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Then the devil took
Jesus up and showed him all the
kingdoms of the world in a single instant. The devil said to him,
“I shall give to you all this power and their
glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever
I
wish. All this will be yours, if you
worship me. Jesus said to him in reply,
“It is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord, your God, and
him alone shall you
serve.’”
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“The
hearts of men are easily corrupted and the ring of
power has a will of its own.” Thus the
movie “The Lord of the Rings—The Fellowship of the
Ring” explains the power of
the ring that some people would give up all to possess. What
would one do with something that would give
absolute evil power—power to conquer, power to govern, power to
control? Would such a person use it to achieve
total domination? Or would the person
give it up so that no one could ever use it? Such are the questions
of hobbit Bilbo Baggins as the movie begins.
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The human
Jesus must
have had a struggle with a desire for power. About to begin his
public ministry, the devil gave Jesus a vision of the
entire world, telling him that all of it would be his if Jesus would
worship
him. Jesus overcame the temptation by
quoting Scripture to the devil, enlightening the devil on the real
source of
power,
something incidentally that the wizard Gandalf was to point out to the
devil’s
counterpart later in the movie.
We do not possess anything like a ring that could give us evil power, nor will we be given a vision of a world that could be ours, but we all have a desire for power in one form or another. Human beings relish control, control of their lived situations and control of other people. We want to give orders, we want to have others follow our beck and call. Even if we are powerless, we desire the power we could have, and such desire often governs how we think and live. Acknowledging God to have the absolute power, the people of our world must control their desire for power. If we don’t, we are doomed to live the experience of the power-hungry of history. We will not stop until the desire for power ultimately conquers us, ultimately destroying our world and ourselves. |
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THOUGHT
In your opinion, would most people refuse something that would give them absolute power? Yes or no and why? PRAYER Good and gracious God, perhaps the most difficult thing to do as we grow in our spiritual lives is to control the power that we have and the power that we want. Help us understand what true control involves. Be with us, we pray. |
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Questions, comments? Let
me know. Email Fr.
Mike
©2007 Capuchin
Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |
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