Month: March 2023

His sandals were still damp from the Jordan River. Or at least that’s how St. Matthew wants us to see Jesus’ first few Spirit-guided steps into the wilderness. One moment he heard his Father’s voice assure him, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.” The next moment he heard another voice question him, “If you are the Son of God …” 

A fast that lasted forty days and forty nights. And then came the Tempter: Look, Jesus, I know you’re really God’s Son, but you’re hungry. This ridiculous fast has to stop. What are you trying to prove? You can do what you want, right? Then eat! 

That’s the gist of the first temptation, the temptation to make our own way. To meet our own needs. 

The Son looked down. The oblong stones, come to think of it, did look like loaves. The smell of the Passover meal faintly glazed his dulled senses. A vision passed through his mind of his mother’s smile placing bread on the table after he returned from the workshop with his father. He remembered the stories they told of Israel. The exodus. Disobedience and the wilderness wandering. The discipline of the Lord, a discipline of a Son. Echoes of Deuteronomy 8 reverberated off the dinner table. 

The lingering fragrance of bread dissipated: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

St. Matthew takes our gaze upward from the dusty wilderness to the busy streets below from the pinnacle of the Temple. Look, Jesus, you’re the promised Son of Israel – you’re the guy the angels protect in Psalm 91! Reveal yourself in the most amazing way possible. Show the people who you really are! This temple is so earthy and boring. Take a big leap and descend with all of the heavenly host in sight. Your entrance needs a little … angelic, divine flair. 

The Son looked down again. The worshippers below busied themselves as they had been for centuries: listening to the Torah, offering sacrifices, hoping they were forgiven, repeat. So earthy. So tedious. But it wouldn’t be just a jump. In the moment that both of Jesus’ feet left the ledge and suspended for a split second in the air, heaven would arrive. Angels would escort his descent below. And the Son of God’s feet would triumphantly land in the holy city there in the temple initiating the eschaton for all to see. A sacrificial death averted. Glorious revelation and power secured. “Look, he is coming with the clouds,” people would exclaim! 

That’s the gist of the second temptation: avert pain and suffering; take the easy road.

The lingering vision of the end times dissipated: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” 

These were legitimate tests, make no mistakes. They weren’t tricks. We’re not fully explained how, but Jesus would literally get what Satan promised. And so, Satan had one last valuable offer for Jesus: he offered the world.

The Son looked down one last time. This time from a mountain. He would visit this high mountain later with the friendly company of Moses and Elijah, and yet one last time with eleven followers. Worship me, Jesus, it’s that simple. You see, all authority on earth has been given to me. Fall down and worship my name. I’ll give you all this precious land. All these kingdoms and nations. You’re supposed to be a king and savior and ruler. It’ll all be yours – isn’t that what you want most? A thousand yard stare glazed over the hungry, poor carpenter’s eyes. Kingship could happen in just an instance. 

And that’s the gist of the final temptation: get what you deserve. 

But the lingering voice from heaven at his baptism grew louder in his ears. Past his hunger pains. Past the alluring beauty of the lands and people below. And in a moment another voice flooded his heart and drowned out the Tempter’s. Jesus was loved. Secure. A cherished Son.

He had enough: “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” 

We don’t know how Satan left the mountain, but he did. And like that, the temptations were over. I like to believe it was a slow descent to hell from there for him. 

But, look! Are those angels descending upon the mountain to minister to Jesus? 

St. Matthew leans in close to us and whispers, “it’s Psalm 91 coming true.” 

Christian friend, are you tempted? Call on him, and God will rescue you, protect you. He will be with you in trouble and deliver you. 

Angels can gather for you. 

By Abbot Kenneth Gillespie

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted
by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many
temptations, and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each
one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
for ever. Amen.

Brothers, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. We are now one week into our season of Holy Lent and, as our collect for this week reminds us that it was God the Holy Spirit who led Christ into the desert to be tempted, I think we should consider what it is He is leading us to this season of lent. This season is a time of preparation, of fasting and prayer, of service and sacrifice for others, and most importantly of penitence.

