“Will you walk into my parlor?” said the spider to the fly;
The way into my parlor is up a winding stair,
And I have many pretty things to show when you are there.”
“O no, no,” said the little fly, “to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair can ne’er come down again.”
…
“Sweet creature!” said
the spider, “You’re witty and you’re wise!
How handsome are your gauzy wings, how brilliant are your eyes!
I have a little looking-glass upon my parlor shelf,
If you’ll step in one moment, dear, you shall behold yourself.”
“I thank you, gentle sir,” she said, “for what you’re pleased to
say,
And bidding you good-morning now, I’ll call another day.”
…
The spider turned him round about, and went into his den,
For well he knew the silly fly would soon be back again:
So he wove a subtle web, in a little corner sly,
And set his table ready to dine upon the fly.
Then he came out to his door again, and merrily did sing
“Come hither, hither, pretty fly, with the pearl and silver
wing:
Your robes are green and purple; there’s a crest upon your head;
Your eyes are like the diamond bright, but mine are dull as
lead.”
Hearing his wily flattering words, she came slowly flitting by.
With buzzing wings she hung aloft, then near and nearer drew
Thinking only of her brilliant eyes, and green and purple hue;
Thinking only of her crested head — poor foolish thing! At last,
Up jumped the cunning spider, and fiercely held her fast.
He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den,
Within his little parlor; but she ne’er came out again!”
Mary Howitt, The Spider and the Fly
 |
| The Temptation |
A few weeks ago, I shared a sweet contemporary children’s story
in order to emphasize the point that the love we are given by others is a means
by which we understand the love of God. The Spider and the Fly is not such a
story. Creepy, chilling even, it is a
story of tempter and tempted. And, we ache at knowing the fate of the foolish
fly and the deceit of the evil spider.
This is, perhaps, a bedtime story best told by light of day.
Where we can shine light into the spider’s den where the
carcasses of the fallen, litter the web and be warned against such foolish trust.
Tempter and tempted, and with that the story of spider and fly finds
its origin in scripture where the story of Christianity sets, at its center,
the tempter and the tempted—creation going awry even before the apple was bit.
The first one to deviate from God’s intention, the snake. The
second the human beings, note the intention plural, human beings whose desire
for power outweighs their desire for God.
A cautionary tale emerges when pursuit of power, deceit, shame
and regret lead to division--the garden no longer the mutual habitation of the creator
and creation.
And, hence the longing. The longing for a return, the longing
for the better we not only imagine, but that we have been promised.
But, the maxim, you can’t go home again holds…
The garden is gone. Eden has been lost to us.
Yet, hope. The story is the beginning, but it is NOT the
ending.
The ending involves life, death and resurrection. The ending
involves us. The ending is better than the beginning. The story’s ending is not
dictated by the wiles of the tempter…it goes on and we embrace a new truth. From
this story of deceit and treachery, there emerges another truth. Human beings
have the ability to discern good from evil. And, from our discernment emerges
the power to choose. And, when the choice is hard we are reminded that we are
participants in the divinity of the one who himself rejected the wiles of the
tempter. Because he withstood, so too
can we.
Today’s Gospel takes us to the desert wilderness—where Jesus,
like his ancestors in the faith, faces the challenge of starvation and thirst
in an ominous landscape.
Forty days and forty nights of fasting. Yet, even at his
weakest, the son of God endures. Endures not just the physical privations, but
the spiritual assault of the one we call Satan.
Satan the means by which we, earthly humans, seek to give form
to those incorporeal evils that threaten to corrupt and destroy the creatures
of God. Those forces that break and divide—manipulating, deceiving and betraying.
Buy this for beauty. Do this for wealth. Embrace this for
pleasure. Fight this for power.
The tempter empowered through our own insecurity. Are we not
enough as we have been created? Are we
not the beloved children of God? Are we not heirs to the covenant? Are we not
the body of Christ?
The temptation when described as a test, tests something very,
very specific. This examination is looking for weakness in Jesus’ knowledge of
his own identity as the Son of God—and Jesus passes the test. He will not try
God’s love because he trusts God’s love. He will not take bread for himself because
his calling is to give bread. He will not take for himself earthly kingdoms
because he will receive all power in heaven and earth. He knows himself, and
out of this knowledge he cannot be swayed.
Fourth century Saint, Gregory of Nyssa wrote,
“Our
greatest protection is self-knowledge, and to avoid the delusion that we are
seeing ourselves when we are in reality looking at something else. This is what
happens to those who do not scrutinize themselves. What they see is strength,
beauty, reputation, political power, abundant wealth, pomp, self-importance,
bodily stature a certain grace of form or the like, and they think that this is
what they are.
Such persons make very poor guardians of themselves…how can a
person protect what he does not know? The most secure protection for our
treasure is to know ourselves...”*
Jesus possesses the self knowledge and confidence that allows
him to protect himself from temptation. A self knowledge affirmed and
strengthened in that desert wilderness…he is no fly to fall to the spider’s wiles.
He does not need flattery or power. He knows who he is and to
whom he belongs—and from this comes his strength.
On our Lenten journeys, will we deepen our knowledge of who we are and whom we belong, so we too can stand fast when temptation comes?
Amen.
*Gregory of Nyssa 330-395
trans.
Herbert Musurillo
quoted from Ordinary Graces: Christian Teachings
on the Interior Life)
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