as a Jew of Jews. Equally note how the devil, Satan or whatever you want to
call him also uses scripture but corrupts it. Jesus is showing us how
important it is to know scripture. For all scripture is God-inspired and
points us in the right direction; such that when we are ourselves tempted we
can rely upon scripture, just as Christ did, to maintain or justify our
position of rejection of the temptation. So
important is this that Paul identified the scriptures as being part of the
armour of God in Ephesians 6 “… And with your feet fitted with the readiness
that comes from the gospel of peace.” The corruption of the use of scripture
by Satan is typical of his “masquerading as an angel of light” as Paul puts
it. The
second issue is that of temptation. The sin is not the temptation, to state
the obvious. We are all subject to temptation of one nature or another. It is
the giving in to the temptation that becomes the sin. We all have free choice
and can exercise that choice against the temptation. Sadly, if you’re like
me, all too often we exercise the wrong choice for a variety of reasons. More
often than not, if we take the time to analyse it, because we have
rationalised ourselves into justifying it as not in the circumstances a sin,
or our particular circumstances justify an exception. Again, Paul tells us
that we shall not be tempted beyond that which we able to bear and there will
always be a way out so that we can resist. Of course whether we are able to
or are prepared to recognise the way out is another matter. To Jesus there
was another way out, and that was to show through the use of scripture that obedience
to God was paramount. The
third issue is the position of the Holy Spirit in all of this. The Spirit led
Jesus into the desert; it is certain that during those forty days and nights
the Spirit remained with him. It is important for us to know that the power
of the Holy Spirit is a resource available to us. Just as we are unable to
call Jesus Lord without the Holy Spirit there to prompt us, so the Holy
Spirit lives within us to enable us when tempted. We should never forget that
in this fight we are never alone. We do not have a Spirit of weakness but one
of power dwelling within us as the temples of the Holy Spirit. Matthew
establishes Jesus not only as an Israelite among Israelites by this story but
as THE Israelite, the Messiah. Further
also, the story serves as a lesson for us on the use of scripture, the power
of the presence of the Holy Spirit and that when temptation occurs there is
always a way out. All manifested by the one who shows himself to be the
worthy sacrifice for those frequent times we fail our God. Now
getting back to that point that you were holding on to. Jesus
said that if you hold to his teaching you will know the truth, and the truth
will set you free. By refusing to be drawn by Satan, Christ gave us a freedom
that only those that love him will understand — which is why the Grand
Inquisitor missed the point. If you love someone there is only one thought in
your mind, there is unselfishness in your thinking. You only want to do what
is pleasing to the object of your love — there is no way that you want to disappoint. Your
liberty is total. St Augustine put it this way “Love God and do what you
want” and that is the liberty Jesus bought us by resisting Satan, which act
led to the cross. Amen. Melvyn Fancy: Anglican Chaplaincy of
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