There’s No “I” on God’s Team

Americans don’t necessarily get it. We live and breathe in an individualistic world. 

The writings of the Bible, however, arose within the Mediterranean world. In the air that Jesus breathed, each person was embedded in a group. Family loyalty was required. Honor to one was honor to all.  There was no “I” in “the team.” 

If we think of today’s story individualistically, Jesus and the devil are two boxers in a private sparring match. But no! From a communal mindset, the devil isn’t just asking Jesus to worship him.  He is tempting him to switch allegiances. He is conniving to steal the star quarterback! The evil one offers Jesus a rich reward to join his team and honor him as leader. The devil is crafty. He wants to win. He is not just messing with Jesus. He is messing with God’s team. 

How will Jesus respond? Will Jesus swap sides for personal power or honor or food? No way. He stands firm. He knows to whom he belongs: “You shall bow only before the Lord,” he says. 

The devil goes away “for a time.” But he’ll be back . . . We begin Lent this week. Like Jesus, we head out into the desert.  For forty days, we’ll go into training, a good Lenten workout. If we take our exercises seriously, our spiritual muscles will ache where we are weak. Why do we want to be spiritually stronger at Easter? It is not just for ourselves, for our own glory or honor. We are important to God’s team, too. We work together for good in this world. Hatred and evil must not win. 

We may be tempted to give up when the training seems hard. The central question of Jesus’ temptation then comes to us as well: Whose team will we choose?

Consider/Discuss 

• A friend from Rwanda has a strong sense of “us.” She bemoans how her nine-year-old daughter has adopted the mindset of American individualism;  her girl does not “get” the sense of family and community within which she grew up in Africa. What kind of family/community identity did you grow up in? How does that affect how you see your place on God’s team? 
• St. Ignatius says that our impulses come from three places: from evil, from self, and from God. As we wrestle with temptations this Lent, how can we grow stronger in discernment, so that we recognize where our inclinations come from? What kind of “training plan” can we make to create the space to learn to lead a more self-reflective, self-disciplined, and prayer-filled life? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

God of Gods and Lord of Lords, you are the one to whom we belong. Jesus headed into the desert for spiritual training. This Lent, we follow him into training as well. Help us to take the time to  exercise hard enough to get into the game. You know that sometimes  we are tempted to slack off, content to sit on the sidelines and just  watch your team play. But you are our God, God alone. We want to bring you honor, Divine Coach. Show us how to go. Holy Spirit,  teach us how to be strong.