First Reading: Ezekiel 33:7-20
7“So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 8If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 9But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. 10And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?’ 11Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? 12And you, son of man, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness, and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins. 13Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die. 14Again, though I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ yet if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, 15if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 16None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live. 17Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just,’ when it is their own way that is not just. 18When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it. 19And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live by this. 20Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways.”
Psalm 85
1You have been gracious to your land, O Lord, you have restored the good fortune of Jacob. 2You have forgiven the iniquity of your people and blotted out all their sins. 3You have withdrawn all your fury and turned yourself from your wrathful indignation. 4Restore us then, O God our Savior; let your anger depart from us. 5Will you be displeased with us forever? will you prolong your anger from age to age? 6Will you not give us life again, that your people may rejoice in you? 7Show us your mercy, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. 8I will listen to what the Lord God is saying, for he is speaking peace to his faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to him. 9Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. 10Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. 11Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. 12The Lord will indeed grant prosperity, and our land will yield its increase. 13Righteousness shall go before him, and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
1For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3and all ate the same spiritual food, 4and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Gospel: Luke 13:1-9
1There were some present at that very time who told {Jesus} about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” 6And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ 8And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
Resisting Temptation
The story is told of a young man who was hitchhiking through the mountains of West Virginia. A farmer in an old pickup truck stopped to give him a lift. As they rode along, the subject of Moonshine came up. The young man said he didn’t drink very much so White Liquor would probably be a bit much for his tastes. “Nonsense!” said the farmer. “You gotta try some.” With that the old farmer starts fishing around behind him and finally produces a quart mason jar.
“Here,” he said, handing the jar to the lad. “Take a drink!” “Oh, no thanks,” said the young man. “I really don’t think I care for any.” “No, I insist,” pressed the farmer. “Have some.” “No, thanks, really,” said the young man. The farmer wouldn’t take no for an answer. Suddenly, the famer slams on the brakes and then grabbed his shotgun from the rack in back. He pointed the gun at the lad and roared, “I said, take a drink!”
“Okay! Okay!” said the young man. “You talked me into it, I’ll have some after all.” The young man took a big swallow before he realized how powerful the stuff was. His throat muscles tightened, his eyes watered, and he made a choking sound. “Well, what do you think?” asked the farmer. “Good, ain’t it?” “Smooth” gasped the lad, still trying to get past the burn in his throat and nostrils. The old farmer smiles and then hands shotgun to the young man. “Here! Now, you hold the gun on me and make me take a drink!” Temptation, it’s something we all face as we traverse this life.
Temptation is a problem and topic that’s relevant to everyone’s life, we all struggle with its allure in various ways and degrees. One kind of temptation for one person can be little more than an annoyance, for another, it can lead to a life-time addiction. There’s a saying that there’s only two things in life that’s unavoidable and that death and taxes. Well, this is only half true. While we cannot avoid death or taxes, neither can we avoid temptation and judgement. Even Jesus faced, and overcame, temptation in the desert.
Temptation is a powerful tool satan uses to lure us into sin. He doesn’t come with a shotgun pointed at our head, he had much more devious ways. St. Paul mentions only a few relevant temptations or sins in our Corinthians reading for this morning. These were the sins of the children of Israel in the Exodus. He begins with idolatry, pagan revelry, and sexual immorality. And when you stop and think about it, these sins are nothing new to us. Oh, the devil might change the window dressing, but the core of the temptations is the same. Isn’t it funny how every generation thinks its transgressions are new. The truth is, they’re not. Solomon said it best in Ecclesiastes, “What has been, will be again, what has been done, will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun (1:9). Because we refuse to learn from the past, we keep making the same sad mistakes generation after generation.
I like a little ditty Rudyard Kipling wrote years ago: The crafts that we call modern; The crimes that we call new; John Bunyan had them typed and filed in 1682. The Bible is as relevant today, about the multiple temptations humans face, as it was when its various books were first penned. Paul also lists a couple of temptations we might not have even thought of, such as testing the Lord, and grumbling. Obviously, there are many kinds of temptation. For every conceivable sin, there is a temptation.
