Notes for March 13th -Mt. 4: 1-11, Gen 3:1-7 March 13, 2011
Matt Damon is in a new movie that looks at chance v. control in the Adjustment Bureau. I seized on the title because in our Genesis reading and the gospel reading, the temptations are subtle, not the parade of excess that we usually think of as temptation that many folks acted upon during Mardi Gras. In a way, the tempter says that just a minor adjustment, not so much as to hurt anything, is all that we need.
Temptations here are not evil in themselves but more of the alternate translation of a trial/test. The tempter is clever and is concerned with means, not ends. Eugene Peterson sees this story as moving against personal, embodied love with a mechanical, depersonalized, disembodied temptation toward power. In the Tuesday Bible study, Michael Lindvall, now a pastor in New York, sees the words of the tempter as leading to confusion, of blurring the situation. the tempter seeks to maneuver around obvious defenses. I am always struck by the ability to use Scripture in a diabolical way in this assault. Here evil is not obvious, but insidious as someone said in Bible Study on Tuesday. Here it distorts the good, but the Scripture keeps Jesus seeing his work clearly.
Matt Damon is in a new movie that looks at chance v. control in the Adjustment Bureau. I seized on the title because in our Genesis reading and the gospel reading, the temptations are subtle, not the parade of excess that we usually think of as temptation that many folks acted upon during Mardi Gras. In a way, the tempter says that just a minor adjustment, not so much as to hurt anything, is all that we need.
Temptations here are not evil in themselves but more of the alternate translation of a trial/test. The tempter is clever and is concerned with means, not ends. Eugene Peterson sees this story as moving against personal, embodied love with a mechanical, depersonalized, disembodied temptation toward power. In the Tuesday Bible study, Michael Lindvall, now a pastor in New York, sees the words of the tempter as leading to confusion, of blurring the situation. the tempter seeks to maneuver around obvious defenses. I am always struck by the ability to use Scripture in a diabolical way in this assault. Here evil is not obvious, but insidious as someone said in Bible Study on Tuesday. Here it distorts the good, but the Scripture keeps Jesus seeing his work clearly.
All of us have wilderness experiences. Human beings suffer-as I heard in African American churches in new jersey years ago,"don;t advertise what ain't being sold." The life with Christ does not make us immune from trouble. Part of the impact of this gospel story is that as soon as Jesus is baptized, these serious trials begin, in the wilderness. I would go so far as to say that failing these tests would make it impossible to face the garden of Gethsemane and the cross in his future. Jesus is not placed on a paved road to success. (Temptation may be passive acquiescence or fateful action) Temptation may sneak up on us-The whispers would go, "why bother; it would be so much easier to do so much good with some political muscle; it would be so easy to protect so many people if you ordered the angels about; why be hungry when you can snap your fingers?" As Paul Simon sang, "why am I soft in the middle when the rest of my life is so hard?" What would it hurt to soften the edges of one's ethics, just this one time?
Again, tempting in Gen. 3 not obvious but it is playing with words, manipulating words. It worked as we don;'t like to admit our limits, our desire for control. Yes wisdom is a good thing, but here wisdom is to be desired-to be like God (see Trible). After all, the fruit was attractive and probably tasty, what could be the harm? Eve, the first theologian, is bested by the talking, sly serpent. She and Adam move from blissful innocence to the gnawing doubts about the self of shame and guilt.
Trial and tests, and temptations will be with us always. the first step in dealing with it is the recognition that we are not immune from it; that humility allows us to stay alert to its snares. Second, Eve's way works at times. Put a big boundary around temptation. I knew a couple who pledged not to ever take a drink when they were on the road by themselves, as that seemed to be an entry point for folks getting into trouble. Finally, it is wise to stay connected to God through spiritual vehicles that fit your personalities. Just as we can stray in marriage when we feel disconnected from each other,distance from our spiritual source have us fall prey to slipping, by small degrees at times, into becoming a different person.We are not left defenseless . We have the lines of scripture that allow us to stay in character as baptized Christians.
Trial and tests, and temptations will be with us always. the first step in dealing with it is the recognition that we are not immune from it; that humility allows us to stay alert to its snares. Second, Eve's way works at times. Put a big boundary around temptation. I knew a couple who pledged not to ever take a drink when they were on the road by themselves, as that seemed to be an entry point for folks getting into trouble. Finally, it is wise to stay connected to God through spiritual vehicles that fit your personalities. Just as we can stray in marriage when we feel disconnected from each other,distance from our spiritual source have us fall prey to slipping, by small degrees at times, into becoming a different person.We are not left defenseless . We have the lines of scripture that allow us to stay in character as baptized Christians.
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