Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11
Bishop Untener's Homily
The Temptation
We speak of "temptations" in the plural, but they all come down to one basic temptation: To want to be like God. We don't want to take God's place. We simply want to be like God. Which is to say, we've got problems with our status as human beings. It has too many limitations.
Look at the story of Adam and Eve. All those trees in the garden are theirs for the asking, except one. And they couldn't avoid that one lousy tree. They couldn't accept any limitation.
That's the fundamental temptation we all face. It sneaks up on us because we don't put it in those stark terms - "I want to be like God." We simply want to get around some of the things involved in being human. The core of being human is sometimes having to "die" - figuratively or literally. We have to "die" to get to life. Resistance to this is in us from the beginning. When we were in our mother's womb, we didn't want to be born - to die to the world of her womb, and be born into this world.
The temptation is to try always to avoid that ... to try to be like God.
What Is It Like To Be God?
Now here's an interesting thought. Let's come at this from the other side. What do you really think it's like to be like God?
You know what I think? I think we picture God as enjoying one long vacation. It's the easy life. No worries, no problems. No troubles and tears. No waiting for anything. To be God is to be all-powerful, and you can use that power to get anything you want with a snap of the fingers. You just sit around and let all creation sing your praise.
But the God revealed to us in Scripture is not that kind of God. Now Scripture uses metaphors - there's no other way of talking about God. But the image of God that comes through in Scripture isn't a God who is on one long vacation. Scripture tells of a God who is like a father or mother who sometimes worries about the children ... a God who loves them, really loves them, and is sometimes hurt by their failure to love in return ... a God who sometimes gets angry with them ... a God who changes his mind now and then.
As I said, we really don't know what it's like to be God, but it isn't necessarily one long vacation.
What Is It Like For God To Be Human?
What we do know about this God is that God became a human being. God didn't just pay us a visit. Jesus became one of us, and Jesus fully accepted his humanity, the human condition, sometimes having to die to oneself in order to get to life.
Now isn't that something. Here we are, constantly tempted to reject our status as a human being, and wanting to be like God ... and here is God becoming a human being.
And Jesus really did become one of us, like us in all things but sin. He sure did, because what's the first thing that happens when he begins his ministry? The devil comes and tempts him to get around the limitations of his human status. The devil says: "You don't have to go through all this human stuff. You are the Son of God. So if you are the Son of God, change these stones to bread. If you're hungry, eat! If you feel like it, fling yourself off the Temple. You can do anything you want. Take over all the kingdoms of the world. You are the Son of God."
Jesus rejected the temptation. He stood strong as a full-fledged human being. He accepted all the limitations of space and time and power. Jesus said, "Let God be God. I am a human being. And I will take the human path to the fullness of life."
You Are Like God
Now here's the corker. Jesus taught us how to live as a human being, and he said:
"You want to be like God? Well, you are. You are God's daughter, God's son. You have God's life within you. Let God's life grow within you by living as God's son, God's daughter. It may seem to you sometimes that living that way is to die. But I'm telling you that this is the way you are born more fully into God's life. Come follow me, and I'll show you. You are like God."
- Don't be greedy. Be lavish in giving your goods to others. Live the largesse of God.
- Don't' be violent. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
- Don't be spiteful. Be merciful as your heavenly father is merciful.
- Don't be frightened. I am with you all days, even to the end of time.
- Come to me all you who find life weary and burdensome, and I will refresh you.
Jesus Lived What He Taught
Jesus didn't just teach all this. He lived it. Just read the Gospels.
Now, there's no easy road to fulfillment as a human being. And because Jesus was truly human, one of us, he sometimes felt frustration. When he came down from the mountain of the Transfiguration he found the rest of his disciples arguing with a crowd about a cure. And he says: "How long will I be with you? How long will I endure you?" Once he was in the boat with his disciples crossing the lake, and he was teaching them. He said to watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees. They thought he was talking about the fact that they had forgotten to buy some bread to eat on the way, and Jesus says: "Do you not yet understand? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?" (Every teacher at one time or another has said this to a class.)
The biggest struggle Jesus had, of course, was when he faced death. Not any death, but the shocking, humiliating, tortuous death on the cross. In Gethsemane he bares his soul to God. Listen to what he says: "Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me." That has an echo of what the devil said in the desert - if you are the Son of God, you can do anything you want. [We can imagine God holding his breath when Jesus said this, and saying: "If I do that, you will not fully accept what it is to be a human being."] But God really didn't have time to think that, because Jesus added: "Not what I will, but what you will." [And God breathed a sigh of relief.] And Jesus went through death to the fullness of human life.
A Closing Word to the Catechumens and Candidates
So, Catechumens and candidates, this is what yu are declaring by coming forward in just a few moments.
- You are declaring that you accept your humanity as a gift from God.
- You are declaring that you are a daughter, son of God.
- You are declaring that dying - figuratively or literally – is the way to the fullness of life.
- You are declaring that you want to come to the Eucharist and join with
- Jesus on the cross as he gives himself, and us, entirely to God.
- You are declaring that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
We're happy for you, because we believe that too, and through the gift of faith we know it to be true.
May God, who has begun this good work in you, sustain it along the way, and bring it to fulfillment.
Originally given on February 17, 2002