Pastor's Letter 20230226 - 26 February 2023 - Temptation and Sin

[Father Michael]

February 26^th, 2023

First Sunday of Lent

A Message from Father ^_†Michael

Today’s Theme:  “Temptation and Sin”

Reflections on Today’s Scripture

(Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7)  Temptation is very much a part of the human existence.  God believes we are worthy of a second chance—as is evident in the way He deals with his people throughout history.

The authors of Genesis have woven a tapestry of poetic answers to all of life’s most important questions.  The obvious scientific ignorance in the text should not deter us, because the point of view is not scientific, but theological.  Adam’s role, and therefore our own, is portrayed as unique in creation.  Fragments of many ancient myths, found in the story of the fall, have been discovered in the writings of other civilizations.  Adam and Eve allowed themselves to be duped by distorted truth (“You will be like God,”) and in disobeying God’s orders, they are alienated, not only from God, but from one another (i.e. shame, guilt….)  God put before them “life,” but they chose “death,” as their first act of free will.  This emphasizes that the source of evil in the world is none other than human will.  

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(Romans 5:12-19)  The believer has a special strength and dignity in the daily struggle to enjoy the gifts of redemption—justice, grace and life.  That one Person can do so much for so many is evident in the life and death of Jesus Christ.  

^†Paul’s unique contribution to theology is his comparison of Adam as “type” with Christ as “antitype.”  His point is that sin and its tangled web of evil are finally overcome, and that human beings are free because of the liberating act of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Adam alone is not to blame for all the sin in the world, because we are all personally culpable and responsible for our sins—and, in doing so, we confirm and reiterate Adam’s rebellion against God.  Nonetheless, ^†Paul emphasizes that Christ’s grace—his  gift of love and life—is far more powerful than sin.

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(Matthew 4:1-11)  Being tempted is part of being human; overcoming temptation is an integral part of “belonging to Christ.”

Jesus’ resistance to fame, power and wealth during His time on earth is represented in ^†Matthew’s and ^†Luke’s stories of His temptations in the desert.  No eyewitnesses were present, so Jesus must have related this story to His disciples.  Christ’s temptation is analogous to our own, when we constantly are surrounded by negative alternatives to “right living.”  The commonly-held belief that a living “entity”—“the Devil”—is the cause of our sinfulness is debatable, and reduces personal responsibility.  Our very human nature affords us ample opportunities for making sinful choices—owing to our “free will” to do so—just as Adam did in the Genesis story.  Jesus, as the “new Adam,” and “new Israel,” is presented to us as exercising His free will to overcome the lure of sin, no matter what rewards are offered as temptation.  We must cling to His example of righteousness in living for our own lives.  

Paradise Lost, and Found, Again

Before God gave Adam and Eve the “freedom to choose,” they were like automatons, programmed solely to do His will.  They knew no regret, shame, remorse, sorrow, pain nor suffering.  But having been given “free will,” it then became possible for them to be fully mortal—that is, to live by their conscious choices—having the opportunity to say “yes,” or “no,” to God.  They abused that freedom when they chose to disobey Him. 

All our achievements, discoveries, wars—all the heights to which human beings have risen or the depths to which they have sunk—have been about using or abusing the God-given freedom of choice.  

We might think, hearing today’s story of the temptation of Jesus in the desert, that it was “easy” for Him to do the will of God.  But that would be to ignore His fully-human nature.  That He was “without sin,” does not negate His humanity, nor His free will.  It must be remembered that sin is not an intrinsic ingredient to being human.  

We face evil every time with every choice we make.  Clearly, we are creatures who possess strains of rebelliousness, self-centeredness and short-sightedness.  These are the causes of our making wrong choices that then lead us to patterns of self-destructive behavior.  

Jesus’ important victory in the desert didn’t mean His war over sin was over.  There were other attacks.  Due to the repetitive nature of choices, we make them over, time and again.  However, every right choice makes the next right choice easier, and when done often enough, eventually it becomes second nature.  The real punishment is that it makes it more likely that we will commit the same sin the next time….

All of us have lost our childhood innocence.  However, we can regain it; but this recovered innocence is different from the first.  Childish innocence is immature, not responsible, unacquainted with sorrow and evil.  Whereas, mature innocence is transfigured through responsibility and acquaintance with sorrow and evil.  The first is harmless, through weakness; the second is innocent, through virtue.  The first is incapable of committing sin; the second is unwilling to commit sin.

Effective Penance

Due to tradition, or training, most people believe they should undertake some penance, or personal denial, during Lent.  As it may well be a good and worthwhile practice, penance is not an end in itself. 

The purpose of penance is not to undo the past—the past is behind us.  Nor is it meant to persuade God to erase our sins and forego the punishment we deserve for them.  The whole object of the practice is to reform our sinful way of life—to acquaint us with our better selves—to take a “step” in the right direction.  

When we first undertake to do penance, we are acknowledging that we are sinners.  Secondly, we are expressing a desire to change our lives.  Penance is an exercise in saying “no,” to ourselves—denying self-gratification.  It is intended to show that we are capable of better things, and that we sincerely want them.  We want to improve, but we cannot do so without the grace of God.  

Consider this:  when people prune trees, they are not doing it to “punish” the trees.  Rather, it is done to make the tree more fruitful, or to grow in a better way.  Similarly, our penances must have as their goal to lead us to better lives.  It’s a lot easier to undertake penance, even severe penance, than to attempt to change sinful attitudes or habits, however.  For our penance to “bear fruit,” it must result in our making a sincere effort to change our lives…for the better.  

Lent provides us a window of opportunity to look within ourselves and see how we can become better followers of Christ.  We must always remember that His victory over sin is a shining example, to help us be victorious in our own struggles with sin and evil.

May God Richly Bless You!

"Integrity is 'doing the right thing' even though no one is watching!"

~~C. S. Lewis~~

Lenten Meditation.docx

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Edited February 26, 2023 by Father Michael