Temptation In The Wilderness

 

Here we are on the first Sunday of Lent, and with it Christ's temptation in the wilderness. After fasting for forty days we read that Jesus was "hungry," admirable understatement from St. Luke. Then Satan appears on the scene and tempts Our Lord three times. In sum:

The unclean spirit appeals to Jesus' bodily appetite, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." Rebuked, the Devil takes Christ to the top of a tall mountain and offers him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, but there's a catch, Jesus must worship him.  Failing in this, Lucifer takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple and urges Christ to "throw himself down... for it is written, 'He will give his angels charge over thee lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.'" Again, Jesus says no, and the Serpent leaves him and the angels minister to him.

Reflect on this in the light of Luke's account, in which the mountainous temptation plays a central or pivotal part. See it if you like as a head and shoulders graph with the all time high being Devil worship, flanked by gluttony on the one hand and faithlessness on the other. What does this suggest? A diabolical Sinai, an anti-Sinai, in which Satan inverts the giving of the Law to Moses on the mountain top. What was this God-given Law?

It's summarized thus, "Love the Lord your God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind." And, "Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself." Love God, love neighbor, two essential commandments given to us by God. What's suggested by Satan is the exact opposite of this.

Again, we have two commandments, but what are they? Stones to bread, gluttony, and throw yourself from the Temple, faithlessness, the former precluding love of neighbor and the latter love of God. I say again, the satanic mountain intends and produces the opposite of the heavenly. What are we to do with this?

Be aware that as we go out into the wilderness to confront evil, we'll be tempted in the same way as Christ, by the Devil. Say no to this and beat the Serpent back by fasting, charity, and prayer, and in doing so align yourself with Christ and walk the way of the Cross which leads to new and everlasting life.

Stand strong in the Faith,

LSP

Shoot More, Ride More

You'll have to forgive the recent lack of posting but I've been busy, not least with self-examination, which is a Lenten discipline leading to penitence, confession and amendment of life. With that in mind, several things have become very clear after Ash Wednesday, including:

Shoot more

Ride more

So I've been doing both and think it's time to up the ante on the former with a night-time coyote call - there's been plenty of paper punching lately but precious little hunting and it's time to put the AR to practical use. Viz. horses; it's all very well to spend a couple of hours a week on the quadruped, but how are you ever going to really advance on the basis of such minimal acquaintance? A bit like someone wondering why they don't get very far spiritually when all they do is spend an hour and a half in church on Sunday.

Speaking of church - today's Gospel was St. Luke's variant of Our Lord's temptation in the wilderness. Different than Mathew's because the mountain temptation is placed in the middle of the narrative.

With that in mind, it struck me last night that what Luke portrays is an inverse, or diabolic mirror image, of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai - successfully resisted by Christ, who refers "Old Scratch" to the "first and great commandment" (gotta love the old Prayer Book), by way of Deuteronomy.

If any theologians would like to comment, well, I'd welcome the thought.

Have a blessed Lent.

LSP