i-Llan: 9th March 2025 – The Temptations of Power

A reflection on Jesus's temptations and two attitudes which can help defend us in times of temptation.

The Bible readings which prompted the reflection are:
Deuteronomy 26. 1-11
Romans 10. 8b-13
Luke 4. 1-13
You can read them on https://www.alisteningspace.org.uk/yearc/lent1c

i-Llan is part of alisteningspace.uk

Transcript

Welcome to i-Llan, a podcast connecting faith, life and scripture. This episode thinks about the temptations of power.

It’s Lent and Lent Lilies (aka daffodils) are blooming. The sun is shining, temperatures rising (at least for a day or two) and hearts lifting. But the mood of Lent is sombre as it starts with the story of Jesus’s temptations and invites us to reflect upon our own temptations.

The temptations of Jesus are about the use, or misuse, of power in order to gain personal success. In modern parlance, Jesus is in the wilderness working out his ‘mission statement’, his ‘aims and objectives’. The temptations are about strategy: do the ends justify the means? Is it legitimate to manipulate, coerce, bend others to my will against theirs? Is it okay to seek good results by lies, deception, compromising with evil? Jesus’s answer, as he prayerfully considers Scripture, is a resounding ‘NO’.

Today, we are all too familiar with the atrocities that occur when great power is given free rein. That’s nothing new. In 1887, Lord Acton wrote in a letter to Bishop Creighton, ‘Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely’. He echoes British Prime Minister William Pitt who, in 1770, noted that ‘unlimited power is apt to corrupt the mind of those who possess it’.

That’s a stern warning to those who bear great responsibility and so are vulnerable to great pressures. Like all of us, they are subject to human weakness and need a strong moral compass. They also need our prayers. 

But we don’t escape judgement because we think we have little or no power. Everyone has a sphere of influence; people are affected by the way we behave, and temptation can be subtle. So, Lent is a time to examine ourselves and our own vulnerability to corruption, to ask God to point out our weaknesses and help us deal with them. 

It’s important to remember that God does not wield a big stick to beat us with. This Lenten self-examination may be a bit painful, but it isn’t about punishment, it’s more like a health check which identifies disease in order to treat it. 

The readings set alongside the temptations this Sunday suggest two attitudes which help us find the courage to do this honestly: first, to ‘remember whose you are’ and, second, to respond with gratitude.

Thus, the first reading, Deuteronomy 26. 1-11, tells the ancient Israelites to remember what they were and where they came from—an enslaved people led into liberty by powerful acts of God. He is their God and they are his people, bound by a covenant of love to follow his ways. As an annual harvest thanksgiving, they were told to offer ‘some of the first of all the fruit of the ground’ and ‘celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house’. 

The second reading, from St Paul’s letter to the church in Rome (Romans 10. 8b-13), makes this more personal: Christians are Christ’s. He is not just their moral compass but the power that keeps them on course. (Though, sadly, the Church is as vulnerable to abuse of power as any other institution.) 

When we realise God, in Jesus, experienced our vulnerability and pain, so understands what we are going through and helps us in it, gratitude is a natural response. And a grateful heart is a humble heart, defended against the overweening pride which misuses power.

So, here are some questions to ponder during Lent:

• Who do I belong to? Who or what am I loyal to?
• What am I grateful for?
• How do I ‘manage’ people so they do what I want?
• Do I sometimes compromise standards to get what I want?
• How is God meeting me, and helping me, in my places of temptation right now?

While they are serious questions for a serious season, they may have surprising and liberating answers which lift the heart in praise and gratitude to dance with those Lenten lilies, the daffodils.