The Sermon on the Mount 16 - Matt 6:13-19

Jesus’s next recorded phrase seems quite contrary to gospel doctrine. It says, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” This clearly implies that God is the one who provides the temptations, not Satan. How clever of Satan to turn this around like that. The IM reminds us that this is not what Jesus said, and quotes the Joseph Smith translation as saying, “And suffer us not to be led into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” JTC comments that God does not provide the temptation, but allows mankind to be tempted, “thereby affording him opportunity of overcoming and so of gaining spiritual strength, which is the only true advancement in man’s eternal course of progress… The plan of mortality involved the certainty of temptation. The intent of the supplication appears to be that we be preserved from temptation beyond our weak powers to withstand; that we be not abandoned to temptation without the divine support that shall be as full a measure of protection as our exercise of choice will allow.” Satan provides the temptation, not Jesus, but Jesus allows it to a certain extent because we need to learn to resist and grow stronger spiritually.

 

This might seem off topic, but I’ve often wondered what we would have done for temptation without Satan. If he wouldn’t have rebelled, if he would have stayed with the rest of us, how would we have opposition in all things? I realized that this might have been one of Satan’s points of contention in the pre-existence, and I can imagine the plan being presented and him recognizing the need to have temptations, but because he hadn’t rebelled yet, we might not have recognized the source of the temptations would have been Satan, and surely God couldn’t have told us, “Lucifer will rebel against me and become the devil and he will provide the temptation.” I feel that God’s response would have been basically “I will provide a way,” knowing that Satan would rebel but not telling us about it. I imagine that when Lucifer was trying to convince other people to follow him, one of the arguments that he would have used was “look, the plan isn’t going to work, he says that there will be temptations but he isn’t providing a way for it. It’s not going to work.” This probably made sense to a lot of people because until after Satan was cast out of heaven, we wouldn’t have known the origin of the temptations. I wonder at what point Satan realized that he was the very solution to one of the arguments I imagined that he campaigned so hard against.

 

This concept of being lead into temptation is explained from a different perspective so profoundly by JTC saying, “How inconsistent then to go, as many do, into the places where the temptations to which we are most susceptible are strongest; for the man beset with a passion for strong drink to so pray and then resort to the dramshop; for the man whose desires are lustful to voice such a prayer and then go where lust is kindled; for the dishonest man, though he say the prayer, to then place himself where he knows the opportunity to steal will be found! Can such souls as these be other than hypocrites in asking God to deliver them from the evils they have sought? Temptation will fall in our way without our seeking, and evil will present itself even when we desire most to do right; for deliverance from such we may pray with righteous expectation and assurance.” Jesus ends the prayer with “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”

 

After the prayer is over, Jesus continues teaching about forgivness, saying that if we forgive others we will be forgiven, but if we don’t forgive others, “neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Jesus continues on to the subject of fasting, which I feel like we just covered. Jesus decries the practice at the time of “the hypocrites,” who fast with “a sad countenance,” so that other people can see that they are fasting. Honestly, for me, fasting is one of the hardest things to do because I love eating and feeling full so much. So for me to fast is a pretty big deal, it indicates something big is on my mind. And I know that sometimes family members or other people can use this type of worship, the fast, to manipulate others or to make them feel inferior spiritually. That’s probably another reason why it’s such a difficult concept for me.

 

Looking back at the intentions of those hypocrites who fasted in Jesus’ time with “a sad countenance: for the disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast,” what did they want? They wanted people to see them fasting and to believe that they were spiritually superior. Their intentions never were to grow closer to God or to indicate to him that they were ready for spiritual growth. Their desires were always to feel like they were better than everyone else and for others to believe that they were better than them too. As Jesus says, “They have their reward.” Again, this isn’t to say that if someone recognizes that you are fasting or if they find out that you are fasting, that you won’t receive any blessings, of course that’s not the case. Their reward is the recognition of other people because that’s what they want. Jesus tells his disciples “when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.”