"TEMPTATION & EVIL"
a message by Rev. Dr. Bruce Havens
Coral Isles Church, U.C.C.
July 28, 2024
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever.
Matthew 5: 29 – 30 NRSV
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.
Finally we get to some fun, juicy stuff – temptation! I’m not asking for confessions, nor confessing to offering any, but if we all had those cartoon clouds over our heads that say what we are thinking, or an image of what we are thinking wouldn’t that be interesting right now? But, then we also get to the scary, not – so – fun stuff – evil! Isn’t that the way life is so often? One minute you are in heaven and the next minute you are in that other place that is not so heavenly, “hell,” or whatever you might call it?
So we have walked through the entire Lord’s Prayer, except for this final phrase. Here we are, at “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Thine is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.” Some might ask, why would God “lead us into temptation?” I immediately think of the kitchen towel we have that says, “Lead me not into temptation… Oh, who am I kidding, I know a shortcut, follow me.” I say that because I don’t have a theology that says God leads me into temptation. Truly, I can find my own way without any help, and I imagine I could get an “Amen,” from a lot of people for that statement, if I asked. But I won’t. My point is don’t get hung up on the English translation of this statement. As I pointed out way back with the word “Abwoon,” the original language used a very different approach to grammar. Even translations of the Hebrew Scriptures are challenging. Ancient Hebrew did not use vowels. So rather than get hung up on God leading us into temptation let’s look at our own decision-making and our own responsibility for our actions.
The question Jesus always raises in almost every encounter either explicitly or implicitly is, “what is the impact of your thoughts and actions on yourself and on others?” As I have repeatedly said, we emphasize self and the individual in our culture. Biblical faith continually challenges us to look at our effect upon others, even with our most “private” thoughts and actions. Those of you who have been or are members of the Rotary service club know their four-way test of our thoughts and actions:
1. Is it the truth?
2. Is it fair to all concerned?
3. Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
That’s a pretty good list isn’t it? Don’t you wish we could require that all political advertisements and statements from all political candidates and even those who are in elected office answer those four questions? What a different world it might be. But how about we ask ourselves that question about everything in our lives? Personal faith should always lead us into community others. Lead me not into the temptation to believe that things I do won’t hurt others if they never find out. Isn’t that the prayer we are often tempted to pray?
So what about “evil?” Just what is “evil” you ask? One temptation [ see what I did there? ] is to relativize evil. Just because you think it is evil doesn’t make it evil for me! Let me up the ante on this just a bit. When I think of evil, and when I pray to be delivered from evil, I don’t just pray that I won’t suffer evil myself. I should pray to be delivered from doing evil. But I also need to go one more step. I need to pray for forgiveness for the evil I participate in just by virtue of being alive.
What do I mean? Remember, we are all part of economic, governmental, and religious systems that act on our behalf in ways we may or may not approve of individually. Many do good, but inevitably they also do harm. I benefit personally from an economic system that I believe is unjust and even at some points, evil. I am part of a religious system that, as much good as it did historically, also did evil, and still does. I may not be personally aware, and I certainly strive not to approve of evil done in my name, but it does not excuse me from owning the consequences. Same is true of our governmental and political systems. I cannot function totally separate from these systems, so I do need forgiveness for the evil they do. That may offend some of you, but check the truth of what I say before you might condemn me, or at least let us have a discussion, a dialogue together, as opposed to this format of a monologue by me. Beyond asking for forgiveness, I also need to pray for direction to stop, or mitigate that evil that I become aware of.
Now let me add the passage of Scripture I read as the preface to this message and offer why I think it is helpful. First, let me remind you that last week I pointed out that not everything Jesus said was prescriptive. He was not always saying this is how things should be. Sometimes he was descriptive. He made statements that described how things are, not to bless them, but to call them out, or at least to point them out. In addition, many times Jesus spoke in hyperbole. We might call it exaggeration. But if we examine what he says that seems outrageous or exaggerated, we may realize he is doing so to make a point, to get our attention. I believe this is the case with our two verses about plucking out our eyes or cutting off our hands.
