temptation

Today's Gospel told the story of Jesus' 40 days in the desert, and of his temptation there by Satan. Fr. Joe pointed out that Satan wasn't asking Jesus to do anything that terrible...turn rocks to bread to feed himself--and maybe the masses? What's the harm in that? Rule over all the known kingdoms of the world? You're Jesus after all--you could bring world peace! Toss yourself off the cliff? You're God...prove your power, use it for good!

But instead, said Fr. Joe, Jesus embraced his humanity in the desert. Surely he was capable of all those acts--and capable of using them for the greater good. However, Jesus' life and work wasn't about big moments. Yes, there were miracles, but even they were (mostly) small moments, in private, with Jesus asking those he healed to keep quiet. Jesus' life and work was about showing us how to live. He tried to demonstrate how we could live our every day, ordinary human lives in the service of God. As the Jesuit and liberation theologian Jon Sobrino asserted in his book Jesus the Liberator, salvation is found in the life of Jesus Christ. He saved us by showing us how to live.

And so our challenge is to avoid the temptation to be human. Whereas Jesus was tempted to act on his divinity, we are tempted to act on our humanity. Our temptations, or I should say my temptations are the everyday distractions of life--the computer, the tv, the crappy soda--the things that distract me from whereI should be focusing my time, energy and effort. Jesus rejected temptation by embracing his humanity. We in turn need to reject temptation by embracing our divinity. We are created in God's image and likeness after all...we each hold divinity within. To embrace it is to be hardworking, is to use our gifts and talents in the service of God--in the service of one another. We are called to be our best selves.