The Word Of Peace
Homiletic Reflections On Peacemaking

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti

First Sunday in Lent

The writer Oscar Wilde once remarked, "I can resist everything but temptation."

In a meeting with China's premier Mao Tse Tung in 1972, Mao asked Henry Kissinger how it was that he was bale to attract so may women. Kissinger responded: "Mr. Chairman, Power is the most effective and powerful aphrodisiac."

Temptation is that which draws us to some choice that we might suspect is really not good for us, but the allure of it is so powerful and compelling that we might choose to succumb to it. This first Sunday of lent brings us to the story of the temptations of Jesus. We are very familiar with this story by now--we hear it each Lenten season. It is an important story with a number of layers to it.

Firstly, are these temptations of Jesus , or his followers, or both ? Are these the ways we wish him to be the Messiah, or the way he chose to be the Messiah ? Just who is the Messiah ? It hard to answer all of these questions in full. What we know is that Matthew is showing Jesus as successfully refusing to give into temptations that Israel often succumbed to in its history. Yet we are told that Jesus was tempted. Again, was it the temptation of Jesus or how his followers want him to be the Messiah ? He refuses the temptations to do magic or to seek adulation. He refuses to be seduced by the false promises of absolute political domination. He knew as we know too, that to grasp at such power bring ruin to individuals and sometimes millions around them ! This century proves that ! To grasp at this power to dominate is the work of evil.

Yet, it is a hard to refuse such power when its so close, at our fingertips, so alluring. One can think, "If I only had such power, I could improve the world by dictatorship, establish a new order." Such is the promise and delusions of those who would wish to dominate others. This temptation is the heart of the human problem with other humans, with the creation, with the self and with God.

In Genesis, the human problem begins with the grasp of power--to be gods. That human beings want to make themselves the equal of God to usurp God's authority, to replace God with themselves as the center of their lives. They desire to be their own masters, to be the source of truth and judgment. Such a turning toward the self for power over others and the world leads to suspicion, aggressiveness and violence.

Jesus refuses the power to dominate. Instead he will serve !! He will serve the Father, doing the Father's will ! Sometimes people will flock to him for it; other times they will ridicule him; still other times, they will persecute and crucify him. But he will serve the Father.

It is the life of service that Paul tells us brings us back to god. For Paul, it is simple--humanity got messed up because it put itself at the center, tried to rely on itself and do for itself ! This turning toward the self was a turning away from god, others and the goodness of the world--resulting in sin and its destructive effects. For Paul, the way back to the "garden" is to live like Jesus--a life where God is at the center. Only in this way do we come to know who we really are and God is.

Such a response comes with a cost though--we know this. We won't always fit. We will reject the abuse of power , whether it be by presidents and other leader, or by those closest to us and ourselves. Such will meet with opposition at times, or with becoming popular. So be it. We don't search for such things, they will comes to us one way or another. The trick is to remember not to be seduced to the temptation to domination. We are called to resist it despite its enticements. There is a time for being in the wilderness, and we will have to go into it just as the Lord--but in the end, if we remain faithful, the Lord himself will minister to us.

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti, D. Min.
Uploaded January 14, 2000