Introduction
Having been baptised and affirmed as God’s Son, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness. There he is faced with the challenge of what being God’s Son means in the life that he must lead.
Context
A Google search for ‘benefit fraud’ reveals a number of cases that had come to court just since the beginning of February: in Portsmouth, Warwickshire, South Wales and Burnley.
The International Association of Athletics Federations – the IAAF – of which Lord Coe is president, appears to be in trouble over allegations of widespread and systematic doping of athletes. Adidas, have announced that they are dropping their sponsorship of IAAF events and each week seems to bring new allegations. The most recent of these is the production of a 20-year-old letter that has revealed what many had suspected about Chinese athletes having used illegal performance-enhancing methods.
The West Indies under-19 cricket team were criticised when one their bowlers ran out a non-striking Zimbabwean batsman in a ‘Mankad’ dismissal, which is widely considered unsporting.
War and Peace ended its six episode run on BBC One last Sunday leaving many people wondering how they will now spend their Sunday evenings. Andrew Davies’s adaptation has been considered a triumph in that he has adapted a famously long and complex book into a manageable length, while maintaining the integrity of the story.
The Revenant has been nominated for a number of Oscars. Set in the 1820s in Montana and South Dakota, the lead character pursues revenge against the man who left him for dead.
Just one building – a 17 storey block – appears to have suffered catastrophic damage in the earthquake that hit northern Taiwan on 5 February. It has been reported that some of this building’s concrete beams contained tin cans used as fillers.
Reflection
The law exists to define what sin is and to put in place sanctions when sin is exposed. This was true in ancient Israel, and it remains true in any society that has laws. The powerful lure of temptation, is what drives people to sin. It lies behind the first sin (Genesis 3.1-7) and most subsequent sins.
The title of this Postscript is also the title of a song by Squeezewhich makes reference to this first case of temptation. In the cases referenced above, it would seem that through greed or desperation, people have weighed up the risk of getting caught against the lure of wealth. They have then succumbed to the temptation of the ‘easy way out’.
War and Peace, while set against the backdrop of history, is fiction. The satisfactory outcomes that we seek in our entertainment are not always duplicated in real life. Taking ‘the easy way’ sometimes comes at a price. In Taiwan, if the reports are true, shortcuts may have cost lives. While athletes in the past might have cheated and won medals, the withdrawal of sponsorship will affect those competing in the present. The cost to cricket of dismissals like that of the Zimbabwean batsman is less quantifiable, but will surely affect the spirit in which cricket has traditionally been played.
Without wishing to give out a spoiler, in War and Peace, those characters who had yielded to temptation do not fare well and, with one exception (if you have watched the series, you will know who that is), those who stayed true were rewarded.
The Revenant is a gruelling film to watch and not for the faint-hearted. Again, circumspection is necessary to avoid spoilers, but the ending offers an interesting reflection on the temptation to be avenged, with a nod to Deuteronomy 32.35 and Romans 12.16.
The temptations that Jesus resisted in the wilderness were not directly connected to vengeance, but they pointed to a life of subjection to the will of his Father. This prevented his turning against those who tortured him and threatened his life. Whether the temptations that Jesus faced were literal or representative of the temptations he faced throughout the years of ministry, and especially in the last week of his life, they show us what a life looks like when it takes not the easy way.
Prayer
Tempted and tried, we’re oft made to wonder
Why it should be thus all the day long;
While there are others living about us,
Never molested, though in the wrong.
W.A. Fletcher (1911)
Our God, we can come up with all manner of excuses
for why we have given into temptation.
We know that the fault lies not ‘in our stars’, but within ourselves.
We are sinful people and we find it hard to turn our backs on temptation.
We pray your forgiveness for our sins
and ask that we may forgive those who sin against us.
We know that Jesus was tempted,
but never succumbed to the desire to take ‘the easy road’.
Give us the courage to face temptation
and take the right road, no matter the cost to ourselves.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Questions
- In Luke’s version of this story, the final temptation takes place on the pinnacle of the temple, the focal point of Israel’s religion. Are there situations in church life which leave Christians especially open to temptation?
- If the three temptations in the wilderness could be considered archetypes of the temptations that Jesus would face during his ministry, what were the ‘real’ temptations that he faced?
Action
Martin Scorsese’s film adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’s novel, The Last Temptation of Christ, offers some interesting insights into the possible reality of the temptations that Jesus faced. (NB: this film was controversial on its release, and some Christians may be offended by it.)
Young people
When we say the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God to ‘lead us not into temptation’. The trouble is, temptation seems to come our way, without our being led there! It is likely that we are tempted by different things and situations. What do you think is the best way of making sure that you are not ‘led into temptation’?
Simon Carver is a Baptist Minister in St Albans and takes a particular interest in film.
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