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One of the formative moments of any childhood is when one finds a wild animal, usually a baby bird or rabbit or something similar that has met with the misfortune of injury or abandonment and the inspiration hits, “I will raise this little critter as my pet!” Who wouldn’t love to have a pet bird, scampering squirrel, or fluffy rabbit to keep you company? As you quickly learn, it’s really tough to get the little things to eat and they often return to God in a couple days! Amazingly, my sisters managed to raise a litter of wild bunnies from babies to the equivalent of teenagers (They even gave them good Christian names like Lil Runt, Marco Polo, Eli, Jack, and Martin). It was pure craziness in the months that followed as these wild hares hopped shoulder-high through the house, making a mess everywhere, screeching and scratching and biting anyone who tried to get near them. It was a tough lesson for the Schroeder nature society that wild animals make terrible pets and they don’t really care how much love you try to show them; they just want to be free and live outside where other wild animals can eat them! Eventually we gave them what they wanted because of their ingratitude.
In the early 2000’s, a man named Antoine Yates was arrested for trying something far more extreme in New York City. Antoine lived in a multistoried, public housing apartment building and decided to bring home a two-month-old tiger cub and later, a young alligator. It’s not clear where he found them or how he cared for them but soon he was dragging 20 lbs of chicken thighs up to his apartment each day to keep these beasts happy. These large wild animals were with him for two years in his apartment. What started as a little tiger cub grew to a 400+ pound Bengal tiger, and the little alligator to a frightening monster.
One day, the police got a distress call from Yates about a “dog” bite and when they got to the 19-story building, they discovered Yates in the lobby with significant injuries to his right arm and leg. Someone alerted the police to the possibility of a “wild animal” in his apartment. Out of an abundance of caution, the first responders drilled a hole into the wall of Yates’ apartment and saw the huge cat prowling around the room. To make a long story short, it took an army of officers at the door, and the use of a tranquilizer gun to bring the tiger under control. When they finally entered the apartment, they found the big cat lying unconscious and a big alligator nearby, guarding his unconscious friend. Both animals were trapped and relocated to shelters. His own wild pets tried to kill Yates despite his years of care. For his part, Mr. Yates never regretted his choices; he just saw it as the price of having wild animals as companions.
Thankfully, I have yet to stumble upon a hidden tiger or crouching alligator when I visit the homes of parishioners. It seems the people of Incarnate Word have taken to heart the lesson that the tiger man never quite understood; some animals shouldn’t be pets because you can never be sure they won’t wake up one day and want you for a snack!
So while these stories are interesting to hear, how do they relate to the 1st Sunday of lent? I’m so glad you asked!! It’s really a simple connection, at least in my head! Even though most of us would never think about wrangling a lion, tiger, or alligator into our living rooms as our next four-legged companion, we seem to lose some of our sanity when we invite their spiritual equivalents every time we tolerate and cultivate temptations and occasions of sins in our lives. Habits of sins and situations of temptation are the spiritual predators that can never be tamed, something we allow into our lives and even feed for many years. But in the blink of an eye, or sometimes slowly over time, they lash out and hurt their hosts with a ferocity that often catches us by surprise.
In the first reading, we hear God’s promise to Noah after the Great Flood that wiped everyone and everything off the face of the earth, except the lucky creatures in the ark. God says he will never repeat such a thing but implicit in his promise is a warning that mankind should never give in to evil so completely again. St. Peter reminds us that Jesus suffered for our sins, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous so that we could be delivered from our sinful choices that deserved condemnation. And then finally the gospel tells us that Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert where he struggled against Satan’s temptation and the danger of wild beasts.
The point is that sin exacted its price, it’s pound of flesh. Evil can be given no quarter or it will attack, whether that be the sinner or the innocent, embodied in the righteousness of Christ. There is no way for us to tame sin, temptation, or evil as a sort of pet that we keep in our lives. While it might seem possible to pacify or ignore it, sooner or later it will lash out and maul the unsuspecting fool that lets it in! At the very least, we will be lulled into a false sense of security, that we have things under control, all the while losing ourselves trying to pacify sinfulness and tame temptation.
The reminder of the lenten season is that we must tighten up our defenses again sin, temptation, and evil. If we have allowed any spiritual wild beasts into our lives, we need to accept the grace of conversion and repentance which will drive them safely out. If we continue to tolerate these dangerous guests, we are playing with fire and forces we are unable to truly control.
Repenting and fighting against temptations and evil is a lifetime’s task. Jesus did not overcome Satan in the wilderness after one battle; he achieved that only in his death. Lent reminds us that we have to take up the fight each day against the evil within us and around us, and never give up, never grow complacent, never give in to discouragement. Jesus has given the assurance that the Holy Spirit is with us always, empowering us, protecting us, and leading us to that final victory in Jesus Christ. And so our task and our victory is to wake up each day and start again. May you and I never grow comfortable with evil in our lives nor invite sin into our homes. And if something unholy and untamed already lives within, may we be use this lenten season to cast it out, far from us and those we love!
