Sunday 1 March 2020
Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned – Psalm 50(51):3-6, 12-14, 17. Romans 5:12-19. Matthew 4:1-11.
The temptation in the wilderness
Human beings live not on bread alone. Exotic, expensive restaurants, wine tasting and dinners with matching wines proliferate. Cooking shows top TV ratings. Food can be an obsession for some, while others struggle to provide meals for their families, and people go hungry.
Do not put the Lord your God to the test. There have been so many deaths on Mount Everest. A seemingly endless line of climbers ascending the mountain, and walking past frozen corpses, shocked viewers. Walkers are lost in bushland or alpine areas, sailors are shipwrecked, often without location devices.
‘The Lord your God . . . Him alone you must serve’. ‘I am the Kings’s good servant, but God’s first’. This was St Thomas More’s clear choice. Obsession with amassing fortunes, honours, status and power are more subtle forms of idolatry. Jesus, the evil spirit lacks creativity. He keeps using the same tactics and they work.
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