There was an article in USA TODAY about a woman’s group that had been formed for the sole purpose of pressuring supermarkets to remove candy from their checkout lines. The devil knows that some temptations are more difficult than others. I read about a couple the other day who were dealing with another kind of temptation, financial. Jeff and Anne both work, but they were in financial trouble. Quite simply, their spending outpaced their income, and they became dependent on credit cards. Credit cards, when used correctly, are simply one of several financial tools for us to plan and pay for things we need. However, some people see credit cards as limitless, and fail to properly manage their use. For Jeff and Anne, easy credit was a tremendous temptation. One fall day, Jeff and Anne decided to go window shopping.
Unfortunately, they saw an alluring display of ski gear. It practically called out their names. They could almost hear it say to them, “You need me; you deserve me!” In bold letters the sale sign said, “HUGE BARGAINS, HUGE DISCOUNTS!” The banners proclaimed, “YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO PASS THIS UP.” Temptation was calling. “Well,” Jeff said to Anne, “it can’t hurt to take a look.” So they did. The so-called bargain came to $1,500. All the usual thoughts went through their heads: “We really do need to treat ourselves once in a while…We can’t be seen on the slopes with last year’s equipment…They’ve made some great changes, and we’d ski so much better with this advanced gear!” And after all the rationalization came the biggest temptation of it all, “we can put it on Visa!” Thankfully, the couple took a breath.
Over some frozen yogurt, Jeff and Anne talked and decided that they needed to focus on setting priorities and on starting their marriage off on a solid financial foundation. They both openly admitted to each other that they were having trouble even making the minimum payments on their many credit accounts, not to mention paying down the principal. They had quit giving to their church; they had no savings; they argued about the grocery money. Finally, they even admitted that the ski vacation they were planning was going to be placed on their credit cards.
As they talked, they knew they needed to reevaluate their goals and to set priorities, they knew they had some decisions to make. They finally admitted that their problem lay in their struggles with materialism and lack of self-control. By the time they finished their yogurt, they both knew they needed to simply walk away. Satan knows our weaknesses and he also knows just what to say to get us to fall for the temptations that will entrap us.
As I was thinking about our readings for today, about temptations, consequences, of our seeming inability, or outright refusal, to learn for the past, and of how God uses temptations to strengthen our faith, as well as the control temptation can have on our lives, two passages came to mind. The first has to do with God using temptation to test us. Now to be clear, God does not tempt us. Let me be clear, God is not the source of temptation.
St. James made this clear when he wrote, “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death (James 1:13-15). This is why the Bible calls satan the tempter.
Of course, satan has been doing this for a long time; all the way back to Adam and Eve. You know the story: Eve is in the Garden and the serpent, “who was more crafty than all the other animals” (Genesis 3:1) comes to Eve and appeals to her vanity and pride. The serpent says, “God knows that as soon as you eat of the fruit you will be as wise as God, knowing good from evil” (vs. 4). “When Eve saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (vs. 6). Satan’s been doing this since the beginning of humankind and he’s good at it. This is why our faith needs to be tested.
Again St. Peter explains in his first epistle: “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1:6-9). God never tempts, but He does use temptation, to better us, as a way of strengthening our faith. There’s an applicable sports metaphor; you can’t be the best until you’ve played the best. God, in order to strengthen our faith, uses the trials of the devil to make our faith even stronger, to help us grow spiritually.
God knows we can never grow spiritually unless we face adversity. Our faith must be tested to grow. Our need for God’s saving mercy can never be realized until we face our sin. And we will never know God’s power in our lives until we learn to depend on Him for the strength we need to face and overcome temptation. So, what is the difference between temptation and testing?
