Dear All of Us,
Remember Flip Wilson?
If you do, we both
just dated ourselves.
With a twinkle wrinkle,
Flip would tease,
"The devil made me do it."
Well, the devil didn't have
any such luck with Jesus.
Which isn't to say
the devil didn't try.
Like you and me,
Jesus was tempted
not to be who
he really is,
not to do what
was his to do.
Temptation postures as good
and then spring the trap door
that drops us in some sort of hell,
a not at all "good" pay out!
Every temptation
is a faux-fake out
focused on one or more
goods twisted bad
Pleasure
Power
Possessions
Jesus got the works -
all three.
In Matthew's construct of
the devil's attempt
to deconstruct the
person and mission of Jesus
it's symbolized by
The Bread Pleasure
The Leap Power
The Kingdoms Possessions
Matthew 4:1-11
Matthew's version,
factual or fanciful,
validates Jesus being
faithful to
his true self
and mission.
It also situates Jesus
right beside us
in the mighty and
often messy mix
that is our human condition,
temptations included.
Jesus called the devil's bluff,
told the devil to go to hell and
went on to establish the
"Kin Domain Of Heaven"
and invite us in.
LENT LOOK
What "feel goods"
that aren't really good
at all
make things bad for
us, neighbor, world?
Pleasure
What forms of
our misplaced control
mess us, neighbor, world?
Power
What status and stuff
have choke holds on us
and by us on
neighbor and world?
What possessions possess?
Possessions
******
GREETINGS
and
WELCOME
TO ALL
OUR VISITORS
Thanks for stopping by
and please come back
next week.
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
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Like Jesus,
in Jesus,
together
may we all
be true to who
we really are
By God
and true to what
is ours to do
With God
See you next week.
Love to all.
John Frank
******
