That was the slogan which was once used in order to sell cream cakes.  The slogan seems to neatly capture the essence of temptation. "Lead us not into temptation" are five words which are central to the best known Christian prayer that there is -The Lord's Prayer.  For most of us temptation is really all about breaking out of the boundaries and treating ourselves to something completely different.  Temptation can often be fed by envy or greed - envy of another person's job or position, or greed as to their financial situation.  Yet, if somehow we were to be placed in their shoes, there would inevitably be another set of temptations to deal with - for the grass always appears to be greener in someone else's field.

When we look at the concept of temptation as related to the life of Jesus in St. Luke's gospel, for example, we see that for Luke, the whole of Jesus' life is a temptation.  They begin in the wilderness and reach a climax on Calvary.  The Devil loses Round One of the contest when Jesus goes on retreat into the desert where Satan unsuccessfully tempts him, but superficially Satan seems to win Round Two on Good Friday which, on the surface appears to be an utter defeat for the forces of good against the powers of evil.  However, God wins Round Three on Easter Day - when death is defeated and Christ is raised victorious from the dead.  As we begin Lent with Ash Wednesday on February 21st we are to see our Lenten discipline in the light of the glorious resurrection which shines ever bright at the end of the Lenten tunnel.  So don't begin Lent in a negative or miserable frame of mind but in a positive and constructive frame of mind in the light of the Resurrection Easter faith.  For Lent is actually an old word for Spring, the great season of hope when we see new life penetrating through the hardened winter earth.

The temptations of Jesus which we think about during Lent echo the story of the ancient Hebrew people.  After the Exodus and the dramatic journey through the waters of the Red Sea they misused their new found freedom and, while Moses was communing with God on Mount Sinai, they worshipped an idol in the form of the golden calf.  As punishment for their disobedience they had to wander through the wilderness for forty years before being allowed to enter into the Promised Land.  After another dramatic water experience when Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan by John the Baptist - He retreated into the wilderness for forty days and forty nights in order to prepare Himself for the public ministry which lay ahead.  There Jesus was tempted three times - to turn stones into bread - to be given all the kingdoms of the world and to test God by throwing Himself from a great height to see if God would rescue Him.

To appeal to people's basic instinct of hunger is to strike exactly the wrong note - for Jesus fully realised that we are spiritual as well as physical beings.  To appeal to people's sense of power - and nothing more - is to offer the exact opposite of the apparently insignificant love that the Babe of Bethlehem, born in a humble stable not in a royal house or hall, comes to show us.  To threaten to throw one's life away in order to see what happens is a futile last resort - life is God's gift to us and life is therefore sacred.  As we saw so clearly in the wilderness Satan does indeed tempt - in order to ruin both us and our world. God also tempts - but with a different motive and an alternative hoped for outcome - He tempts in order to crown us with an even greater spiritual strength.  So, temptation can in fact be good for our spiritual well being if, in the power of Christ, we have the strength and the will power to over come it.

So this Lent - let our lives reflect those sacred words of the Lord's own prayer - "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever." Amen.

                                   WITH LENTEN - SPRINGTIME BLESSINGS,

                                                          FATHER DAVID