Lead us not into Temptation
Commentary on the Lord’s prayer
As we enter into the Second week of Lent, we focus on the temptation that our Lord Christ endured in the wilderness for our sakes. The following are two excerpts in commentary of the passage in the Lord’s prayer “And do not lead us into temptation” (Matt 6:13).
St Cyprian of Carthage
"Of necessity also the Lord has us ask, 'And do not allow us to be led into temptation.' In this part of the prayer he shows that the enemy is powerless against us without God's prior permission. Consequently, during temptation all our fear and devotion and attention should be focused on God, since evil has only such force as He permits (1 Cor. 10:13).
Scripture demonstrates this when it says, 'Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it; and the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hands (2 Kin 24:11-16).
Moreover, evil is given power over us according to our sins. As Isaiah writes, 'Who gave Jacob up to the looters, and Israel to the spoilers? It was the Lord, against whom we sinned, in whose ways we would not walk, and whose law we refused to obey. So he unleashed the fury of his anger against us' (Isa. 42:24-25). And again, when Solomon sinned and strayed from the precepts and paths of the Lord, it was recorded, 'The Lord stirred up Satan against Solomon himself' (1 Kings 11:14)."
St Cyril of Jerusalem
"'And lead us not into temptation,' O Lord. Is it this that the Lord teaches us to pray for: not to be tempted at all? How, then, is it said in another place: 'A man untempted is a man unproved'(Sir 34:9-10)? And again: 'Esteem it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into various temptations' (Jam 1:2)?
But 'entering into temptation' could mean being overwhelmed by temptation. For temptation is like a raging torrent which defies the traveller. Some people in time of temptation manage to cross this torrent without being overwhelmed by the raging waters, their prowess as swimmers saving them from being swept away by the tide.
But if others who are not of the same mettle enter, they are engulfed: like Judas, who entered into the temptation of greed and, failing to swim across, was overwhelmed and drowned -- physically and spiritually. Peter entered into the temptation of the denial; but, though he entered, he was not drowned, but manfully swam across and was delivered from the temptation.
Listen again, in another passage, to a company of triumphant saints giving thanks for their deliverance from temptation: 'For You, O God, have proved us; You have tried us by fire, as silver is tried. You have brought us into a net: You have laid afflictions on our back: You did let men ride over our heads. We have passed through fire and through water: and You did lead us out into a refreshment' (Ps. 65:10-12). You see them celebrating their escape from the trap. And You have brought us out,' he says, 'into a refreshment'; their being 'brought out into a refreshment' refers to their rescue from temptation."
Let us emulate our Lord and Saviour in our striving against temptation, that we may give no chance for the Enemy to move our hearts away from our Beloved Lord. A blessed Lent fast to all.