5th February/March Trinity 2017, Adversaries of Humanity

February Trinity 

(Sunday after Ash Wednesday)

Matthew 4:1-11

Tissot

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the loneliness of the desert to experience the tempting power of the adversary.

After fasting forty days and nights, for the first time, He felt hunger for earthly nourishment. Then the tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, let these stones become bread through the power of your word.”

Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘The human being shall not live by bread alone; he lives by the creative power of every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the parapet of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Blake

Jesus answered him, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Again, a third time, the devil took him to a very elevated place and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give to you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me as your Lord. “

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship [pray to] God your Lord who guides you and serve him only.’”

Then the adversary left him, and he beheld again the angels as they came to bring him nourishment.

February/March Trinity 

(Sunday after Ash Wednesday)

March 5, 2017

Matthew 4:1-11

Temptation in the Desert, Michael O'Brien

One of the dictums of war is 'divide and conquer'. This method is used to maintain or gain power. In today's reading, the adversaries of humanity seem to recognize that someone has arrived on the field of battle who will be a threat to their power over humanity on earth. The tempter always tries to separate the human and earthly from the divine. The tempter's plan of divide and conquer has always been to get the human being to depend on, either totally him or herself, or on the nature of the earthly world.

Christ's visitations by the adversaries of humanity are archetypal for all human beings. We are all tempted to nourish our bodies and souls solely through earthly substances. We are all tempted to defy the laws of spirit and the laws of matter. We are all tempted to pay exclusive attention and devotion to earthly splendors.

Christ has shown us how to maintain our connection to the divine while on earth. We can recognize that it is God's own life force that keeps us alive, not just the earthly substance. We can humbly acknowledge that we are not above God's heavenly and earthly laws. We can recognize that the splendor of all earthly kingdoms belongs to God, who keeps all alive.

We ourselves conquer the adversary through gratitude and praise. In the words of the poet:

I praise my God, as every morning the sun awakens,

And I am grateful for all the wonders my eyes can see.

. . . I praise my God every morning as I awaken,

And give him thanks for every breath I’ve taken,

. . .

I praise my God when I look up and watch in wonder,

As every time I see the sky, with naked eyes,

I pray that I should be made worthy of his grace:

That when I look up to the ether clouds, I see his face…*

*Psalms of Praises by r. de cassia Canticle 2- I Praise my God, Zurielpress 

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2nd February Trinity 2016, Embracing Suffering

3rd, 4th February Trinity (Sunday after Ash Wednesday)

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the loneliness of the desert to experience the tempting power of the adversary.

Jean-Marie St. Eve, Wikicommons

After fasting forty days and nights, He felt for the first time hunger for earthly nourishment. Then the tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, let these stones become bread through the power of your word.”

Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘The human being shall not live on bread alone; he lives by the creative power of every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the parapet of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Again a third time, the devil took him to a very elevated place, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give to you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me as your Lord. “

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship [pray to] God your Lord who guides you and serve him only.’”

Then the adversary left him, and he beheld again the angels as they came to bring him nourishment.

3rd, 4th February Trinity

Blake

February 14, 2016

Matthew 4:1-11

Christ was the God who had never before lived in an earthly body. Forty days after his entry at the Baptism into the body of Jesus, he feels for the first time the hunger for earthly nourishment. The body shows him the overwhelming nature of the thirst for existence. This is the thirst for existence that Buddha had warned that humanity needed to be overcome in order to avoid suffering.

And it is this thirst for existence that gives the adversary access to Christ Jesus. Yet Christ manages to maintain his equilibrium between heaven and earth. For he came, not to avoid suffering, but to embrace it.

He refuses to magick up bread for himself. Instead, angels nourish him in the sphere of life. He refuses to succumb to pride in his own uniqueness as Son of God. He sees through the delusion that the Prince of this world could give him earthly power and glory.

Instead, he is faithful to His Father and to his own mission. He does not flee the hunger and hardship that being in a body entails. He chooses, and will continue to choose to embrace suffering, the suffering of all humankind, because he loves us. He chooses the hard road.

In so doing, Christ laid the seed of possibility within each of us. We can see through the delusions of the adversary. We can overcome pride and maintain our trust and connection with our heavenly Father, who holds our unique destiny and purpose in his hands. We can embrace our own suffering as a necessary step along our own path. And we can embrace others in their suffering through Christ’s love. 

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2nd February Trinity 2008, No Fool

3^rd, 4^th February Trinity

Blake, Stones into Bread

(Sunday after Ash Wednesday)

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the loneliness of the desert to experience the tempting power of the adversary.

After fasting forty days and nights, He felt for the first time hunger for earthly nourishment. Then the tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, let these stones become bread through the power of your word.”

Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘The human being shall not live on bread alone; he lives by the creative power of every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

  

Then the devil took him to the holy city and

Blake, Throw Yourself Down

had him stand on the parapet of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Again a third time, the devil took him to a very elevated place, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give to you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me  as your Lord. “

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship [pray to] God your Lord who guides you and serve him only.’”

Then the adversary left him, and he beheld again the angels as they came to bring him nourishment.

2^nd Sunday February Trinity

February 10, 2008

Matthew 4:1-11

When a first-time driver sits behind the wheel, he or she must first gain control of the power of the vehicle—how far to turn the wheel in order to end up where he wants; how hard to press on gas or brake. The first lessons are usually out in an empty space.

In this gospel reading, Christ had just been baptized. He had just for the first time entered the strange territory of a human soul and body. Imagine what a great coup it would have been for the devil to abort Christ’s mission at its very inception. So we can imagine the devil hauling out his greatest weapons.

The first of the devil’s weapons is the desperation of the body’s need. In suggesting that Christ turn stones into bread, the devil might also be whispering that of course it would be foolish for Christ to let Himself die of starvation here in the desert. Yet Christ resists literally taking matter into his own hands. He relies on the Father’s living presence to sustain Him—and indeed He is nourished by angels who come to feed Him.

The second and the third of the devil’s temptations involve the soul’s

Blake, Riches of the World

pride in two extreme forms. First the devil draws Him over to one side, into foolishly assuming God’s total protection of body and soul, no matter how extreme the behavior, even if He were to jump off a high place. Failing that, the devil takes Him to the other extreme, encouraging Him to drop his allegiance to the Father altogether and to derive His power from the Prince of this World.

Yet, new as He is to life in a human body, Christ is no fool. He sees through the errors and consequences in the devil’s propositions. He knows that His connection with His Father must remain both appropriate and unbroken in order for Him to do what he has come to earth to do.

Because Christ was able to overcome temptation from within the human body, He is able to give every human being the possibility to do likewise—to see through and to resist the devil’s false suggestions, in order to do what we have come to earth to do. Each human being has the possibility to maintain a connection to the world from which we all have come. We can become aware of our real connection with our Father in the heavens, whose kingdom comes when it is His will that is done on earth. We can perhaps hear Him speaking in the words of the poet:

Close both eyes and see with the other eye.

Open your hands if you want to be held….

Quit acting like a wolf and feel

the Shepherd’s love, filling you.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Rumi, “A Communion of the Spirit” in The Essential Rumi, Coleman Barks, p. 3.