27/02/2023
How to Handle Temptations
First Sunday of Lent
(Gen. 2:7-9; 3:1-7; Rom. 5:12, 17-19; Mt. 4:1-11)
Oscar Wilde, a hero to many LGBTQ people, had some memorable lines about temptation, expressed through a character in "The Picture of Dorian Gray." In that novel, Lord Henry Wotton, something of a hedonist, offers advice to Dorian, the young man fated never to grow old: “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful.”
It’s a memorable aperçu, but also, according to Jesus, quite wrong.
In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert, for a period of “testing.” The desert of course is where the people of Israel were tested in the days of Moses. And, as the Israelites remained in the desert for 40 years, so Jesus will be tested for 40 days, a biblical way of saying “a long time.”
But while Jesus’s testing may seem far removed from our own daily tests and occasional temptations, if you look carefully, you can see how similar Jesus’s experience is to our own.
The first temptation is for Jesus to turn stones into bread. The second is for him to throw himself off the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem so that angels will protect him from harm. Finally comes Satan’s showing Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, promising him that he could rule them all.
How did these the “testings” occur? As with all the Gospel stories, the narrative has been filtered first through the oral tradition and then through the evangelist’s pen. But, as the New Testament scholar William Barclay once said, this story could only have come from Jesus and so needs to be taken seriously.
Notice that all these temptations have an element of good: As for bread, it’s not sinful to eat. As for throwing himself off the Temple parapet, it’s not a sin to want to avoid physical harm. And as for worldly power, it’s not wholly bad, if you’re someone like Jesus, to have some authority over people.
The problem is that each of these apparent goods comes with a price—a “hook,” as my spiritual director likes to say. In the first case, Jesus would be placing his bodily needs over what God has asked of him. (A few weeks ago a family member fell ill and my sister and I had to care for her. Imagine if I had said, “I’m too tired!”) In the second case, avoiding injury would mean that Jesus would end up testing the Father. Finally, having authority over all the world would mean, in this case, worshiping Satan.
The most tempting temptations usually appear good—even moral. Otherwise, they’d be easier to spot and reject. In other words, the “best” temptations don’t look half bad. The Devil is too clever for that.
The key is knowing what the dark side—the hook—is. And it’s usually about selfishness, pride or vanity, all things that Dorian Gray symbolizes. So when it comes to temptation, the best course of action is not yielding but discerning. As witty, amusing and perceptive as Oscar Wilde was, when it comes to a time of testing, it’s best to follow the example of Jesus.
The only way to get rid of a temptation, you might say, is to recognize where it will lead you.
(This is the Outreach Sunday Gospel reflection. If you'd like to receive these, gratis, every week, just sign up here: https://outreach.faith/weekly-reflections/ Image: Lumo)