This is a time set aside. A time for us, the body of Christ, to examen ourselves, inside and outside. To ask God the Holy Spirit to come alongside us and reveal to us those growing edges we might need to focus on. It is an opportunity check the condition of our hearts, to see just how receptive we are to God, how docile we are to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

It is a chance to soften the callous places of our hearts, and to consecrate to our Lord those areas of our lives we have been selfishly withholding. When we consider fasting or giving up some particular thing during this season, I encourage you to keep in the forefront of your mind the reality that we do these things for one real purpose only, to cultivate within us the capacity for greater intimacy with God.

Our lessons from Holy Scripture for this past Sunday present to us the story of how Sin entered the world and the consequences that ensued. Our catechism tells us that it was through self-centered rebellion that sin entrapped us, that this great infection with which we each are born came to be. Pay close attention to how the serpent in described in our lesson from Genesis, “more crafty than any other creature.” Satan is indeed crafty. I say it often, He is not likely to show us as an ugly, disfigured monster to scare you as he is often portrayed. That would only send you running into God’s arms, begging for His protection.

No, Satan will not present himself as something or someone to be feared, but as something endearing, someone intriguing, irresistible. He plays on the weaknesses that already exists within you, the disordered affections which draw you away from God. Just as with Eve, who
knew God’s commandment about the tree, he lured her away with rationalization and deception that played into her desire for more. More, More, More!!! The rallying cry of our culture, of humanity. You deserve more shoes, more clothes, more dessert, more wine. You work hard. It is what we directly combat by ordering our lives by the rule and vows of this order.

It starts when we are young, Go ahead, have another helping of food, another piece of pie, so you can grow big and strong. We teach and train ourselves to indulge and so later, when Satan presents himself as an irresistible option and whispers sweetly in our ear, we jump right in. We walk right away from God in right down the way of death, just as Eve did. Lent in an opportunity to reorient ourselves to Christ as Lord.

The purpose of the fasting and abstinence, of giving up something for lent, it is not just a empty exercise in selfdenial or something we do just because traditions calls us to do it. It is something we do to expose within ourselves those areas of our lives we have been withholding from Christ. The temptation is often subtle and spread out throughout our lifetimes. Satan is good at playing the long game. There may be times where he goes for a quick win, but most of the time he is willing to wear us down and lead us astray just a little at a time, so years later we look up and wonder how did I get here? How did my life end up like
this, why am I so depressed, so bitter, so angry? Why does God feel so far away?

Lent is an opportunity to expose these areas, to bring them to light, to our awareness. It is a chance to develop good and healthy habits, not just for forty days, but for a lifetime. Don’t give up TV for lent just to go back to watching TV after lent as though nothing had changed.
Give up TV because you realize that you have been spending more time with the TV than with God. And don’t just replace it with another indulgent distraction from God, but instead with more time in prayer and reading Holy Scripture. Then after lent, if you should choose to
reintroduce TV into your life, do so with greater caution and intentionality that it no replace the good and healthy habits you have been cultivating for the past forty days. Imagine how that approach over a lifetime could help to cultivate within us greater capacity for God. The church year has many opportunities for fasting and penitence, not just lent. Take advantage of them, make the most of the opportunities they are, to grow in your own awareness and
discipline so that you may cling more fully to the Lord who loves you.

In the Gospel lesson for this first Sunday in Lent, we are told that Satan tempted Christ with food, power, and manipulation. He comes after each of us with the same temptations, our basic needs, our hunger, our thirst to matter, to be important, and our desire for security, to be in control. Notice how none of the three temptations were that bad. Would it have really mattered if Jesus had made the stones into bread and satiated his hunger? Would anyone have been hurt if Jesus tested God’s promise to protect him? And would it have been that bad if Jesus had been king of the world? YES, YES it would have because all three of these temptations represent a departure from God’s will. That second piece of pie, that new pair of shoes, that third night in a row of TV, that lingering look at someone who is not your spouse, ALL MATTER, not because they in and of themselves are that bad, but because they draw you away from God, from the Lordship of Christ. They are each subtle acts of rebellion, which overtime establish a callousness towards rebellion within our hearts and leads us slowly but steadily down the path of death. God wants more for you, God loves you deeply and desires you. Lent is all about letting Him love you more deeply.

Let us pray,

Holy and loving Father, You know the wickedness within each of us, the many areas in our lives where we have been tempted to stray from You. Reveal to us, those ways in which we stray and draw us back to You, that we may love you more faithfully, which our whole hearts, our whole minds, and with all of our strength. We ask this through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and evermore. Amen.

Blessings,
Ab. Kenneth