Testing and temptation

Posted on March 1, 2022 by Friar Musings

This coming Sunday is the first Sunday in Lent and the gospel is the temptation/testing of Jesus in the desert. As often noted, Luke writes with a narrative intent. This is true also for the account of the temptations. Luke 4:1–13 presents a number of key elements linking it to surrounding material, helping to ensure its interpretation as a bridge scene moving Jesus from his reception of the Spirit at his baptism to his public ministry. The most obvious such bridges include references to the other worldly (3:21–22; 4:5), the setting of the wilderness in the vicinity of the Jordan (3:2–3, 4, 21; 4:1, 14), the Holy Spirit (3:22; 4:1, 1, 14, 16), Jesus’ sonship (3:22, 38; 4:3, 9, 41 – If you are the Son of God), the attention to the meaning of Jesus’ mission, and Jesus’ encounter with hostile forces – human and spiritual (4:2–13, 22–30, 33–36). Continue reading →

In the wilderness

Posted on February 28, 2022 by Friar Musings

This coming Sunday is the first Sunday in Lent, Lectionary Cycle C. The season of Lent has its own end and purpose, so we should not expect continuity from the previous week that was part of Ordinary Time. Last Sunday the gospel was part of Lukan “Sermon on the Plain.” Depending on the calendar year and the celebration of Easter we might have an early or late start to Lent. We’ll hear the opening verses of the “Sermon” on the sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, but it is not unusual to not celebrate the 7th and 8th Sundays which carry lots of the details. This year (2022) we did celebrate those two Sundays. (Note: in 2016 we had a very early Easter and so even the 6th Sunday was not celebrated.) Continue reading →

For what should we pray?

Posted on February 15, 2022 by Friar Musings

The first reading all week is from the Letter of James. Today’s “installment” is just one of many insights the letter carries about the human condition: “Blessed is he who perseveres in temptation” (James 1:12).

Temptation: no one wants it, no one can avoid it, and it isn’t going away. When St. Paul refers to the “thorns in his side” (2 Cor 12:7) I think, in part, he is talking about temptation. When Paul asked God to take them away, the answer was simply “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor 12:9) Continue reading →

It’s your choice

Posted on February 15, 2021 by Friar Musings

In today’s first reading, the brothers Cain and Abel have just brought an offering to the Lord. Abel brought his best lamb to offer to God in sacrifice. Cain brought some of the first fruits of the harvest, but pointedly not the best. “The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not.” (Gen 4:5-6a)

Several commentaries offer that what follows in Genesis 4:6-7 is perhaps the most challenging verse facing translators in the Book of Genesis, or perhaps all of the Hebrew Scriptures. “So, the LORD said to Cain: “Why are you so resentful and crestfallen. If you do well, you can hold up your head; but if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door: his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master.”

Continue reading →

Mountain of Temptation

Posted on February 26, 2020 by Friar Musings

Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan river and then “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1). Both the Gospels of Mark and Luke have a similar narrative, placing Jesus at the Jordan River immediately before his temptation in the wilderness. While Christian tradition often describes Jesus’ temptation as occurring in a “desert,” the Greek word eremos primarily means a location that is isolated, uninhabited and unfit for pasture. Continue reading →

Temptation

Posted on March 10, 2019 by Friar Musings

When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time (Lk 4:13). Technically, the translation should be that Satan departed from Jesus for a more favorable time. In other words, it was not a one-and-that’s-it temptation for Jesus. Satan was coming back for another try. And if Satan was coming back to tempt Jesus, there is no reason to think that our life will be free of temptation. Continue reading →

Place of Temptation

Posted on March 8, 2019 by Friar Musings

Temptation and Technology

Posted on March 3, 2018 by Friar Musings

The playwright Oscar Wilde once wrote, “I can resist anything except temptation.” The humor of the remark is mixed with a sad recognition that we fail so often to resist the temptations that come our way each day and from every direction. Of course, there are temptations and then there are temptations writ large. What are people’s greatest temptations? Why? What are their “favorite” sins — indicated by frequency and repetition? Why do we so often find ourselves in the same position as St. Paul? “What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate.” (Romans 7:15). During this Lenten season, each of us is called to name our temptations as part of a moral and ethical struggle in trying to live a holy and righteous life. Then once we name that temptation, we begin to unfold and inspect, to then start to answer what it is about this temptation that becomes especially alluring. Such are the first steps to healing. Continue reading →

The time of fulfillment: context

Posted on February 12, 2018 by Friar Musings

¹²At once the Spirit drove him out into the desert, ¹³and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him. ¹⁴After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: ¹⁵“This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Continue reading →

Tempted to forget

Posted on March 5, 2017 by Friar Musings

temptation And sin entered the world. In the second reading, St. Paul is pretty clear that sin entered the world through Adam and Eve. Did you ever stop to think about what exactly was the first sin? Maybe it is as simple as disobedience. “The LORD God gave the man this order: You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat; when you eat from it you shall die.” (Gen 2:6-7) That seems awfully clear… lots of trees, lots of fruit, help yourself, but not from that one tree. Awfully clear and awfully tempting. We get to listen to Eve’s thoughts as Satan tempts her: “The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom” (Gen 3:6) I suspect I had many the same thoughts when as a child, I stood before the open refrigerator door staring longingly at the last piece of key lime pie – so good, so pleasing to the eye… and there was mom talking from the next room, “Have a piece of fruit. It’s good for you.” You can guess how that story ends. In my case, it was clearly disobedience, but I am not so sure about Adam and Eve. Continue reading →

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