Second Sunday of Lent, Year B
First Reading: Gn 22:1-2, 9-13, 15-18
Second Reading: Rom 8:31b-35, 37
Gospel Reading: Mk 9:2-10
Last week, we heard that Jesus was “tempted by Satan.” This week, we hear that “God tested Abraham.”
In the Greek of the Bible, “tempt” and “test” are the same, but in English they are different. For example, compare God’s test of Abraham with Satan’s temptation of Eve.
God forbade Eve to eat from a certain tree. Before disobeying, she discussed it with Satan, noticing that “the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.” She was “tempted by the devil,” says the Catechism of the Catholic Church; she “succumbed to temptation.”
In contrast, Abraham answered God’s call immediately: “Here I am.” In Hebrew, he said Hineni, meaning that he was totally available and completely ready to serve God, even without knowing what God wanted. Then, asked to sacrifice his son, he submitted without question and left for Moriah “early the next morning.”
Any test, St. Augustine says, begins with our perception of a God-given pleasure. That pleasure becomes a temptation insofar as we consider enjoying it unlawfully, for in that consideration we become vulnerable to deception: from the world, the flesh, and the devil — not from God.
“No one who is tempted is free to say, ‘I am being tempted by God,’” St. James says. “God, who is beyond the grasp of evil, tempts no one. Rather, the tug and lure of his own passions tempt every man.”
“As regards that which deceives, God does not tempt any man,” St. Augustine says; “as regards that which proves, the Lord your God tests you, that he may know whether you love him.” (Here, “proves” means “tests,” as in the proverb “The exception proves the rule.”)
Jesus told us to pray “Lead us not into temptation.” This means, said Pope Benedict, “Do not put us to the test.” Like Eve, we might allow a test to become a temptation.
Why does God test us? Surely he knows whether or not we love him!
St. Augustine explains: “So that God may know” means “so that he may make us know.”
For example, imagine having to choose between a lesser good, like sleeping in for an hour, and a greater good, like getting up and going to Mass. Whether we choose immediately or after consideration, the test reveals us to ourselves: what is our real love?
“There is a certain usefulness to temptation,” the Catechism notes. “No one but God knows what our soul has received from him, not even we ourselves. But temptation reveals it in order to teach us to know ourselves, and in this way we discover our evil inclinations and are obliged to give thanks for the goods that temptation has revealed to us.”
Do we offend God by considering sleeping in and missing Mass? (Certainly, we ourselves would be offended if someone to whom we offered our hand hesitated before taking it!)
Jesus’ parable reassures us. A man had two sons, whom he asked to go and work in the vineyard. One said, “I am on my way, sir,” but never went, while the other said, “No, I will not,” but regretted it and went. The second, Jesus intimated, actually “did what the father wanted.”
“The love of God consists in this: that we keep his commandments,” St. John said. Loving God means doing his will, even if we hesitate, letting ourselves be tempted to refuse.
We fallen humans lack integrity, or wholeness. When a test comes, therefore, there can be a struggle among our feelings, emotions, intellect, reason, and will.
Like Abraham, and like Jesus in the desert, we should do what is best immediately, without allowing ourselves time for temptation.
However, like his Father, Jesus “knows how we are formed; He remembers that we are dust.” He knows that “human nature is weak,” even when “the spirit is willing.”
He accepts us no matter how reluctantly we offer ourselves.
Father Hawkswell is again teaching The Catholic Faith in Plain English with new insights, in both print and YouTube form, at beholdvancouver.org/catholic-faith-course. He is also teaching the course in person on Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m. at the John Paul II Pastoral Centre, 4885 Saint John Paul II Way, 33rd Avenue and Willow Street, Vancouver, and Mondays from 10 a.m. to noon in St. Anthony’s Church Hall, 2347 Inglewood Avenue, West Vancouver. The title of the presentation next week is The First Three Commandments. The course is entirely free of charge and no pre-registration is necessary.
Share your thoughts and contribute to the ongoing conversation by sending us a Letter to the Editor.