A subtle temptation

‘…Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.…’ (Matthew 4:4)

From Matthew 4:1-11 (Year A: Lent 1)

This is one of those challenging passages in the Gospels. Why would the (Holy) Spirit lead anyone into a place where they would be tempted? It seems to read as being led into temptation (‘to be tempted’) – reversing the petition towards the end of the ‘Our ‘Father’ prayer.

The reality is that temptation is a constant feature of our lives. If God did not want us to be susceptible to temptation then there would be no scope for growth, conquest, trust, surrender.  The sources of temptation are many and varied. They are not necessarily of the fleshly type. They can be subtle, insidious and out of sight. None so blind spiritually as those who are already blind but think they can see something.

The area of employment or career is one such subtle temptation. Here is what Thomas Merton wrote:

You are probably striving to build yourself an identity in your work, out of your work and your witness. You are using it, so to speak, to protect yourself against nothingness, annihilation. That is not the right use of your work. All the good that you will do will come not from you but from the fact that you have allowed yourself, in the obedience of faith, to be used by God's love. Think of this more, and gradually you will be free from the need to prove yourself, and you can be more open to the power that will work through you without your knowing it.

From a letter written by Thomas Merton to Jim Forest dated February 21,1966. The full text of this letter is published in The Hidden Ground of Love: Letters by Thomas Merton edited by William Shannon, published by Farrar, Straus, Giroux.