Gn 2:7-9; 3:1-7 / Rom 5:12-19 or 5:12, 17-19 / Mt 4:1-11
There's a sequence in an old film in which a husband is lying wide awake, staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night. He shakes his wife: "Gladys," he says, "may I ask you a question?
"Oh, what is it?" she groans.
"Is your love for me beyond temptation? If Robert Redford were trying to woo you away, would you still love me?"
"Of course, dear," says Gladys. "And I'd miss you very much!"
+ + +
Things are not always as simple as they seem! Sometimes we're not even clear about our own motives, what we really value, and what makes us tick. That's why the Spirit led Jesus far out into the desert, to a place of absolute silence, for 40 days and 40 nights: to face Himself, to look deep inside and see the gifts the Father had entrusted to Him, and to see that those gifts could be wasted and betrayed, if He forgot His vocation.
Jesus didn't forget His vocation. He didn't get lost inside His own ego. He took those extraordinary gifts of His — His understanding heart, His ability to forgive, His calm and total trust in His Father, His delight in being alive, His special talent for friendship, and finally, His very life — He took it all, and He gave it all to us. And in giving it all, He found His life's purpose and His joy.
The Spirit is calling us now to face ourselves, to name our gifts and rejoice in them, to see where those gifts are calling us, and to see also the dark side of our gifts — how they can be, or perhaps are being, misused, betrayed, or wasted.
Finding and facing our true selves isn't done in a moment or in an afternoon. Getting a clear picture takes time and focus. And the truth reveals itself only by stages.
So many times we've watched friends or important public figures with great gifts just squander them. So many times we've deplored and lamented the waste. But have we ever taken those tragedies as challenges to face ourselves and to probe our own stewardship deeply? Probably not. It's so easy to take the cheap shot and run.
There's a wise little prayer from Kenya entitled "Deliver me, Dear Lord":
From the cowardice that dares not face new truth,
From the laziness that's contented with half truth, and
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
Deliver me, dear Lord.
That's a prayer we all could pray. And it's a prayer the Lord wants to answer right now!
There is nothing in this world we cannot face, and nothing we cannot handle, because we are not walking alone: His hand and His heart are guiding us — guiding us to find our gifts and to give them, and in the process of giving them, to find our purpose, our joy, and our life.
