Sunday, March 9, 2014: Matthew 4:1-11
If temptation were all about blatant wrongdoing, it would be far easier to avoid.
Do you give something up for Lent? Centuries ago members of communities all gave up the same things, but these days it’s more a matter of individual choice. There is a trend to give up technology or screen time, but giving up certain foods is still the most common option. A few years ago, when I was a college chaplain, I served tea and cakes after chapel whenever a student had a birthday. But my own birthday fell in Lent, when several in the chapel group had given up chocolate and cakes.
Anxious not to let my birthday go uncelebrated, one student volunteered a solution. “You know how some people break their fast on saints’ feast days?” she said. “Why don’t we find a saint whose feast day is your birthday? Then we can have cake and a clear conscience!” This elaborate ruse met with the group’s approval, and they set about finding a suitable saint. There were three candidates: an Irishman and an Italian who lived short but exciting lives before dying glorious martyrs’ deaths and a third who was dull by comparison. He lived a saintly life in a nondescript place before retiring to tend his orchard. I chose the dull one for this simple reason: I have never found anything remotely appealing in the idea of becoming a martyr. I don’t like pain; I’d like to live a happy, peaceful life for as long as possible. I suppose I might have to accept martyrdom if the circumstances demanded it. But why would anyone want to be a martyr?
T. S. Eliot explored this idea in his portrayal of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Murder in the Cathedral. Eliot’s Becket dreamed of martyrdom because he was far less afraid of pain and death than he was of the prospect that his life might be insignificant and forgotten. Becket faces four temptations in the drama; the first three parallel the three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. But the fourth brings Becket face-to-face with his dream of martyrdom as the tempter asks him:
