First
Sunday in Lent
Temptation
and
Gratitude
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the
Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He
ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.
The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to
become a loaf of bread." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One
does not live by bread alone.'"
Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the
world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all
this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I
please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus
answered him, "It is written,
'Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.'"
Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the
temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down
from here, for it is written,
'He will command his angels concerning you,
to protect you,'
and
'On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"
Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the
test.'" When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until
an opportune time.
Luke 4:1-13
Jewish Sacrifice and the Temptation
of Christ *
BOTTICELLI,
Sandro
1478-1481
Cappella
Sistina (Vatican Palace, Vatican City)
Fresco
Rome,
Italy
Details
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You
have escaped the formidable rocks.
Beware
lest you are wrecked on the sands.
Gregory
of Nazianzus
What
makes resisting temptation difficult for many people
is
they don't want to discourage it completely.
~
Franklin P. Jones
“Be My Valentine Show”
Artists
With Altitude Gallery at Genesee
Opening
Reception
Tuesday,
February 12, 2013
“Winnie Two”
Laura
Mehmert
http://shop.lauramehmertdesigns.com/
Winnie
was SUCH a sweetheart!!!
Debbie
Jaggers
http://www.jaggersartanddesign.com/Jaggers_Art_%26_Design/Welcome.html
Jeanne
Gibbard and I enjoyed Blithe Spirit at the Arvada Theater.
Vicki
Hall, Sue Wolff
Sue
treated Vicki and me to a wonderful lunch on Valentine’s Day!
Nancy
Eldridge, Arun Arora
Arun
took Nancy and me to lunch at the Yak and Yeti in Arvada
and
shared some of his favorite Indian dishes.
Muhammad
was at the next table.
(His
mother said they call him Mudi.)
Gratitude...
goes beyond the "mine" and "thine" and
claims
the truth that all of life is a pure gift.
In
the past I always thought of gratitude as a
spontaneous
response to the awareness of gifts received,
but
now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline.
The
discipline of gratitude is the explicit
effort
to acknowledge that all I am and have
is
given to me as a gift of love,
a
gift to be celebrated with joy.
~
Henri Nouwen
February 17,
2013 First Sunday in Lent
Previous OPQs may be found at:
http://www.dotjack.com/opq.htm
* Pope Sixtus
IV commissioned Botticelli along with other artists to decorate the walls of
his new papal electoral chapel ("Sistine" Chapel, after
"Sixtus".) Botticelli painted three frescoed sections of the walls,
one of which was "Jewish Sacrifice and the Temptation of Christ."
In
1475, the Dominican practice of the rosary was revived in Germany and quickly
became widespread among Dominicans, Benedictines, and Carthusians. Pope Sixtus
IV, a Franciscan who served from 1472-1484, also encouraged the practice
through papal bulls and indulgences.
The
devil in Botticelli's painting wears clerical garb and carries rosary beads, a
clear contemporary reference to the new rosary practices, which carried with
them the promise of remission of punishment for confessed sins through
indulgences. This fashioning of the devil as an active, practicing cleric was a
popular motif in Temptation-themed art of the period. What it signifies is less
clear; does the rosary indicate that, with Mary's intercession and Christ's
grace, even the devil can be saved? Or is it a less benign fashioning,
indicating that the devil is very clever and can disguise himself in the garb
of the faithful?
"Christ's
threefold temptation by the Devil, as described in the Gospel according to St
Matthew [ACT note: the Lukan version differs in the order of the temptations
and the closing section, but is essentially the same otherwise], can be seen in
the background of the picture, with the Devil disguised as a hermit. At top
left, up on the mountain, he is challenging Christ to turn stones into bread;
in the centre, we see the two standing on a temple, with the Devil attempting
to persuade Christ to cast Himself down; on the right-hand side, finally, he is
showing the Son of God the splendour of the world's riches, over which he is
offering to make Him master. However, Christ drives away the Devil, who
ultimately reveals his true devilish form. On the right in the background,
three angels have prepared a table for the celebration of the Eucharist, a
scene which only becomes comprehensible when seen in conjunction with the event
in the foreground of the fresco.
The
unity of these two events from the point of view of content is clarified by the
reappearance of Christ with the three angels in the middle ground on the left
of the picture, where He is apparently explaining the incident occurring in the
foreground to the heavenly messengers. We are concerned here with the
celebration of a Jewish sacrifice, conducted daily before the Temple in
accordance with ancient custom. The high priest is receiving the blood-filled
sacrificial bowl, while several people are bringing animals and wood as
offerings. At first sight, the inclusion of this Jewish sacrificial scene in
the Christ cycle would appear extremely puzzling; however, its explanation may
be found in the typological interpretation. The Jewish sacrifice portrayed here
refers to the crucifixion of Christ, who through His death offered up His flesh
and blood for the redemption of mankind. Christ's sacrifice is reconstructed in
the celebration of the Eucharist, alluded to here by the gift table prepared by
the angels." [from Sandro Botticelli, 1444/45-1510, by Barbara
Deimling. Taschen, rev. ed., 2000, pg. 34-35.]
** Success,
popularity, and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their
seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger
temptation to self-rejection. When we have come to believe in the voices that
call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity, and power are easily
perceived as attractive solutions....Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of
the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the
'Beloved.' Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence."
Henri
Nouwen, 20th century
Agnus Day, by James
Wetzstein
Agnus Day
appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org
http://www.heartlight.org/gallery/169.html
http://pinterest.com/pin/70509550388032304/
Deuteronomy
26:1–11
Psalm
91:1–2, 9–16
Romans
10:8b–13
Luke 4:1–13
The First Temptation: Serving Oneself
Given this comparison, it is perhaps significant that the first
temptation (verses 3-4)
relates to eating, just as the temptation in the garden of Eden
did.
The Second Temptation: Power
The second temptation (verses 5-8) is a direct appeal to the human
desire for power. Jesus is offered the authority and glory of all the kingdoms
of the world.
The Third Temptation: A Cross-Avoiding Spectacle
The third temptation
(verses 9-12), jumping from the pinnacle of the temple, is the most difficult
to interpret. On the surface the devil’s idea is merely an awe-inducing
spectacle. In the ancient world such would likely have been interpreted as the
trick of a magician. Legends developed later in the church about the apostles
facing down such devil-inspired magicians (e.g. a flying Simon the Mage in the Acts
of Peter).
So in part this temptation is that of another
alternative path for Jesus’ power, leading to fame and riches rather than to
service and the cross. But we are likely supposed to see more here, too. The
temptation, after all, occurs on the Jerusalem temple. Are we meant to see a
foreshadowing and a parody of the crucifixion? As discussed above, on the cross
Jesus is tempted to save himself from death -- are the onlookers there playing
the role of the devil?