2008 Feb 10 SUN: FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
Gn 2: 7-9; 3: 1-7/ Ps 50(51): 3-4. 5-6. 12-13. 17/ Rom 5: 12-19 / Mt 4: 1-11
From today’s readings: “The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom, so she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.... Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.... Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned.... At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil....” A Closer Look at Temptation Temptation is NOT the same thing as sin. Sin is a
deliberate transgression against the will of God. Temptation, however, is an initially involuntary invitation to sin, the “lure and enticement of desire,” a diabolic disguising of evil as something somehow appealing in some way. It begins as a mere suggestion, but then can grow exponentially more convincing if the person tempted willingly takes delight in the temptation, culminating in the full consent to temptation and the resolution to make it happen. However, it doesn’t have to reach that point of actualization: as long as the door is held shut against temptation, as long as it is securely leashed up and tamed, temptation is not sinful in itself.
Generally speaking, there are two types of temptation:
external (those temptations which originate outside a person, such as a scantily clad model), and
internal (those temptations which well up from within, such as the lazy idea of sleeping in and missing Sunday mass). It’s important that we recognize the distinction, because, as we will see, the strategy of resistance is different for each.
The distinction is also crucial in order to understand how Jesus, though being Divine, could still be tempted. As the Gospels affirm, Jesus was certainly a target of the devil’s
external temptations. As we shall see, however, He was not susceptible to any
internal temptations because of the healthy harmony of His human nature. St. Gregory the Great explains that “Temptation is brought to fulfillment by three stages: suggestion, delight, and consent. When we’re in temptation, we often fall through delight and then through consent.... But God, incarnate in the womb of a virgin, came without sin into the world, and so suffers no conflict within Himself. He could therefore be tempted by suggestion, but the delight of sin could never touch His mind. So all these temptations of the devil were from without, not from within Him.” Incidentally, that’s why misrepresentations which saddle Christ with internal temptations (such as Kazantzakis'
The Last Temptation ) are theologically bankrupt and ultimately blasphemous.
To continue, then, we should note that the human race fell to
external temptation before
internal temptation. You see, Adam and Eve, in their state of original innocence, enjoyed an almost unimaginable privilege - they had no concupiscence, they had no weakened nature that inclined them to sin. So they were essentially free of internal temptation, and even extremely well-endowed to handle external temptation.
This meant that neither of them would ever have slipped into selfishness and self-pity; nor lapsed into lies, lust, laziness and thoughtlessness; nor would they have been grabbed by greed or pricked by pride or jealousy . Now I’m not saying they absolutely couldn’t have committed such sins - it’s just that Adam and Eve, in their state of innocence, had remarkable resistance to sin.
First, their internal temptation was like a harmless puppy dozing at their feet with their human nature like a simple latch-less door which they could always
hold closed to external temptation. But many have forgotten or never been taught another important point: to further secure that door against the intrusion of sin, Adam and Eve were also bolstered with the bar of what is known as “original justice” or “preternatural integrity.”
What is meant by those terms? Well, remember, our first parents were not doomed to death - they could have circumvented it because of a singular gift from God preserving them from corporal corruption and disorder. This gift of original justice thus served as a reinforcement to further
barricade the door to temptation securely shut. Entrusted to Adam and Eve, this security bar would have ideally also served as a perpetual heirloom for all their children. So in this state, temptation could only enter if they intentionally unbarred the door and let it open.
So, Adam and Eve originally never argued over unimportant things (like so many
other couples we know) - whatever minor disagreements arose would have quickly been
dissolved by their mutual love and respect, or they would have been
resolved with civil, mature, rational discussion. Now you see why I said their freedom from concupiscence was almost unimaginable!
But then came the serpent, with a particularly twisty example of external temptation. And instead of keeping their door safely closed to temptation, Adam and Eve disobeyed God - they irreparably splintered the preternatural security bar and deliberately opened the door by delighting in the temptation and consenting to the serpentine suggestion to sin.
As you know, that original sin mortally weakened Adam and Eve and infected them and all their future progeny with concupiscence. From that point on, lacking the security bar of original justice, Adam and Eve and all their descendants could only keep sin out by constant vigilance in
holding the door to external temptation shut. But to make matters worse, the disturbance of original sin also spooked and vexed the puppy of internal temptation, so that it was no longer very tame, and quickly grew into a rather relentless and temperamental hound.
As you can now see, Adam’s household was in a most distressing and depressing predicament: if he concentrated on holding the door shut against the ceaseless battering from temptations outside, then the brunt and brute of temptation would wreak sinful havoc inside. On the other hand, if he focused on subduing the untamed beast within, then the undefended door would be breached by diabolic forces. True enough, by perfect partnering, Adam and Eve were in a position to help each other substantially in keeping sin at bay, but so often, instead of cooperating, they would just end up arguing over whose fault it all was! And of course, whenever they bickered, all kinds of temptations would capitalize on their lack of diligence. Then too, before long, there was even a newborn baby to take care of, so we can just imagine Adam and Eve “raising Cain” there in that sorry mess of a household that he and his siblings were born into, thanks again to the original sin!
Finally, providentially, a Man named Jesus Christ entered Adam’s household. As He was a skilled carpenter, He refit the door in short order with a doubly secure cross-bar which crushed the sinful stem; then, He promptly soothed the beast down with a just a handful of His water, which also washed away even the rust of sin. It was clear that here at last was a Man who knew exactly how to defeat the devil at the door, for the dogged mutt of internal temptations obediently lay still before Him, and the barrage of external temptations failed utterly to dislodge His formidable cross-bar!
This Man Jesus then taught Adam’s family (I mean, His own family!)
to follow Him in foiling sin,
in taming temptation, both without and within.
“First, take up the Cross,” He said,
“and use it to mark your head,
as you wash yourself with a Baptism of My water,
which makes of you the Father’s son or daughter!
Then with My Spirit, I will Confirm you,
name you again, and strengthen anew!
“Learn quickly: NEVER feed that hound at your feet; instead,
Tame it! Train it! Keep it fast, and put it to bed.
Should it ever grow wild, tarry not, but kennel it
with Penance, and then with penance again pummel it!
“Allow Me to feed you weekly - that’s what I came for!
Then pray, and retrace daily My cross which seals the door,
and NEVER open that, but stay content in the Father’s House;
Taught by My friends, read My Book, alone, or with your spouse.
“As you’ve seen Me do, you too, help and love one another!
Give of yourself. Forgive by yourself, 77 times, your brother.
I’ll stay with you, even in Sickness, unless you crowd Me out
by opening the door, unleashing the beast, yielding to doubt.
“But should you call Me once more, even then
I, the Good Shepherd, will find you again!
And finally, I’ll take you to be with Me
and My Father and Spirit, eternally.”
