Sunday Meditation 13: ‘And lead us not …’

Oscar Wilde once said, “I can resist everything except temptation.”

I know what he means. As a teen-ager — many years ago in a Galaxy, far away — the triple-crown challenge of Drugs, Sex & Rock ’n’ Roll came knocking. My response? “Yes, yes ’n’ yes.”

It was the 1960s: Pirates win the Series. Kennedy elected. Bay of Pigs. Cuban missiles. JFK shot. Beatles. Vietnam. Mini-skirts. Malcolm X shot. Star Trek. Super Bowl. Six-Day War. Tet. MLK and RFK shot. “Nixon’s the One.” Charles Manson. Moon landing. Chappaquiddick. Woodstock. Miracle Mets. “The End.”

If you had asked very young me about temptation (circa 1955) I’d have given you two names: One, Jesus; two, Pinocchio.

You may recall puppet-boy’s nose grew when he lied. (Cause and effect.) He lied anyway. But it’s worse than that. Pinocchio wanted to be “a real boy,” yet so much of what he did dragged him away from his goal: Pleasure Island. Drinking. Cigars. Fighting.

The Pleasure Island boys made little jack-asses of themselves, growing floppy ears, pint-size tails, and guffawing “Hee-haw” sounds. Then they were stripped, put into crates and sold. Somehow Pinocchio escapes, redeems himself, dies and gets re-born. At least that’s how I remember it.

Christ’s Temptation is a bit thornier: Baptism. Wilderness. Fasting. Temptation times three. Survival. Sermonizing. Sensationalism. Sacrificial death. Resurrection. Ascension — with a promise to return … someday.

What the point?

When we get tempted, we learn something about ourselves: Faults. Flaws. Failings. Tests don’t produce these tendencies. Tests reveal them. Then we deal with what we learn — or not, sometimes going through variations of the same test, over and over and over again, like Sisyphus and his Rollin’ Rock.

Rightly or wrongly, Oscar Wilde embraced his temptations. Celebrated them. Went to prison. Died penniless. Pinocchio? Not real. Doesn’t matter. (Move on, nothin’ to see here.) Jesus? When he returns, greatest comeback story ever. (“Boo-Yah!”) Me? Tested. Failed. Humbled. Broken. A sadder but wiser man …

And you?

As Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell) slyly says to Del Spooner (Will Smith) in a pivotal scene of “iRobot”: That, Detective, is the right question.

(Program terminated.)

Jim Lamb is a retired journalist and author of “Orange Socks & Other Colorful Tales,” the story of how he survived Vietnam and kept his sense of humor. He expects Jesus to return … someday. For more about Jim and his writing, visit www.jslstories.com.

ARCHIVE: Previous Meditations

Sunday Meditation 1: The Prodigal Son

Sunday Meditation 2: Ode to Jim Elliot

Sunday Meditation 3: House of Bread

Sunday Meditation 4: Run, Baby, Run

Sunday Meditation 5: When Jesus Prayed

Sunday Meditation 6: The Hebrew Alphabet

Sunday Meditation 7: Lost my Friends

Sunday Meditation 8: Jesus Saves & So Do Lifeguards

Sunday Meditation 9: Tim Tebow’s Dad & Me

Sunday Meditation 10: Coffee & Sweet Rolls

Sunday Meditation 11: What’s Love Got To Do With It? Everything

Sunday Meditation 12: ‘What’s Love Got to Do With it?’ Part 2

My Testimony: Stealing Psalm 40