I heard the Sheen Film showing was a success. Congrats to all involved.
As mentioned, I've been reading Bishop Sheen's Life of Christ as a Lenten devotional. When he describes the temptation of Christ in the wilderness, Sheen makes a point that cuts right to the heart of the matter regarding our Lord's mission. Regarding the first of Satan's temptations--to make stones into bread to assuage Jesus' hunger--Sheen says, "The vision of social amelioration without spiritual regeneration has constituted a temptation to which many important men in history have succumbed completely."
The Scripture text:
Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If you be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:1-4)
Sheen explains further:
Our Lord was not denying that men must be fed, or that social justice must be preached; but He was asserting that these things are not first. He was, in effect, saying to Satan, "You tempt Me to a religion which would relieve want; you want Me to be a baker, instead of a Savior; to be a social reformer, instead of a Redeemer. You are tempting Me away from My Cross, suggesting that I be a cheap leader of people, filling their bellies instead of their souls. You would have Me begin with security instead of ending with it; you would have Me bring outer abundance instead of inner holiness. You and your materialist followers say, 'Man lives by bread alone,' but I say to you, 'Not by bread alone'. Bread there must be, but remember even bread gets all its power to nourish mankind from Me. Bread without Me can harm man; and there is no real security apart from the Word of God. If I give bread alone, then man is no more than an animal, and dogs might as well come first to My banquet. Those who believe in Me must hold to that faith, even when they are starved and weak; even when they are imprisoned and scourged.
"I know about human hunger! I have gone without food Myself for forty days. But I refuse to become a mere social reformer who caters only to the belly. You cannot say that I am unconcerned with social justice, for I am feeling at this moment the hunger of the world. I am One with every poor, starving member of the race. That is why I have fasted: so that they can never say that God does not know what hunger is. Begone, Satan! I am not just a social worker who has never been hungry Himself, but One who says, 'I reject any plan which promises to make men richer without making them holier.' Remember! I Who say, 'Not by bread alone', have not tasted bread for forty days!"
Bishop Sheen on Temptation:
No comments:
Post a Comment