Temptation is a tool of the devil to get us to take our eyes off God and focus our attention on ourselves. Temptation is one of the ways that satan tries to destroy us and our lives. Satan knows if he can take our focus off God and onto ourselves, he can bury us in materialism, greed, envy, pride, self-righteousness, covetousness, which in the end will lead to anxiety and despair. Satan knows that we’re all susceptible and that each of us have areas that are more vulnerable than others. This is why God uses satan’s work against us, to better us.
In Exodus chapter 16, the newly freed Nation of Israel was in the desert and they once again began grumbling about a lack of food. It had only been 45 days since God had delivered them from the hand of the Egyptians. For the 40 weeks prior to their leaving, the Hebrew people had seen God’s hand against the Egyptians and the Pharoah in the 10 plagues. They had seen the result of the blood on the door posts and of the death of the first born of both people and animals for those who didn’t observe the Passover. As they were leaving, they plundered the Egyptians of goods and livestock. And in plundering Egypt, God provided everything they needed for their desert journey to the Promised Land.
What’s more, they saw the cloud by day and the pilar of fire at night that God used to shield His people from their enemies. By God’s mighty hand, they walked dry shod across the Red Sea, and they witnessed the destruction of the Egyptian army when the Red Sea returned to normal. When they came to a pool of bitter water, they witnessed God’s command to Moses to throw a certain log into the water and the water was made sweet. And now they are again grumbling about the lack of food.
In answer to their complaints, God tells Moses that in the morning He will rain down Manna from heaven. In Exodus chapter 16 verse 4 we read, “Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.” God uses temptation as a way of reminding us of our dependance on Him and of our need for His strength and provision. This is why the last verse of our Second Reading is so important.
In 1 Corinthians 10:13, St. Paul wrote, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” In this verse we have both a warning and a promise: just because we are followers of Jesus, we’re not exempt from the allures of the flesh and the attempts of satan to take our eyes off God. Just because we’ve been washed in the waters of Baptism doesn’t mean that our earthly desires have ceased to exist.
Author Florence Littauer is quoted as saying, “no good Christian man or woman gets up in the morning, looks out the window, and says, “My, this is a lovely day! I guess I’ll go out and commit adultery.” Yet sadly, many succumb to the temptations of the flesh and do it anyway. Paul talked about that at the beginning of our reading: “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them….” (vss. 1-5a).
Again, this is why Paul’s words in verse 13 are such good news: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
God promises to never test us beyond our limits. As faithful followers, we know that, even during the most difficult of times, we can depend on God when we look to Him for strength. It’s like the two mountain boys who spotted a bobcat up a tree and decided to have some fun. One said, “I’ll shinny up that tree and chase him down, and you put him in a sack.” The other agreed, and the first fellow climbed up the tree. When the first guy reached the right limb, he started shaking and the cat came tumbling down. The other fellow grabbed the varmint by the back of the neck and tried to put him into a sack. There was a terrible commotion. Dust and fur and skin were flying in all directions. The fellow in the tree called down, “What’s the matter, you need help catching one little ol’ bobcat?” “No,” replied his friend. “I don’t need help catchin’ him. I need help turnin’ him a-loose.”
The problem with sin is that the devil makes it easy to get in, but it can be difficult to get back out. But think of this promise God revealed to St. Paul. God will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear, and He always will provide a way out. If you and I give in to temptation and find ourselves bogged down in a terrible sin, it’s because we have freely chosen to be there. If we don’t want to be there, all we have to do is pray as Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead me not into temptation,” and mean it, and God will honor that request and will not allow us to get sucked under by the desire.
If temptation is tugging us under, it’s probably because we went looking for it. Thus, we cannot excuse ourselves by saying pitifully, “I’m only human.” We are all “only human,” but we also belong to Jesus, and we have His promise that He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear, He will always provide a way out. The truth we need to remember is, Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows our strong points and our weak ones. God knows us better than we know ourselves. More importantly, He loves us. Jesus promised to never allow the tempter to destroy us without our consent.
Amen