Genesis
2:15 – 17, 3:1 - 7
Psalm
32
Romans
5:12 – 19
Matthew
4:1 - 11
This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, February
26, 2023, by Fr. Gene Tucker.
“WHAT WE’RE UP AGAINST”
(Homily texts: Genesis 2:15 – 17, 3:1 – 7 & Matthew 4:1
– 11)
Whenever we consider taking on a
project, it’s always a good idea to calculate what it will involve.
Specifically, we might consider what the costs will be in terms of time, money,
expertise, and so forth. If the project or the undertaking is considerably challenging,
we might want to consider and reconsider what will be involved.
So, for example, in planning to build a
house, we’d want to know how much material, and what sort of material, will be
involved, and also what the cost of those materials might be. We’d also want to
plan to engage people with specific skills to make sure the project is done
well.
For another example, consider a plan to
create a meal or to bake a dessert. Many of the same considerations will apply.
We’d want to be sure we have all the ingredients before starting. We’d want to
be sure that the oven or whatever we’ll be using to bring our creation to
reality is in good working order. And so forth.
It’s mandatory when considering going
up against an enemy that a careful review of that enemy’s abilities and ways of
waging war are taken into account. (I can’t resist saying that, if Vladimir
Putin had done his homework, he never would have invaded Ukraine, for now he’s
gotten himself into a mess, and into a war there is no way whatsoever that he
can win.)
With the coming of this season of Lent,
we ought to face the reality that we are engaged in a war, a battle of
spiritual truths versus the destructive ways of evil.
Our Old Testament reading from the book
of Genesis, and our Gospel text from Matthew, both describe such a spiritual
battle. In the first account, Adam and Eve fail on the spiritual battlefield,
but in the second account, Jesus conquers the suggestions and the temptations
presented to Him by Satan.
In keeping with the premise with which
we began, let’s look carefully at the Genesis account, and at Jesus’ time in
the wilderness (forty days and forty nights, this period of time forming the
basis for the length of the Lenten season).
We will see, I think some common threads, which are the ways the evil
one goes about trying to separate us from God:
·
Naturally
occurring tendencies within human beings will often be used as the avenue of
approach when temptations are presented.
·
Dividing
people, one from another, is a common tactic.
With these two principles in mind,
let’s turn our attention to the account of Adam and Eve’s interaction with the
serpent, from the Genesis account.
Notice that the serpent (which is – in
Holy Scripture – the depiction of evil) approaches Eve (but not Adam) and
deliberately distorts God’s instructions about the eating of the fruit of the
tree that is “off limits”. Two things are apparent here: One is that the
serpent doesn’t approach both Adam and Eve, but Eve only. Then, notice also
that the serpent’s appeal is to the need for food. Also present is a deliberate
distortion of God’s instructions.
One other appeal is also important: The
serpent’s suggestion that, if the fruit of the tree is eaten, it will make her
and her husband wise, “like God”. This is an appeal to safety and security, to
being able to control one’s own future and environment.
Now, let’s turn our attention to Jesus’
interaction with the evil one, as we hear it in Matthew’s account.
There, some of the same threads are
present, just as they were in Genesis.
For example, the evil one approaches
Jesus when He is alone.
Then, the evil one makes an appeal to
Jesus’ need for food (just as was the case with Eve).
Finally, notice that there is an appeal
to safety and security, and to being in control, as Satan suggests that if
Jesus will throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple, His feet will be
born up by angels (a use of Psalm 91, by the way). Here is an appeal to safety.
Also present, as was the case in the Garden of Eden, is an appeal to be in
control: The devil offers Jesus control over the kingdoms of the world, if only
He will worship him.
With the coming of Lent, it would be
wise for us to be fully aware of the nature of the spiritual battles that will
come our way. It is also wise for us to be aware of the ways of operating that
the evil one may employ against us, for they will often have a lot in common
with the ways we read about in Genesis and in Matthew.
The evil one may appeal to some
naturally-occurring desire within us, just as he did with Eve and with the
Lord.
He may appeal to our need for safety
and security, and our desire to be able to control our destiny and our future.
He will, quite often, seek to separate
us one from another, in order to make us an easier prey for his attack on us.
What are the defenses that we might
employ to ward off the inevitable attacks of the one whose desire for us is to
separate us from God, and from one another?
The antidotes are the same as those we
read of in the pages of Holy Scripture, specifically:
- Proper
use of the whole of Holy Scripture, avoiding distortions of its meaning and
likewise, avoiding a pick-and-choose use of the passages that seek only to
comfort us, but not to challenge us.
- Paying
particular attention to those naturally-occurring desires that arise within us
that might be avenues by which the evil one might approach us, offering
temptations.
- Maintaining
the unity of the body of Christ, the Church, by engaging in regular, in-person
worship, study and gatherings. (Frankly, I think we must be wary of widespread
use of electronic and online ways of gathering for worship, for it is difficult
to discern in each other how our spiritual walk is going if we are not
physically present with one another.)
May we calculate with the clarity that
the Holy Spirit can provide the nature of the spiritual battles that will
inevitably come our way, that we may claim the victory, as our Lord did in His
temptation.
AMEN.
