The Temptations of Jesus (in Mark)

From earliest times trial and temptation has been seen not as failure, but as opportunities for people to show their obedience to God. To successfully endure the trial or temptation made one acceptable to God. Jesus is the prime example of this. The New Testament is not embarrassed at all that he was tested or tempted. (See Mark 1:2-13; Heb 4:15) In fact, it is absolutely critical to the whole gospel that he was. Jesus was tempted – by the evil one, by his opponents, and by his disciples even (e.g. see Mark 8:31-33) – and was obedient, even to death on the cross. (Phil 2:8) The cross was the climax of this testing, and the most severe form of it. (Mark 14:34-36) And it is because Jesus was faithful, even in the face of this prolonged and severe testing, that we are saved. And because he endured temptation and was obedient, we too can do it. (This is the point of the Book of Hebrews, see Heb 2:10, 14-18; 12:1-11) Life is full of temptations, with the Spirit of Christ we are not defeated but will emerge victorious through and with him.

Which is just my opening statement really, so more on this later.

When You Are Tempted

If you hear the voice of temptation, here are some strategies that will help you resist, if that is what you wish.

1.

The simple strategies:

• Keep away from the temptation, or keep your attention elsewhere.
• Refuse to play with the temptation in your mind; this is an act of will.
  
• If you have given the temptation ground to develop in your mind, pray 'mantra' style, using a sentence of Scripture. Stay with the 'mantra', and pray that God will show you a way through.

2. Treat the temptation as a symptom, but of what? Find out the cause and deal with it, and the temptation will, over time, diminish in intensity. (Use strategies from 1 above while addressing the root cause.)

3. Ask these questions: Who are you? If you follow the voice of this temptation, who do you become? Do you want to be this person? If your answer is 'No', remember this, for it will strengthen your will.

4. Temptations often appear as a way of escaping an unhappy situation. Or perhaps you feel a fake, or perhaps there is an inconsistency between who you are and an aspect of your current life. If so, then act, but following the temptation is rarely the way. There are usually more reasonable and mature ways of dealing with the problem, and these solutions will usually have less negative consequences than will result from following the temptation.

And to finish, a quote for reflection from Ron Rolheiser (about the great benefit in hanging in there):

Almost everything within our culture invites us to avoid tension and to resolve it whenever possible, even at the cost of some more noble instincts. This is true for virtually every aspect of contemporary life, save those areas where we can be fiercely ascetical and sweat blood for purposes of our careers or the health and slimness of our bodies. Waiting in frustration and inconsummation is not our strong point. From minor frustrations, like waiting in a queue at the bank or the bus stop, to more major frustrations with interpersonal tensions and our unresolved sexual needs, we find it difficult to stay inside of unresolved tension. Jacques Maritain once stated that one of the great spiritual tragedies is that so many people of good will would become persons of noble soul if only they would not panic and resolve the painful tensions within their lives too prematurely, but rather stay with them long enough, as one does in a dark night of the soul, until those tensions are transformed and help give birth to what is most noble inside of us – compassion, forgiveness and love. (Ronald Rolheiser)

The Bright Field

I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realize now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

R.S.Thomas

What is the Meaning of Life?

What is the meaning of life? That was all - a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with the years. The great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark. (Virginia Wolf, To the Lighthouse

)

Megawhat?

A good critique of paganism-in-the-guise-of-Christianity Church.

The Transfiguration

The transfiguration in Mark is a high point of the Gospel. He has just predicted his death (8:31-33; and will do so another two times, 9:30-32; and 10:32-35), commanded a cruciform way of discipleship (8:34-38) and now is transfigured in the company of Elijah and Moses. And what happens? A voice of self-effacement from heaven, the Father (ah, the Trinity again!), says "Listen to him." (9:7) We are being directed back to Jesus' prediction of his death and his teaching about his disciples picking up the cross and following him. Our attention is being diverted from the glory of transfiguration to the gory road of the cross. But the two are connected; the road terminating in transfiguration is the way of the cross. To seek transfiguration apart from the cross is the perennial temptation of us all, but it is not the way of Jesus and his disciples. (See Philippians 3:10-11) Resurrection, transfiguration and glory are the goal of the Christian life, indeed, for the whole of creation, but there is no path to the top of the mountain (see Mk 9:2) apart from the way of Jesus.

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

Listening to God (Kids' Talk)

A kids' talk on prayer as listening to God.

Get someone up to talk about something. Prearrange with them that you will interrupt them continually by telling what they should be saying, or "What about ..." They take the interruptions gracefully, but eventually challenge you to let them speak as this is what you asked them to do. The point to the kids: we think of prayer as talking to God, but it is also listening to God.