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For the 1st Sunday of Lent, Lindsey and Adam read Matthew 4:1-11. \u201cThe tempter came and said to him, \u2018If you are the son of God\u2026\u2019”<\/p>\n
Stop right there!<\/p>\n
What a sneaky, vicious little word, \u201cIf.\u201d<\/p>\n
The last thing Jesus hears before setting off into the desert is the proclamation that he is God\u2019s Son, the Beloved, \u201cwith whom I am well pleased.\u201d It is security in the knowledge that he is loved that gives Jesus the strength and stamina to spend 40 days and nights in the desert. Who is this \u201ctempter\u201d to sow seeds of doubt?<\/p>\n
It looks like there are three temptations here, but there are really 4\u2026 or, only 1, depending on how you look at it. The first and perhaps only temptation is to give in to the word \u201cIf.\u201d When we doubt the unconditional love of God, we forget who God is and who we are. God is Love. We are reflections, outpourings, of Love. Everything goes wrong when that truth slips from our grasp.<\/p>\n
How does Jesus face up to the temptations that press on us daily? We are tempted to lose sight of the fact that we are unconditionally loved. Then we compete for resources that we perceive to be scarce, we try to show off our abilities, and we seek power \u2013 or even the means of attaining justice \u2013 over and against rather than with and for others.<\/p>\n
Lindsey and Adam explore each of these temptations and also seek to understand why Jesus goes to be tempted in the first place. Maybe it is because life is a constant temptation to see ourselves narrowly and forget that we are all connected in Love. Maybe that temptation always surrounds us, and only when we face it head on, as Jesus did, can we recognize and overcome it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section el_class=”post-quote”][\/vc_section][vc_section][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1566393555121{background-color: #f6ebdf !important;}” el_class=”optin”][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row el_class=”olive-branch-bg-l”][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]And we invite you to ponder and pray with us not only on our podcast, but\u00a0 <\/span>every Wednesday, live, at 11 am CT\/ 9 am PT on the Raven Foundation Facebook page<\/a>.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lindsey and Adam explore each Jesus’ temptations and also seek to understand why Jesus goes to be tempted in the first place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":21445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4469,4355,14],"tags":[3304,4602,67,4603,4508,1612],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Lent 1A: The Treachery of \u201cIf\u201d - The Raven Foundation<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n