1st Sunday of Lent 21.2.10 Learn from the Master
When we see a master of his craft doing what he does well we say, He makes it look easy.
Whatever the skill someone can do it better than anyone else, be it ice skating, singing, writing, lawn bowls.
If ‘being good’ could be called a skill then we have the Master of that skill in Our Lord Himself.
Today, in confronting and defeating the temptations from another master, He makes it look easy.
To each temptation presented to Him Our Lord simply answers with a word from Scripture and that is the end of the matter.
If only we could do it as easily as that. But we allow ourselves to get tangled up by the prospect of quick happiness which temptation essentially offers.
Eat this and you will be happy; gratify your senses; why deny yourself anything? Don’t let a few old commandments bother you. Don’t let the Church or the Pope tell you what to do.
So, all too willingly, we listen to the temptation and succumb.
Our Lord went into the desert to represent us all. He was captain of the team and the team was called humanity. He went in on our behalf. Previously our win-loss record against the devil was very poor, but this time it was a win for the humans.
In achieving this victory He changed the balance of power. The devil’s grip on the human race had been loosened.
The devil is also master of his craft, that of tempting. He was defeated by Our Lord but he surveyed Our Lord’s followers and thought they looked a ragged enough bunch and would still be ripe for temptation.
So he has been throwing things at us ever since, in any and every way possible trying to deflect us from the main task of getting to heaven.
He will use flattery or intimidation, either holding out to us the delights of worldly happiness or the horrors of worldly rejection.
Many a disciple has fallen for his deceptions, some totally, others partially. We ourselves have fallen many times and greatly regret the fact.
We could regard the season of Lent as a kind of training period. Those skills the masters make look easy take a lot of practice.
Even the best have to be practising all day to keep their talents at the highest level.
We learn from our mistakes (or sins).
We practise resisting temptation, practise finding the right thing to do in each situation - in short, being holy or good.
It does not come automatically. Many think that if they are not robbing banks or killing someone they must be good people, but it is not so easy as that.
There are more subtle sins: like making snide remarks about people; being envious of others’ good fortune; wasting time on trivial matters; chasing after false gods like money or status; sins of omission - and a thousand other things.
Could any of us go through even one day without committing some sort of sin? Our Lord went through His whole life, but He was the Master. It was easy (relatively) for Him.
Is it possible for us to be like Him? It is itself a temptation to say that we cannot help what we do; to say that we are only frail humans so we cannot hope to be good beyond a certain point.
No. We may not be as good as Christ but we can be a lot better than we have been in the past.
We may never reach master level of this craft but we can rise up through the ranks and especially in the training time of Lent we resolve to do that.
Ultimately, any one sin less is a victory; any one sin more is a disaster. If we call on the grace of Our Lord we will make great progress over time. We will despatch temptations as easily and directly as Our Lord in today’s Gospel.
No comments:
Post a Comment