1 Corinthians 10: 1-13 (links validated 3/1/22)

In his commentary on his own delightful poem, “Stones into Bread,” in his book, The Word in the Wilderness, Malcolm Guite writes about our temptation to corrupt what’s good. He creatively links all three of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness to not only each other, but also to Jesus’ followers. In regard to temptation that our “own bodily appetites and needs” generate, Guite writes, “We are tempted to serve first our own creature comforts, to tend to our obsessions and addictions before we have even considered the needs of others. Then we move on to the deeper temptations to feed not just the body but its driving ego, with its lust for power, the need to dominate the world. “We may have overcome the first temptation only because we are captivated and driven by the second. We diet, and discipline our flesh in gyms and health clubs, we submit our appetites to the dictates of personal trainers and three-month fitness plans, but only because we hope thereby to sharpen our image so as to shine and succeed in the world.”

always good insights!

In her article, “A Long Obedience,” (The Christian Century: January 7, 2015) Katherine Willis Pershey writes about a “way out” of temptation that God gave her: “It is strange to think of a particular person as the person with whom I did not have an affair … And yet there is one man I cannot help but think of as the man with whom I did not cheat on Benjamin. “We had no improper physical contact, no inappropriately intimate conversations. I don’t even know if the attraction was mutual. There was, however, temptation. I felt desire… When I realized that I had feelings for this man, I was shocked. I dearly love my husband, to whom I have been married—mostly happily, and decidedly faithfully—for more than a decade...

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("I recall a young man who was killed outside a bar in 1976. Neil was the brother of a friend of mine. He was out with his girl friend for a quiet evening. He was minding his own business when he got assaulted. People, talking about the incident, were heard to say things like: 'Well, if he hadn't gone to the bar he wouldn't have been killed.'..." and another illustration)