Lead Us Not into Temptation

March 9, 2014

Thomas B. Woodward

I want to begin with a technical distinction:

many stories in the Bible should be characterized as “myths” rather than as history.

To call a story a “myth” is not to say it didn’t happen:

it means that the important question is not “when did it happen,”

but “where is it happening?”

The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Even is like that.

The important thing about the story is not whether it happened,

but where . . . is it happening?

Now that is both good and bad news.

The good news is that we are not burdened

by having to believe in the historicity of a story

which is most certainly not historical.

The bad news is that the story keeps happening --

over and over again in our history . . in our histories.

And we don’t have Adam and Eve to blame it on.

We ARE Adam and we are Eve –

yielding to temptation and then blaming everyone in sight – except ourselves.

We are awash . . we are overwhelmed by the recurrence of the story.

I don’t know how else to make sense

of our inability as a country to deal with Global Warming or Economic restraint.

We are gorging ourselves with the apples.

We want all the goodies for ourselves, now – regardless of the consequences.

It was the same thing in the excesses of Enron

and all those Wall Street brokers and bankers.

A whole culture of good people with wonderful jobs,

fabulous salaries, important responsibilities. .

but the temptation to take their big bite out of the apple resulted, as one person said,

“In a deeper disregard for the values and the traditions

of this country and its people. .

than exhibited by those responsible for the events of September 11th.

You know, I don’t find these stories of corporate greed

either surprising or shocking,

because it is a story that has been around for a long, long time.

It’s the story of Adam and Eve. .

And it is not just the notorious few –

I think of the enormous widening of the gap in recent years

between executive salaries and the salaries of those in production

in industry after industry:

good people’s values overturned by the shine on the apple.

What is all that about?

Part of that on every level is the temptation to see others

as only extensions of our own needs –

rather than to see our lives as closely linked with theirs.

So where are we. . in the story of Adam and Eve?

in the story of Jesus and his temptations in the wilderness?

Let’s go back to the beginning.

It’s interesting: the deaf sign for temptation is this. . . .[a pulling of the sleeve to the side]

What that means to me. . .is pulling me aside. . diverting me. . .

pulling me away from my heart. . .or my vocation:

as husband, priest, parent, parishioner. . . as person.

In the story, Jesus is tempted –

not at the beginning, but at the end of his time in the wilderness. . . .

It was after the pledge of his heart.

You don’t know what your temptation is. . .

until you know what your heart, your vocation is. .

as a person. .or couple/ family. .or a business.

It is interesting to me. . how we talk about temptation.

Mostly, I think, we talk about temptation,

in terms of food, clothing or sexual attraction.

We are on a diet. . . or a fitness program –

and the chocolate cake represents TEMPTATION.

Or “I saw those boots. .that dress. . .that designer watch. . . that hunk. . .

and I was really tempted.

Not to denigrate physical fitness, family finances or sexual attraction,

I think temptation . .the real temptation . .

goes deeper than food. . . clothing. . or affiliation.

In our world, it is difficult to know our heart.

So much of our culture is based on temptation. . .

or at least the attempt to define our vocation in the narrowist terms.

Men’s roles. . . women’s roles. . . .what it means to be human.

I think we all know the pressures from our culture,

including the ones which would have us define ourselves

by what we buy, by what we have, . . . and so on.

I asked a friend recently if he had seen a certain TV program.

He said hs family had quit watching TV five years ago.

I said, joking, “Then how do you know what you are supposed to buy?”

Who gets to define my life for me?

Who gets to define the life of my family?

It is so easy to give that up to someone else. . .

That’s . . .the temptation.

The problem, for most of us, is that we are so busy. . .so distracted. . .

that it is hard to know when we’re tempted. . .

Henri Nouwen tells of seeing a man astride a runaway horse

that was galloping through a small village.

”Where are you going?” he yelled out to the rider.

“Don’t ask me,” said the rider, “ask the horse!”

Maybe that is where we begin: “What’s your horse? Why are you riding it?”

Very few temptations are dressed in the clothes of evil.

As somebody wrote: “The trouble with trouble is that it usually starts out as a whole lot of fun.”

Or, I would add, “with all the appearance of good.”

Let me focus on one small part of things (but I think it is the same process for all).

In my counseling with couples about to get married,

one thing I always talk about is WHEN

you find yourself strongly attracted to someone outside the marriage.

Note that I do not say IF. . . but WHEN that attraction comes into your life.

How do you deal with that?

Three things are important, I think -- and they have do not only with sexual attraction,

but with every aspect of our lives –

our place in the family, community . . and our sense of ourselves.

The first important thing is the whole sense of entitlement.

That sense of entitlement which has swept over the country:

“If I want it. . . I should have it. . .and right now.”

I’m entitled. Entitlement is an epidemic.

We often pooh-pooh the notion of the Lenten fast;

but, let me tell you, there may be no better way of training ourselves

for living in the times we live in . . . than to do without.

To do without. . . something you want. . .something you really want. . .

something you really think you should have. . .

Do that for 40 days. . .that’s all. . . 40 days.

The specifics are unimportant. . .but the process is life-saving.

Spiritually life saving.

In this country, we know pretty well how to do with. . .

what we have a hard time with. . . is doing without. . .

not as a virtue; but as a means of breaking the hold of that sense of entitlement.

The second thing I want to say is this: feelings are feelings.

They are not voices of God giving us permission to do

what we shouldn’t do.

I find that so often we use our feelings as justifications.

What they are . . . is just feelings.

They provide wonderful information about what is going on around us. . .

and what we are feeling;

but they are most often lousy springboards for action. . .

especially when we are angry. . .or disappointed, devastated. . .or aroused.

I remember my parents telling me not to make my decisions about physical intimacy

while necking in the back seat of a car.

We must never, ever allow our decisions to be based, solely, on our feelings.

The third thing. . . is so simple and so important. . . (talked about it a couple of weeks ago)

It is that we have to say “No” to a lot of things. . .

in order to be able to say “Yes” to anything important. . .

whether that is learning to play the piano,

enjoying a vacation in Barbados,

maintaining our integrity . . .or building a successful relationship.

And the discipline of saying “No” to the many things

in order to say “Yes” to the really big things. . .is at the heart of dealing with temptation.

And that is so whatever the setting . . .

So who is it that you have been called to be?

As a person. . .as a father, mother, brother, sister, teacher, parishioner, whatever.

Where are you going? Which is to say, “Where is God calling you?”

Our lives and the life of the world are sacramental.

We carry, each of us, the presence of God within us. .

and that presence is the same presence and reality we know in Jesus.

We are each precious beyond all human understanding.

When you and I were baptized

what happened was a lot more than a sprinkling of water

and becoming a member of the church.

When we were baptized, we became citizens of heaven,

beginning our life in the Kingdom of God.

Temptation is being deceived, tricked into seeing ourselves

in terms of our duties and our tasks,

in terms of the busyness and turmoil which surrounds us

and not as the holy people we are. . .

not as the chosen people we are. . .

not as the forgiven and empowered people we are. . .

not as the empowered people we are.

“Lead us,” we pray, “not into temptation.”

Lead us to the Kingdom, here and hereafter. Amen.