Commandments & Temptations

Thursday, May 4 -- Week of 3 Easter (St. Monnica)

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Discussion Blog
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Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 961)
Psalms 37:1-18 (morning) // 37:19-42 (afternoon)
Exodus 20:1-21
Colossians 1:24 - 2:7
Matthew 4:1-11

Commandments and Tempations

The late Wayne Teasdale was a leader in interreligious dialogue. He remarked on how similar are the ethical teachings of the various enduring religions. Every faith has ethical principles that are basically similar to the ten commandments that are in our Exodus reading today.

It's hard to read them right now without some mental reference to the recent political conflicts over the posting of the ten commandments in public buildings and courtrooms. When we read them as a component of our religious heritage, they seem to sound one way. The work within all of the great Biblical and religious conversations of centuries of Jews and Christians.

Reading them as public law feels more troubling to me. There is the presumed acceptance of slavery as part of the economic landscape. Slaves are included in the Sabbath and are regarded a property that should not be subject to envy. And the Sabbath laws. In a 24/7 economy, where is the energy among proponents of the commandments to shut down all work in America for at least one day of seven? As a student of the religious traditions, I know that subsequent prophets modified the belief that God punishes the children "for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation." But what does that mean in a courtroom? And in a pluralistic state that promotes freedom of religion in its Constitutional Bill of Rights, what does it mean to have the God who rescued the Hebrews from Egypt be the exclusive God, "you shall have no other gods before me."

All of this is part of our treasured religious heritage and finds its place within the tapestry of that rich tradition. But taken out of context and chiseled into secular legal places, it begs some interpretation. For that matter, the Beatitudes would work better.
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Just a quick note about the account of Jesus' temptations. Thomas Keating famously preached the three temptations as Matthew composes them as the story of Jesus overcoming the primary negative energy centers of our False Self. From childhood we experience a need for security, affection/esteem, and power/control. When we feel a deprivation of any of these instinctual needs, we act decisively to meet them. Eventually, we develop an exaggerated need for security, esteem and power, and become attached to the symbols of their possession. A large part of the spiritual journey is to consciously dismantle our attachment to our exaggerated needs for security, affection and control.

Jesus faced the same temptations. He is our model for health in overcoming.

Security: "He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished... Command these stones to become loaves of bread... One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."
Affection/Esteem: A dramatic public display, sure to amaze all and engender admiring followers -- "Throw yourself down [from the pinnacle of the temple]... "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."
Power/Control: He "showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, ...all these I will give you... Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him."

Jesus succeeds by trusting God as the source of perfect security, perfect affection, and perfect power. We don't have to do anything to receive these necessary needs. They are ours from God. We get in trouble when we insist on gaining them on our own, to satisfy our exaggerated needs. That's the False Self that separates us from our True Self and from God.

Lowell
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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas