Since I was ordained a priest
almost 15 years ago, one of the temptations for me has been to wish that God
would do more spectacular things through me, which would convince people of the
presence of God. I believe that God does
extraordinary things through the priesthood, such as becoming present in each
mass in the bread and wine, but as you know it happens in a very humble and
hidden way. It is not spectacular and if
you don’t believe in it, then it just seems to be some kind of a strange
religious ritual. So why doesn’t God do
something more spectacular every once in a while to help people believe?
The account of Jesus’ temptations
in the wilderness is really the explanation as to why God doesn’t do more
extraordinary signs and wonders to convince us of his presence. This is an extraordinary story because it
must have come directly from Jesus himself, since no one was with him during
this time of temptation. At some stage
he must have told his apostles what happened there and what he had to go
through.
Jesus was about to embark on his public
campaign to teach people about God and to win people over for God. Now for any campaign you must choose the
weapons you are going to use. Jesus must
have been aware that he had extraordinary powers, or otherwise Satan wouldn’t
have tempted him to use them. There
would be no point in tempting any of us to throw ourselves down from a great
height or to turn stones into bread, because we couldn’t do it anyway. So this must have been a very real temptation
for Jesus, to misuse his power.
The first thing he was tempted
with was to find satisfaction in material things. ‘Give people the material things that they want
and they will love you.’ In this case it
was bread to a man who was starving. But
Jesus said, ‘No. Man does not live on
bread alone.’ The human being is not
satisfied by material things. Jesus was
saying, ‘I am not going to try and win people over by offering them what they
want.’ We are much deeper than that and
we can only be fully satisfied by God because we are spiritual and not just
physical.
The second temptation was to
compromise with evil. This is a huge
temptation for most people. When you
hear people say ‘the Church needs to get with the times’ this is often what
they mean. The Church needs to ‘adapt’
(compromise) some of its teachings to the more difficult moral demands of our
age. It is always a temptation for me as
a priest to water down the teachings of God so that they are easier to
swallow. But that is not what we are
asked to do. And when Jesus was tempted
this way he rejected it outright. He was
being tempted to compromise with evil just a little bit, so that it would be easier
for people to be convinced. But right is
right and wrong is wrong. We must not
compromise on the ways of God. Yes it is
more difficult, but if it is the truth then it is better to struggle with it
than to try and change it to suit ourselves. The teachings of God don’t need to
change; we are the ones who need to change.
The third temptation was to work
signs and wonders for the people. ‘Throw
yourself down from the temple; since God will save you.’ If he started doing this then no doubt he
would have thousands of followers in no time.
But Jesus also rejected this, because he knew that the way he had to
take was the way of service and the way of the cross, which would win people over
heart by heart. You cannot buy love, as
you know, and that is why Jesus chose the more humble way, and left it open to
us to see what God offers us and then to freely choose to follow him or not.
Jesus was tempted to ‘bend the
rules,’ to settle for less. But he
resisted these temptations even though they must have really been tempting for
him to choose. We are continually presented
with similar temptations; the temptation to reject the parts of our faith that
don’t suit us: ‘Just take the easier parts, let others worry about the
difficult parts’. But that is not what
God asks us to do. The Lord says, ‘If
anyone wishes to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself, take up his
cross and follow me’ (Luke 9:23). It is not an easy
path that leads us to God, but it is the most worthwhile path that there
is. What could be more worthwhile than to follow the one path that will lead us to total fulfillment. There are many other ‘lesser’
options, apparently easier ways, but they don’t lead to God. This is why Jesus was quite definite in his
teaching. If you want to follow me, this
is the path you must follow. It is the
path of trying to live his teachings, even though we are continually hearing
the voices that say, ‘It’s too difficult.
Don’t bother.’ We say we
believe this teaching is from God and so the challenge is to take it seriously, even if it doesn’t
always suit me; even though I won’t always understand it.
In many ways I would still love
it if God worked spectacular signs and wonders now, so that people would be
easily and quickly convinced. But that
is not how God works, and I think it is good to remember that. The Lord knows what He is doing and He puts
it to us continually to follow him freely.
No one is going to force us.
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