Why do we worship Jesus? The kneeling before his consecrated body, the bowing of our heads at the utterance of his name, the songs and lamentations offered up to his ethereal presence. Why do we worship Jesus? Perhaps it is an intuitive urge arising in all of us. We praise the Father so why not the Son; Creator and Christ are one in the same, are they not? Why extol one and not the other? It is illogical, unreasonable, blasphemous in fact! How dare I even ask such a ludicrous question. Of course we must worship the Son of God. Please, strike any memory of my mere mentioning of this disrespectful inquiry. (Read in a growing hysteria). 

Take a breath. . . . It’s okay, Joey, relax. 

Pardon my outburst just now. I am abashed. You just witnessed the watering of the seed of scrupulosity within me. Let me explain. 

A wise teacher taught his students that the Human Mind is like a fertile field featuring every kind of seed imaginable. The seeds are our feelings and attitudes, like happiness, joy, fear, regret, love, hate, curiosity, panic, and so on. The seeds that receive enough water will grow and sprout bigger and bigger, eventually taking up more and more space in the field. Because of this, we must understand the nature of our minds so we can be vigilant gardeners of our feelings and attitudes as they take shape and grow.

I have the seed of scrupulosity in my field. So do you. And my scrupulosity seed has received a lot of water through the years. But thanks to the loving support of multiple gentle and kind souls, I have learned how to face my scrupulosity out in my field, to prune its unruly roots and stems, for just like a mighty weed, if left ignored, my scrupulosity would spread and strangle the other plants in my field. 

My point? You must tend your field. You must confront the seeds and sprouts inside yourself, even the ones you do not like, even the ones you may deny exist at all. For in the darkness of ignorance, unhealthy things fester and spread, but in the light of awareness, God’s healing grace can soothe and mend even the most twisted and infected of wounds. 

Before beginning his ministry, Jesus confronted Satan in the desert. God faced Darkness in this world. And Christ emerged triumphant over Evil! 

Jesus is fully human. He is like you and he is like me. Therefore, Jesus too must have a field with every kind of seed in it—seeds of forgiveness and mercy but also seeds of anger and impatience. Perhaps before Jesus felt confident enough in himself to face our broken and sinful world, he needed to face the potential for Evil inside himself. 

Mother Teresa wisely taught that “Holy souls sometimes undergo great inward trial, and they know darkness. But if we want others to become aware of the presence of Jesus, we must be the first ones convinced of it.”

Jesus preached triumph over Evil to a world lost in darkness. In order to open our hearts and feed us the nourishing Word of God, he first had to be convinced of it himself. For “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” So said the Christ when Evil sought to corrupt the Son of God into serving his own will rather than the will of the Father who sent him. 

Jesus is tempted with power and pleasure and prestige—same as you and me—and yet he chooses God. He strengthens his resolve, his will, and thereby prepares himself for the trials that await him on the road to the cross. 

The story of Jesus in the desert is remarkable; the Son’s freedom to reject his Father’s call to Calvary is on full display. Christianity could not have been predestined and predetermined. Overcoming Evil took the courage and the conviction and the freely-made choices of real people facing real challenges in this very real world. As late historian David McCullough wrote: “The past after all is only another name for someone else’s present.” Jesus faced Satan in the present, not in some dusty old story. His success was not assured. His triumph no sure thing. 

And now I return to the question posed at the beginning of today’s reflection: Why do we worship Jesus? There are some followers of Jesus that espouse the belief that the acceptance of Christ—alone—is our ticket to everlasting life. Said differently, we triumph over Evil, just like Jesus did, by bending the knee so to speak and accepting Jesus as King. 

Think about that though: we defeat Satan by worshiping the one who defeated Satan? Really? Hmm. That’s a pretty good deal wouldn’t you say? So I was born with an original sin based on a transgression I did not commit, and then I am saved based on a confrontation with Evil that I played no part in? Good stuff. Easy peasy. Though, I will say, it feels a little incomplete.

