Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue

After Jesus was baptized, he led up by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil.

Saint Matthew 4:1-11; and Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17, 25-3:3

In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.

I looked up “Temptation” in my Bible Dictionary, and this is what I found.¹ The biblical idea of temptation is not primarily seduction, but making trial of a person (in some cases seduction of some sort may be employed as an instrument of the trial). Temptation is not sin. Sin comes only if we consent, accept, yield, or collaborate with the temptation.

The purpose of a temptation may be benevolent; that is, to prove or improve the quality of the person being tested. The purpose of a temptation may be malicious; that is, to show up the person’s weaknesses or trap him into wrong action.

In Scripture as in life, people test one another as one tests metal or other substances or instruments to measure their capacities. Jesus’ opponents try and test him throughout his ministry with questions designed to trap him in a heresy or violation of the Law; or they try to lead him into self-incrimination or blasphemy regarding the question of his identity as Messiah or his Sonship in relation to God.

Scripture in both Old and New Testaments says that people in fact should test, examine, themselves – so that they do not become deluded or presumptuous about their spiritual state, blinded often as we are by pride, envy and anger, not to mention the other deadly sins. Repentance is a great virtue in our faith.

People in Scripture often make trial of God rather than of themselves. A nickname for the Book of Numbers, the fourth Book of Moses in the Pentateuch which tells the story of the ancient Israelites’ wanderings in the wilderness after the Exodus, is the “Book of Murmurs”; this is due to the constant grumbling and complaining, rebellion and gainsaying of the people against Moses and Aaron and, indeed against the Lord himself. “Is the Lord among us, or not?” is the angry complaint of the people thirsting at Massah, a place-name at the Waters of Meribah which has memorialized the tempting of God. Massah means testing; where they put God to the test. The result was that God gave them water but decreed that generation would die out – even Moses with them – before Israel was permitted to enter the Promised Land.

Interestingly, there is one passage in the Bible where the Lord actually invites his people to put him to the test, and that is in the Book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. It is where the Lord says to put him to the test by tithing, and see if, in response, he does not open the doors of heaven and pour down blessings upon the person who tithes. To which I say, try it; you’ll like it.

Satan, the fallen angel Lucifer, tests God’s people. He does it through malice, and yet God does not stop him, even allows him; which demonstrates that even evil and malice fall within God’s greater good providence. This is a deep, hard, truth and yet a solace to the soul that we may come to cherish in our own sufferings. The devil has from of old sometimes been called the “left hand of the Lord” as an image of God’s greatness, “ever bringing good from ill.”

In our first reading from Genesis today, part of the story of the primeval Fall of our aboriginal parents, God puts the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the midst of the Garden of Eden yet says that Adam and Eve are not to eat of its fruit, lest they die. In other words, at the dawn of the human race our Maker provided a test, perfect to prove and improve our quality. Presumably the day would come when, having learned to obey God and walk with him by the Spirit, humans would in due course attain that knowledge by grace. Instead, the serpent persuades them to pre-empt God; they take and eat the fruit, and behold, they experience shame, guilt and blame. Later on in the story, God prevents them from eating the fruit from the Tree of Life as well and living forever in such a state of alienation (hell) and sends them (and us in them) out, “east of Eden,” where they and we will have to learn not only obedience the hard way but above all our need of redemption.

So it is, when Jesus Christ comes, the Spirit leads him up to be tempted by Satan. All the trials of humanity are there in sum. Our first parents in the Garden; the ancient Israelites in the wilderness; social, political, person-to-person, individual and interior – all are on trial again in Christ. All the devil’s proffered false moves are resisted by Jesus, who declines to produce signs or to take short cuts or escapes and wins simply by persevering in faithfulness. “Begone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” The devil departed, and angels came and ministered to Jesus. The dark lord would return, using and speaking through people, friends and foes, throughout Jesus’ ministry, especially at his passion when Jesus would go directly into the very heart of darkness (“My God, why have you forsaken me?”) This is the prelude to his Resurrection: “It is finished.” “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Paradise lost; Paradise regained.

What about us? I suggest reflecting on our trials under three headings. First, some are remedial and educational. Many temptations and trials have to do with our weaknesses and flaws; with mistakes and foolishness; many are in fact in some way self-inflicted. We can learn and grow from these.

Second, some trials and tribulations are “accidental,” such as ill health, pain and loss of loved ones, financial problems, misfortune, evil chances. These present us with tests of our spirit and character. How we suffer and endure (the kind of person we become) is the important part of the trial, even more important than the outcome. Do we respond in self-pity or anger – “Why me?!” “What did I do to deserve this?!” Or do we pass through (whether to life or to death and beyond) in faith and emerge gentler and yet strengthened (for that which does not kill me makes me stronger)?

Third, some are trials of our life’s integrity or our faithfulness itself. Sometimes we are in fact presented with the battle of our life, for our life, because what is on trial is everything we have lived by and for, and our honesty and integrity are on the line. Do we mean what we profess? This brings us close to Jesus and the saints. Each one of us may, in our own time and place, be on trial for the truth as we see and believe it, for Christ as we love and know him, for the honor of our life and our God.

Our life cannot be without trials. There can be no growth or progress without trials. We do not really know who we are if we do not undergo these tests. In the pilgrimage of life, there is no reward without perseverance, no victory without a struggle, and no struggle without facing a critic, an adversary or a temptation.² The Good News, and the lesson of Lent and Holy Week, is we already have a Victor, Jesus Christ, who gives us his victory even when we fail.

In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.

On Trial for Life