Remember also that at the very beginning of all these verses Jesus said, “don’t think I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to complete them.” In other words, he wanted to make sure we recognized and lived up to the fullness of God’s grace. And yes, I do mean God’s grace is shown in the Law and the Prophets. Christians do an injustice to Christ, to our faith, and to our siblings who follow the Jewish faith when we try to say Jesus makes the Law and the Prophets no longer applicable to us. It ignores the verse we already mentioned – “not to abolish, but complete, fulfill.”
So, I think this does call for some self-reflection. And while we Protestants don’t practice “confession” in the same manner as our Catholic siblings do, we are not healthier if we do not go to God to confess our awareness of sin and evil in a meaningful way in our own lives on a regular basis. How do we find strength to symbolically “cut off” the things that lead us to temptations that can become destructive or worse, evil that is destructive from the start? I certainly don’t recommend literally following Jesus’ command about hands and eyes that lead us to trouble.
Let me offer one brief possible place to start. Think of someone you are tempted to think of as “less than.” Maybe they are less smart, less Christian, less physically beautiful than you. Maybe they embody a gender or sexuality that you struggle to accept. Maybe they are of another political or religious or race than you. Whatever the “difference” this week I invite you to pray for that person. Not that they would change to fit your expectations, but that you would change so that you could more readily treat that person as a sibling, as a beloved friend. Confront how you are tempted to make or think of that person as somehow of less value than you or those you love readily. Ask for strength and guidance to change your thinking and your actions to love them more truly and more readily.
Then also picture some way you have possibly caused someone to suffer, either intentionally or as part of these larger systems we participate in. Ask God to open your soul to how you can stop, or at least change the way you participate in causing someone to suffer. Ask God to show you how you can work to change something in our world that, despite the fact you are a good and loving and faithful person, still may have an evil effect on someone you may never know personally. We strive as a congregation to bring a number of these things up as we point out petitions we can sign, amendments we can support, actions to be more environmentally friendly and other opportunities to ask yourself if you might grow spiritually and increase your efforts for good.
Finally, we come to the final phrase of our prayer: “For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever.” In spite of the language of male domination and the frequent misunderstanding of what real power and real glory consist of, we must consider these words. Of course, most of you probably know that this phrase is not from Scripture. It was added by the Church long after Jesus taught it to his first disciples. Still, in spite of all the wrong done in the name of this phrase and the literal evil and temptation it has brought to too many in the name of Christ, it has value if we strive to grow in understanding what it could mean.
I would suggest that we commit to a spiritual discipline like this: every time we prepare to say, or after we say it, we take time to ask ourselves to visualize, or imagine what God’s “Kingdom,” or Reign might ideally look like? What is the nature of God’s power? And what does God consider “glory?” And how might that be 180 degrees different from our definition of glory? Just some light reflections to add to your day, nothing too hard, huh? I will post some of these questions online and send them out in the Coral Connection next week for those of you who slept through this sermon, er, I mean may not have been able to write all that down fast enough.
So whew! We did it. We covered the whole Lord’s Prayer. Except of course, now our work as a follower of Jesus just begins. I have to think about this prayer a lot more. But I hope you and I will recognize that it isn’t intended to be a burden to pray, but actually a key to laying down burdens. I need to start praying more deeply about temptation, evil, power, glory, and the way God’s realm really looks and functions.
One more amazing thing: this IS the fun stuff, the exciting stuff, way better than any temptation. Living this way, praying this prayer, living this faith is all about grace. It isn’t a burden God lays on us. It is a love God lifts us up with. It isn’t a chain to bind us to our sins. It shows us that with God’s love, our chains are gone, we’ve been set free. Isn’t that amazing, that grace of God? Love so mighty, so powerful it can free us from all our sin and brokenness. AMEN.
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