refuse to jump

Preparing readings for a Wednesday night service I was praying about confronting the flu prayerfully. Dire predictions are everywhere about contagion and the symptoms and inevitability of getting sick.  There was a posting online about an article from the February 2004 Christian Science Journal entitled You don't have to get sick by Judy Wolff. I loved the article and something in it really inspired me.
When the writer's community was warned of an impending flu epidemic she prayed to overcome her fear and instead to trust in God's protection. She wanted to follow Jesus' example and she remembered the time he was tempted in the wilderness. One of those temptations was a test of God's care. The devil took him to a high place and told him 'if thou be the son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee." The writer pointed out that the devil, or his evil suggestion, couldn't actually push him off; it could only urge him to do it himself. Isn't that just like those subtle and not-so-subtle suggestions to 'cast ourself down', to give in to the belief that getting sick was inevitable.
What is striking about this episode is that clearly the devil did not have the power to harm Jesus or to harm Jesus himself. He could only make the suggestion.

Jesus refused to jump.

That is true power. He recognized where this wrong idea was coming from and refused to take part in it. He did not buy into the idea that some other power was lurking out there that could affect him. No on and no thing can actually make us sick. God is the only power and everything He creates is good. There is no law of His insisting on disease or illness being present. What a blessing to learn that sickness in not inevitable, it is nothing at all. No matter what it claims to be able to do.

Jesus refused to jump.
And so can I,
And so can you.