“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (NRSV, Matthew 4:1)

Today brings us once again to the parting of the ways.  By the majority of people Ash Wednesday comes and goes unheeded as they hurry on along the bustling highway of the world.  But the faithful disciples of Our Lord turn aside in spirit and follow him into the wilderness there to renew the battle against those temptations which, in countless ways, seek to entice us away from him.

The fact that we have temptations need cause us no surprise and certainly no discouragement.  They are a necessary part of the training and development of our characters and are present whenever we are faced with the choice between a higher and a lower course of action.  They become wrong only when we toy with them and give way and sin.

This helps to explain what puzzles many people, namely, how could Jesus, God made Man, feel temptation’s power.  The answer is that when he took human nature to himself in Bethlehem and so expressed himself through the conditions of human life, he also deliberately assumed the natural machinery through which temptation works.  He possessed the natural needs and desires of all human beings, not only those of the body like food and rest but also those of our higher self, the desire for sympathy and companionship and the like.  And at any time he might be in a position when it would be wrong to put them (such as his love for his Mother) before what he knew to be his duty and his mission.

The fact that he never yielded to temptation is a proof that he experienced its full power: we give in so often before it has reached its peak.  But he never did, not because there was any outside compulsion to prevent him, but because his will was so completely one with his Father’s.

This brings Jesus Christ very near to us, for in our temptations we are bound to him by the cords of a common experience, for he was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).  And while his example gives us hope of success, his power, so freely offered to us in prayer and Sacrament, provides us with the full assurance and means of final victory.

Now the first step to obtain the mastery over our temptations, is to gain the mastery over the channels by which they come, and here Our Lord’s temptations in the wilderness are our guide.  The Devil tempted him first through his body, then his mind, and finally his spirit.

The Devil wanted to know for certain whether Christ was indeed the Son of God as he was declared to be at his Baptism in Jordan.  Jesus had gone into the desert to discipline his body in preparation for his ministry, to make it his servant so that it should never hinder him in his mission.  And as the days passed his body clamoured against the rigours of his fast.  And Satan put this thought into his mind, “Why not use my miraculous powers to satisfy this hunger?”  Perhaps there was the further suggestion that he should also use his miraculous powers to attract a great body of followers by regularly providing them with free bread.

But neither now nor at any other time did Jesus allow his own bodily needs or those of his fellow men to influence him in doing his Father’s will; in many weary journeys, in the Garden of Gethsemane and supremely on the Cross he was its complete master.  And when he did feed the 5000 with the five loaves and two small fishes and the people came to him the next day in the hope of getting more, he rebuked them and told them to desire for themselves, not the temporal but the eternal, not the natural but the supernatural.

And so we, his disciples, must achieve mastery over the body.  If it is to serve and not to rule our higher nature, then we must train and discipline it, protest though it may.  Nor should we despise this discipline because it must chiefly be in the little things, and the same applies to self-discipline in general.  It is obvious that we shall not have mastery over ourselves in great things if we are incapable of exercising it in small.

We should, therefore, have a few simple practical rules designed to make our body with all its likes and dislikes more and more our servant.  Naturally, a rule that applies to one would not necessarily apply to another.  Some might, for example, profitably get up in the morning a little earlier and always at a fixed time.  And all of us can think of some pleasure or luxury we can give up and so really practise saying no to our lower nature.

Having failed in tempting Our Lord through his body the Devil turned his attention to tempting him through his mind, to an act of pride and presumption.  He said, as it were, “You have done well in refusing to make the stones bread, now show how perfect is your trust in God by casting yourself down from the pinnacle of the Temple”.  It was a temptation to test God, to satisfy himself that God really cared for him; and perhaps also there was the thought of attracting a great mass of disciples by a spectacular and sensational miracle, instead of by the Crucifixion.

So we may be tempted to pride and self-congratulation at the way we practise self-denial this Lent, for if the Devil fails in one way he will most certainly try another.  Because therefore the mind is the special channel of many temptations, this too must be disciplined.

There are times when our minds get out of control, when they are the playground of many idle and trivial thoughts.  We need a rule, therefore, which will help to control our mind by supplying it with worthwhile food for thought, and there can be nothing better than the Bible.  We could read several verses of, say, St Luke’s Gospel each day and turn them over in our minds afterwards.

Having failed twice the Devil launched his final attack, against the citadel of the spirit.  More than anything else Jesus wanted to bring the whole world under the sovereign rule of God and the third temptation was to accomplish that by unlawful means – to secure the kingdoms of the world by paying homage to the Devil.  Two ways were open: an earthly throne, the power of force or the Cross, the power of love.  He could found the Kingdom by suffering and dying in shame and humiliation: or he could win the world using the methods of the world and become its dictator by misusing his supernatural powers.

Such ambitions he rejected: it was to be the way of the Cross with all its seeming failure, or nothing.  “Get thee hence, Satan…” he said and the temptations ceased – for a time (King James Bible, Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:13).

The temptations of this world are with us also so long as we are in it: the desire to possess – the acquisitive instinct – is part of our nature and is therefore not wrong in itself.  It becomes wrong when we crave for unworthy objects.  We can either satisfy it fully by desiring most of all to know and possess God, to be one with him: or we can seek instead the material things of the world which will all have to be left behind one day – comfort, ease, popularity, this world’s goods and the like.

So Lent is a time to discipline and direct the desires of the soul and this will be done by giving ourselves to God in prayer that we may be concerned chiefly with desiring him.  “…Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (King James Bible, Matthew 4:10).  Thus, lastly and more important than all else, we must overhaul our rule of prayer, setting aside a fixed time morning and evening and giving a greater place to adoration; for example, by slowly repeating the familiar words from the Eucharist:

“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts,
heaven and earth are full of thy glory.
Glory be to thee, O Lord most high”. (1)

We could perhaps extend the range of our intercessions, increase the number of our Communions and be more careful in our preparation and thanksgiving for them.  In all these ways we will learn to purify our desires and weaken the pull that the world is always exerting on us.  And in so doing we will be drawn closer to Our Lord.

When we reflect on Our Lord’s temptations and how he dealt with them, we see that in all his replies he referred to God – his focus was on God’s honour:

“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (King James Bible, Matthew 4:4).

“Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (King James Bible, Matthew 4:7).

“Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (King James Bible, Matthew 4:10).

And so our Lenten rule should be designed for God’s honour, not mere self-improvement.  Let us then keep a good Lent – disciplining our bodies, minds and spirits – all to honour Him.

“Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen” (King James Bible, Revelation 7:12).

Reference

1. © Archbishops’ Council (2000) Common Worship.  Holy Communion: Order Two.  Available from:
http://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/texts/principal-services/holy-communion/ordertwo.aspx (Accessed 28 January 2013) (Internet).