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| Wilderness of Judea |
Since I was ordained a priest almost 26
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, most
of all by becoming present in each mass when the bread and wine becomes the
Body and Blood of Christ, 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 to help us believe?
The account of Jesus’ temptations in
the wilderness is an 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. For any
campaign you must choose the weapons you are going to use. Jesus must have been
aware that he had extraordinary powers, otherwise Satan wouldn’t have tempted
him to use them. There would be no point in tempting any of us to turn stones
into bread, because we know we couldn’t do it anyway. So this must have been a
very real temptation for Jesus, to misuse his power.
The first thing Satan tempted him with,
was to turn stones into bread. ‘If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into
bread’ (Mat 4:3). Jesus was starving after having fasted for forty days. What
harm would there be in doing this? He was being tempted to find satisfaction in
material things. ‘Give people the material things that they want and they will
love you.’ But Jesus said, ‘No. Man does not live on bread alone.’ The human
being is not satisfied by material things alone. Jesus was saying, ‘I am not
going to try and win people over by offering them just 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 that Jesus was
presented with, was to work signs and wonders for the people. Satan said to
Jesus, ‘Throw yourself down from the temple since God will save you’ and he
even quoted Scripture: ‘They will hold you upon their hands lest you hurt your
foot against a stone’ (Mat 4:6). If Jesus started doing this then no doubt he
would have thousands of followers in no time, as we are always intrigued by signs
and wonders, 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 and that is why Jesus chose the humbler
way, and left it open to us to see what God offers us and then to freely choose
to follow him or not.
The third temptation was to
compromise with evil: Satan said to Jesus, ‘Worship me and I will give you all
this worldly power.’ This is a big temptation for most people. When you hear
people say, ‘The Church needs to get with the times,’ they usually mean, the
Church needs to ‘adapt’ (compromise) some of its teachings to meet 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 hear. But
that is not what we are asked to do and when Jesus was tempted this way, He
rejected this too. 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 the ways of God. It is better to
struggle with the truth, 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.
You can see at this time how groups
within the Church are trying to compromise the Lord’s teaching, with accepting
and blessing gay marriage and other ideas and incredibly the justification is
that because of psychology and sociology ‘we know better now.’ To say we know
better now, is saying that God’s word is wrong and that is a contradiction.
A lot of this started in Germany
after many of the sexual abuse scandals, and they decided to look at what
needed to change in the Church to win people back. Sadly, they started to do
exactly what Jesus was tempted to do, that is, compromise with evil, change God’s
teaching, so that it would be more appealing to people.
One of the reasons why it is so
important to keep reading Scripture each week, is to make sure we are not
straying from the Lord’s teaching. God’s voice may seem to be quiet, but it is
not, everything is spelt out for us in Scripture.
In St. John’s Gospel after Jesus worked
the miracle of feeding five thousand people with five loaves of bread, He then
gave the teaching on the Eucharist and said, ‘Unless you eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have life within you’ (Jn 6:53-56).
It says that when He said this, many people stopped following him (Jn 6:66). What
is interesting is Jesus’ reaction to the people walking away. He didn’t do
anything. He let them walk away. He didn’t change anything He had said, because
this was truth. The only thing He did was to ask the disciples if they were
going to leave as well. No doubt the disciples didn’t understand it either, but
they believed He was speaking truth and so they remained, but Jesus did not
change anything He said.
At this time in history, we see so
much of our society turning away from God and as a result our morals are
slipping fast. This is the time for us to double down on what we believe is
right and not give in to the temptations of our time. God’s truth is eternal
and never changes. It does not need to change to make it easier for us to
accept. We need to change to accept his truth. There is no middle ground when
it comes to truth. We either accept it or reject it. Again and again Jesus said
you are either with me, or against me. ‘Choose today life or death, blessing or
curse.’
Moses said to the people, ‘This
day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you, that I have set
before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you
and your children may live’ (Deut 30:19).
Recently I came across an article
about a lady by the name of Dennita Miskimen, a teacher in Virginnia. She was
just about to retire in 2022, having worked as a public school teacher for 23
years, when she once again met a drag queen walking down the corridor of her
school. That was the final straw. She quit her job, which meant losing her pension,
took out a loan and with great difficulty set up what is called the Little Red (Barn)
Schoolhouse. It is a private nondenominational school, where they teach reading,
writing and math. They say the pledge of allegiance, pray and teach the constitution
and there is no LGBTQ or Critical Race Theory taught. Already their reading and
writing standards are way ahead of public schools and there is a waiting list
to get in. She is hoping to make it a franchise throughout the country. She
felt God calling her to do this and she listened. (See the link below)
It is people like her, who refuse to
give in to the immoral standards of so much of the public system, who will
rebuild this country. She is a woman of faith and took a stand at a great risk
to herself, just like all the people the Lord has called throughout the
centuries. I wrote to her to thank her and sent her a donation.
The Lord is calling us to do the
same. We must not compromise what we believe, or water down what God has taught
us. What God teaches us is truth and it
is what works and we have to choose for or against it, just as Jesus taught.
Once again the devil took
him to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their
magnificence. “Everything there I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow
down and worship me.”
“Away with you Satan,”
replied Jesus. “The scripture says, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and
him only you shall serve.’” (Mat 4:8-10).
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