When St Antony was
praying in his cell, a voice spoke to him, saying ‘Antony, you have not yet
come to the measure of the tanner who is in Alexandria.’ When he heard this,
the old man arose and took his stick and hurried to the city. When he had found
the tanner .... he said to him, ‘Tell me about your work, for today I have left
the desert and come here to see you.’
He
replied, ‘I am not aware that I have done anything good. When I get up in the
morning, before I sit down to work, I say that the whole of the city, small and
great, will go into the Kingdom of God because of their good deeds while I will
go into eternal punishment because of my evil deeds. Every evening I repeat the
same words and believe them in my heart.’
When
St Antony heard this he said, ‘My son, you sit in your own house and work well,
and you have the peace of the Kingdom of God; but I spend all my time in
solitude with no distractions, and I have not come near to the measure of such
words.’
It is
a very human failure, for far too often we make things far too complicated when
all we need to do is to keep things simple. In the story from the Desert
Fathers, which we have just heard, St Antony, the founder of monasticism, a
great and a holy man, is put to shame by a man who spends his days treating
animal skins. The key to it all is the tanner’s humility, his complete absence
of pride, and his complete and utter trust in God – his reliance upon him
alone.
In
this morning’s Gospel we see Our Lord going into the desert for forty days. He
goes to be alone with God, to pray and to fast, to prepare himself for the
public ministry of the Proclamation of the Good News, the Gospel.
As he
comes out of this he is tempted by the devil: he faces temptation just like
every human being, but unlike us, he resists. The devil tempts him to turn
stones into bread. It is understandable – he is hungry, but it is a temptation to
be relevant, which the church seems to have given into completely:
unless we what we are and what we do and say is relevant to people, they will
ignore us.
There
is the temptation to have power, symbolised by worshipping the devil. It
leads to the misuse of power. The church stands condemned for the mistakes of
the past, but in recognising this there is the possibility of a more humble church
in the future – reliant upon God and not on the exercise of power.
There
is the temptation to put God to the test – to be spectacular and
self-seeking. Whenever we say ‘look at me’ we’re not saying ‘look at God’.
Jesus resists
these temptations because he is humble, because he has faith, and because he
trusts in God. It certainly isn’t easy, but it is possible. It’s far easier
when we do this together, as a community, which is why Lent matters for all of
us. It’s a chance to become more obedient, and through that obedience to
discover true freedom in God. It’s an obedience which is made manifest on the
Cross – in laying down his life Jesus can give new life to the whole world. He
isn’t spectacular – he dies like a common criminal. He has no power, he does
not try to be relevant, he is loving and obedient and that is good enough.
It was enough for him,
and it should be for us. As Christians we have Scripture and the teaching of
the Church, filled with his Spirit, to guide us. We can use this time of prayer
and fasting to deepen our faith, our trust, our understanding, and our obedience,
to become more like Jesus, fed by his word and sacraments – to become more
humble, more loving, living lives of service of God and each other, so that the
world may believe and give glory to God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Spirit, to whom be ascribed as is most right and just, all might, majesty,
glory dominion and power, now and forever
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