Are You Being Tested?

 October 13, 2017

Ordinary Time – Season of Stability

Kids routinely test their teachers, especially middle-school aged students with new teachers. They want to see how far they can go, what they can get away with. Often they ask questions not out of genuine interest but to see if they can stump the teacher or undermine their authority.

The Pharisees did the same to Jesus. They constantly asked questions, not out of genuine interest but to trip him up, catch him off guard and undermine his authority. Jesus handles their questions wisely, turning the tables on the Pharisees and leaving them the worse off for having failed in their attempts.

Testing appears to be a part of life. All of us are tested at different times. The greatest tests are not the ones taken at school. They are the tests life gives us. We grow through dealing with these tests and the challenges they involve. Certainly Abraham and Moses were greatly tested by God. They did not always skate through the tests with ease but grow they did.

There are good aspects to being tested, but not all tests are for our good, nor are they all from God. The Pharisees were up to no good when they tested Jesus. Some translations of the Lord’s prayer say, “put us not to the test,” rather than lead us not into temptation. Just what was this test? Job was severely tested, not by God, but by Satan. There was no rhyme or reason for Job’s sufferings and he did not grow through them in the way that Moses and Abraham grew through their testing.

Tests are part of ordinary life. Some are easier than others, some threaten our life, some threaten our sense of well-being. Some tests are from God, helping us to grow. Others come from the evil one and threaten our very soul.

May we know the difference.

Subject us not to the trial but deliver us from the evil one.   Matthew 6:13

This post is part of a series of reflections on the Church year.   click here to follow blog