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Thought for the Month
In Greek tradition Odysseus was a famous warrior, King of Ithaca, and Orpheus a great musician. Somewhere in the ocean, a long way from Greece, there lay an island on which dwelt three maidens, known as the Sirens. Their singing was so sweet and compelling that any sailors upon whose ears the strains of their song fell were driven to turn their ships to shore, where the Sirens met them and after making them intoxicated with wine, slew them and devoured their flesh. No seafarer, said the story-tellers, had ever heard the Sirens' song and escaped with his life. So Odysseus determined that he would be the first to hear the song and yet live to tell the tale. A time came when his ship came within sight of the enchanted island. Odysseus commanded his men to bind him firmly to the main mast with leather cords, stop their own ears with wax and row swiftly past. As they came near the three maidens could be seen making gestures to the travellers to come closer. The sweetness of their voices seemed to draw the very soul of Odysseus out of his body. He struggled and strained to break his bonds that encircled him. He alternately implored and commanded his men to set him free; he groaned and cried in agony as they refused to heed him, until, bending to their oars they had carried their ship out of earshot and their commander was himself again.
Later on, Orpheus, the sweet musician at whose playing, it was said, the birds hushed their songs and wild beasts became docile and gentle, passed the Island of Sirens. But there were no bands and no straining in agony this time. Orpheus played his lyre so skilfully and sang so sweetly that neither he nor his shipmates heard so much as a note of the Sirens' song, and they passed swiftly by the fateful place into safety.
So it is with the Christian. We may, as Odysseus did, experience a temptation but put ourselves in a situation where we are prevented from succumbing to it. This is doubtful conduct, showing perhaps curiosity about the world, the flesh and the devil, perhaps a reliance on pride in our own cleverness and strength of character We may get by, for God will surely honour our good intentions, but it will prove to be a hard way. Much easier will it be if we fix our eyes upon Jesus and let his voice ring in our ears; the temptations then will not obtrude themselves so easily upon our notice and we shall withstand them with greater ease. God does not ask us to give up anything that this world has to offer without putting something else in its place. Perhaps that is why Jesus gave the parable of the man who was cleansed of a demon but put nothing else in his mind and life to replace the obsession. The demon looked back and saw his old home empty, swept and garnished. So he took seven other demons more evil than himself and they all entered in and dwelt there, and the last state of that man was worse than the first. And there was no need for it. The man could have filled his emptied mind with Christ. So should we, "bringing every thought into subjection to the obedience of Christ," so being transformed at the last into his own image.
AOH
