[AI translation] Let me draw your attention at the outset to the fact that this request of the Lord's Prayer is also connected to the previous one by an accented conjunction "and", thus: "And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation" (Mt 6,12-13a) This means that if one has come to the grace and acceptance of forgiveness of sins, this does not mean that the question of sin has been settled for him once and for all. The danger lasts even longer, because throughout his life he is constantly surrounded by the force of a mysterious attraction, what we call temptation. Indeed, it is the man who has been forgiven of his sins who really knows the reality of the power of temptation. For forgiveness of sins does not mean that everything is now all right, that I can pick up where I left off, but that through forgiveness of sins God has just lifted me up out of the abyss. He has put me back in touch with myself, he has put me on the path of following Jesus, and it is precisely through forgiveness that he warns me not to stray from that path any longer. Anyone who thinks that he will always ask forgiveness for his repeated sins again and again is recklessly abusing God's grace. With forgiveness, God does not cleanse our lives so that we have something to smear again. Jesus says to Mary Magdalene, not only, "Neither do I condemn you", that is, I absolve you of your sins, but also, "Go and sin no more" (John 8:11).Here is the problem. Even if a person decides he wants to sin no more, he always finds himself failing again. Do you also feel that, in answer to the third question of the Lord's Supper, "Do you promise, do you promise, do you receive, that for the sake of grace, for the forgiveness of sins, you will devote your whole life to the Lord, giving thanks, and with the help of His Holy Spirit, you will fight against sin and live for His glory?" - how rashly, or perhaps with horror, we answer, "I promise and I receive!", for we know almost in advance how miserably little of our many fine promises and vows will be fulfilled.
No help, no victory, no progress? Surely there is. And that is precisely the focus of this next section of our daily prayer. That is why Jesus adds to the request for forgiveness of sins, as a continuation of the request, "Do not lead us into temptation"! In this way, Jesus himself warns of the dangers that surround those who would follow him. The path of the Christian life leads us through temptations of many forms and a thousand faces. And behind these many temptations there is one terrifying power: the tempter. It is interesting how seriously Martin Luther, a man of great knowledge and strong faith, reckoned with the reality of the tempter. He saw this world as full of devils, and he is said to have once thrown the inkwell at it in his own drastic way. Today, tourists are still shown the ink-stained wall in the Luther Room in Wartburg Castle.
The modern man shakes his head a little and thinks to himself: yes, even Martin Luther could not get rid of this medieval superstition. In today's enlightened thinking and in a vision that looks at the depths and heights of the world, there is no place for such ghostly spectres. But is it really true that what Luther saw, and what we no longer see or have forgotten to see, does not exist? In any case, Jesus spoke of it as a personal power, as the only really serious enemy. In any case, I very much believe it, because I always know from experience, both on my own skin and in the world around me, what Jesus said about him in this way: "Beware, for your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, prowls about seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8). And I can sense the tactics of this satanic power in the very fact that it has managed to make modern people believe that it does not exist, that it is just a kind of medieval scarecrow with a horse's hoof and a long tail.
It's not even what Satan and his army look like, it's that he exists. There is a mysterious spiritual centre of power from which the man who wants to follow Jesus is attacked again and again. Satan is not a ghost, but a tempter. He is a mystical power that is always on our trail. As the Hungarian word says so eloquently: he haunts us, he follows us everywhere. Not only to the vanities of life, to the colourful fair of the pleasures of this world, but also here in the church, and into the inner silence of the prayer room. It haunts us even to the most sacred and purest occasions of our lives, like a shadow in the light, and as hard to catch as the shadow on the wall.
It is also part of its nature that it never comes in a recognisable form. Incognito. For example, right from the very first pages of the Bible, in the symbolic story of Adam and Eve, it does not tell one: Go ahead, rebel against God, don't take God's commands seriously - but offers them something desirable, something beautiful: to become like God. And the victim unsuspectingly bites into the forbidden fruit. The danger of temptation is precisely that it hides behind its beautiful, desirable and deceptive colours the one who is behind it: the tempter. The temptation does not reveal itself so dramatically: go ahead and steal, they won't notice, others will. Oh, no. That would make its diabolical origins easy to spot, but perhaps this way: See what injustice it is that others have and you have not, go, do justice to yourself - and the victim does not notice the fine web of threads in which he is entangled until it is too late. He does not say, Be thou unfaithful to God, be thyself independent of Him - so that the victim would shrink back, for he would immediately see the devil behind him - but by drawing your attention to a brother believer, by making you see his shortcomings in faith, by making you stumble at his human weaknesses, and by making you think, "Well, if faith is worth so little, is it worth believing? And almost imperceptibly your faith is shaken. This particular tempter is very good at packaging temptation, never putting the label 'Made in hell' on it, but always presenting it to the gullible person in some elegant form. For example, he writes 'self-confidence' - and then it turns out to be pride; or 'righteousness', but it is actually uncharitable and uncompassionate; or 'thrift', which may be a cover for greed; or 'prudence', which is very right and necessary, but it is actually cowardice; or 'honesty', but behind it lies a brazen self-righteousness, a self-indulgence.
