Tempted like us. . .

It has always struck me how quickly from His baptism our Lord was confronted with Satan and tempted in every way -- as we are.  If Jesus could not get a break, why do we think we deserve a break from the wiles and ways of the evil one?  But we do.  We not only think that we deserve a break but that it should be the norm of our daily lives and temptation the exception.  We complain all the time that God has not insulated us from the temptations of the flesh and from the great tempter himself.  As much as we would like to posit all the temptations that afflict us out there somewhere, the greater temptation is to be gods ourselves.

It is this temptation which is behind Satan's attempt to derail the Lord.  If you are God is the question behind nearly everything the devil threw at Jesus.  It is also behind nearly everything the devil throws at us.  We think that if we can shut down pornography or cover up women or raise the sin taxes, we can reduce not only the pervasiveness of sin but dial back the temptations that we daily face.  Yes, these temptations to sin are bad and the sins themselves are evil and corrupt us but nothing is as demonic as the greatest temptation of all -- the temptation to be gods!  

As gods, we refine the commandments so that they do not address the desires that rule our hearts.  The sex problems that have so preoccupied the Church over the last decades are not problems strictly of sex but of the temptation to normalize what it is we desire.  How can something that feels so good be wrong?  Instead of adjusting our feelings or our desires, some Christians have led the way to reject what God has clearly said in order to affirm what it is that we want.   This is where temptation lives and this is why we need to hear of Him who is tempted like us in every way but without sin -- even refusing to count equality with the Father as His right and deferring to the Father's will and purpose.  

The opposite of this is, of course, Thy will be done.  In this petition of the Our Father we are not simply resigning ourselves to God's will and purpose, we are surrendering to God as God and our want to be gods on our own.  On our own, we are weak before such temptation but in Christ we are made strong and the Spirit helps us to deny ourselves and remain in Christ the way.  If this Sunday is merely about the things we should avoid or reduce in our lives, we have lost sight of the greater goal.  We do not rein in the flesh by starting with little things.  We must confront that temptation which is the source of all temptations -- to be our own gods.  It is this focus which enables us to deny the smaller evils that are a part of our daily lives.