I’ve always viewed Jesus as the ultimate illustration of discipleship, and that his life itself was a roadmap, his memory a benediction. 

Is Jesus to be worshipped or followed? Well, Jesus rejected praise, credit, and fanfare, during his earthly life, instead teaching that the first shall be last, pray, fast, and act charitably in secret, and give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. He was born in a germ-infested animal storehouse. He grew up under the thumb of a tyrannical government. He road into Jerusalem on a simple donkey. He died as a Roman political instrument, as a mangled and broken corpse to sow discord and terror into the hearts of the people. 

Based on a quick evaluation of his life, Jesus did not seem too interested in worship or praise. Rather, he sought action, doing, changing, being, creating, fixing, reconciling, healing, feeding, fishing, going, talking, listening, leading, writing, and—yes, undoubtedly—faith. Jesus’s ministry was the ultimate “I’d never ask you to do something I wouldn’t do myself” by the Father. God calls us to a holy life, but he first showed that he himself, in the form of his Son, would strive to live a holy life as well. 

Therefore, just as Jesus confronted Satan in the desert, we must also confront the Evil that resides inside ourselves. Yes we have seeds of merriment and frivolity, seeds of compassion and kindness. But we also have seeds of envy, racism, sexism, homophobia, lust, greed, anxiety, scrupulosity, and fear in our fields. If we do not confront the possibility that those seeds will be watered and grow in our lives then we do ourselves, and the world, a mighty disservice, for Evil can flourish in the mind’s of the unprepared who fail to prune the weeds that sprout in their gardens. If you deny that you have these seeds—the possibility of Evil—inside you, then you are not following Jesus out into the desert so to speak; you are not confronting Evil head on as he did.

Accountability is the first step towards change. And you cannot be accountable if you cannot first accept what is here and now. What does it mean to repent if not to take accountability for your actions? What does it mean to pick up your cross and follow Jesus if not to chase after him into the desert to face the devil, the devil inside ourself, the potential for Evil laying at the heart of our free will?

Is Satan an eternal being, a fallen angel that wants to torture our souls forever more? Maybe. But maybe he is also the personification of the possibility for Evil that exists in all of us—God’s created people. For with free will there is always the freedom to reject goodness and light in favor of something else. The scariest thing in the universe is the free will God gave to us, for with it, we can poison our souls and become Evil incarnate.

Tom Riddle, Anikan Skywalker, Lucifer . . . beings that started off neutral, but who became villainous when they watered the seeds of hate and ambition and fear and power-lust inside themselves. Voldemort, Darth Vader, and the Devil . . . beings that did not confront the possibility of Evil that existed inside themselves, beings that failed to prune the weeds that grew in their fields, beings that succumbed to darkness. 

And Jesus had that chance, the chance to become a villain. He faced that opportunity to water the wrong seeds. With Satan whispering in his ear, Jesus only had to flick his consciousness towards a rock to turn it into bread. But he didn’t. He used his free will to water the seeds of faith and hope and love, and in so doing, he made his Father proud, and he showed us the way. 

Should we worship Jesus or follow his example in our everyday lives? I believe we are to do both, with a strong emphasis placed on action! Faith and works. 

Follow Jesus out into the desert. Confront the seeds of Evil inside yourself. Take accountability for your shortcomings and for the possibility that you may fall short of God’s hopes for you. But take heart. Jesus’s triumph over Evil paved a pathway to Salvation for you and for me. Even if our garden is overrun with weeds, even if we have spent a lifetime watering the wrong seeds, Jesus, the Great Gardener, is here to help us to begin again. For if he can save a thief hanging on a cross, a man that would go on to dine in paradise with Christ, then Jesus’s power to tame an unruly garden truly knows no limits. 

Follow Jesus into the desert, the desert inside yourself. Confront the Evil that lays in your field. Know yourself better. Know what you are vulnerable to. Be vigilant, be prepared, but also take comfort in the knowledge that Jesus walks before you, that he traveled this very same path; he triumphed over Evil, and so can we!