This particular temptation is a terribly cunning power. One cannot defend oneself against it in the same way that Odysseus, the hero of the Greek epic, tried to sail past the island of the Sirens, by stuffing the sailors' ears with wax and tying oneself to the mast of the ship so that they would not be caught by the seductive song. It is in vain to plug one's ears, it is in vain to lock oneself up in a monastery, because it speaks to us from the depths of our hearts, hiding behind our feelings, our desires, our instincts, it bargains with us. And perhaps it is in silence, in seclusion, in solitude that we hear its voice as our innermost self. With unheard-of psychology, the Bible says it this way.
It then attacks us not only from within, but also from without, surprising us by the circumstances of life. Behind all the situations and occasions of our lives lurks the tempter. Everything in this world can become a temptation for us. In adversity, in trouble, in unhappiness, in the tragic situations of life, the temptation is to eclipse grace, to question the goodness of God, as if someone were to ask mockingly: is this what divine providence means, is this all that supplication is worth? Conversely, even in a life rich in wealth, happiness and success, there is the temptation to become conceited and to believe that one has earned one's fortune. And the very air we breathe, the atmosphere we live in, can be full of temptation. Sometimes the corrupt air of moral laxity, of sexual impurity, suffocates, infects whole societies. These temptations one absorbs almost imperceptibly, constantly exposed to slow infiltration, to contamination by the mere fact of living.
Thus the temptation is always haunting him within, without, all around, in a thousand ways, in a million variations, but always for a single purpose. And that purpose is to break man's connection with God, to pull our hand out of God's hand, to lead us off that certain narrow path that leads to life. It is clear, then, that temptation is precisely the problem of the believer. The one who is not in touch with God does not need to be tempted to try to break away from Him, he has no struggle with temptation. That is why Jesus put this prayer into our mouths and hearts, precisely for us who want to follow Him: 'do not lead us into temptation'! Here is a soul crying out for help who feels the breath of the persecuting enemy around him. There is also in this plea that God is Lord even over the tempter. The tempter does not fear you, but there is one of whom he fears. The Bible says it plainly: he is afraid. The one from whom he flees in terror, the one against whom he is powerless, the one who, according to the Bible, came to undo the works of the devil: Jesus. He too was tempted by Satan's subtle temptations, but he could not corrupt him, he could not make him rebel, all his attempts broke him, and finally his sting was broken.
Jesus' cross and open tomb are eternal signs of the great, decisive victory that has been accomplished. And Jesus' victory over temptation is more than the triumph of a dramatic hero. It's a redemptive victory, which means that he not only won a victory for himself, but he created a basis of victory on which we can stand and win. The One who has already triumphed draws into this victory of His those who believe in Him. So, in the midst of temptations, I can pray, I can call on Him, the One from Whom the tempter fears. I can side with Him who has already won. When the believer asks, "lead us not into temptation," he is praying that God will make the redemptive victory of Jesus effective in him. I ask that God would confirm me in the certain belief that the tempter, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, has become an enemy already defeated. Do not put me in a position where I can forget this, I doubt it. Make the saving fact of the death of Jesus tangible in me, and let this be manifested in my being able to fight against temptations with courage through the power of Jesus, and to share in His victory. And then the temptation which the tempter has destined for my destruction will be for my good. Behold, he sought to draw me away from God, and chased me even more closely into God's protective arms. "Lead us not into temptation" - with this plea, the praying believer, conscious of his own powerlessness, seeks refuge and protection under the shelter of Jesus. Thus even temptation becomes a blessing to him.
One more thing to conclude. This petition of the Lord's Prayer is also said in the plural first person. That is, in place of others, like the others. With this again, as with a fervent supplication, we embrace the whole human world, that God may not let this earthly life be tempted by the demons of war, destruction, envy. Cleanse the atmosphere from the infected atmosphere of hatred, greed, sexual lust, continue to protect this world of so many ills! Yes, that is why we implore you with this petition, in the certain belief that there is victory over the most threatening temptations. Because Jesus has already won! So now we ask together:
"And lead us not into temptation, which may have power over us;
Thou knowest well how weak we are, and how easily our feet stumble:
Deliver us from the evil one, who vomits us out everywhere.
And if it be glorious for thee, and edifying for us
To deliver us from the tempter, To test our faith:
Give us the victory, and crown our faith.
Canto 483, verses 14-15.
Amen
Date: 4 May 1969.