Fighting Sin by Trusting in the Superior Satisfaction

I enjoy a good tale.

I cannot get enough of heroic deeds, bravery, and camaraderie, especially when they teach something true about the Christian walk.

Growing up, Turner Classic Movies were always playing in my home. Humphrey Bogart, also known as Bogie, was either talking about the beginnings of a beautiful friendship or telling young dames “Here’s looking at you, kid,” or talking to himself while tracking down suspects in one of the many film noirs in which he starred.

Although I enjoyed these and the many other films that came on that channel, some of my favorites were the ones based on Greek mythology or various monsters, such as the Harryhausen films like Clash of the Titans or the several Sinbad flicks, but especially the Jason and the Argonauts film he made.

By modern standards, the animations are cheesy and the acting is not much better. But for a young kid, watching the swashbuckling adventures of Sinbad and the heroic mission of Jason and the Argonauts was like watching some of the most entertaining films of all.

There is one theme that shows up in both Jason and the Argonauts and The Odyssey on which I would like to focus because I think the first movie points to the trap I often fall into when warring against the world, the flesh, and the devil, and the other movie points to one of my favorite verses, 2 Corinthians 3:18.

In Greek mythology, sirens were beautiful creatures who would seduce sailors with their singing as they sailed close to shore. When a sailor was entranced by them, the sirens would dash the unsuspecting sailor upon the rocks and eat them. This is a great representation of what sin is: disguised as beauty, promising all your desires fulfilled, only to kill and consume you when you give in to the false promises offered.

The first story involved Odysseus. Both he and his men had to sail past the island where the sirens dwell. As they neared the island, Odysseus had his men fill their ears with wax so they could not hear the tempting call of the sirens from the shore.

But Odysseus was also curious to hear their beautiful singing. To protect himself from jumping ship when he heard them, he had his men bind him to the mast of the ship and ordered them to never let him loose, no matter how much he begged and pleaded.

They sailed past with the sailors never hearing the call, or anything else. Odysseus, although entranced by their call and begging and pleading for them to release him, never broke free of the ropes to die by the sirens’ hands.

We read that and we think, “What a great way to handle ourselves so we do not fall into temptation.” We may believe that closing our ears to everything and binding ourselves will stop us from running after sin.

But after further reflection, it sounds much like the asceticism against which Paul warned: “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement” (Col. 2:18).

I think there is a better way. The Lord means to make us whole, not make us joyless humans, with eyes and ears closed to everything as we sail along in this life. Stoicism is no answer to the war against indwelling sin.

In the story of Jason and the Argonauts, Jason must also pass through where the sirens dwell. But instead of following Odysseus’ example, Jason employs the musical talents of Orpheus, who played the lyre with more beauty than the calls of the sirens. While sailing past the island, the Argonauts did not give in to the calls because their ears were already filled with a more beautiful sound.

This, I will attempt to explain, is the Biblical way.

Odysseus had his men fight temptation by removing their ears from all sounds. They did not fall prey because their ears could hear nothing good or bad. However, Jason had the ears of his men filled with a superior beauty. That is how Christians should walk in this world. That is how we fight sin, war against the world, the flesh, and the devil, and live as Christians. That is how Paul writes that the Lord sanctifies us: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18).

By beholding, we are becoming. As those who looked to the bronze serpent the Lord told Moses to make were healed of their poison (Num. 21:9), we too are saved from sin and are made whole by looking to Christ who was lifted up for us (John 12:32). We look. We repent. We trust. We do not stop looking at Christ. There is no going beyond the Gospel.

We are not called to walk through this world with ears deaf to any call, but to fix our eyes upon Jesus (Heb. 2:12), because He is our supreme joy (Ps. 16:11) and our life (John 1:4).

Paul also gives an outline of what God does in us in order that we are “filled up to all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:14-19). When temptations come, the Lord means for us to be so filled with Christ that we rightly see sin as ugliness and separation from God, and so we rightly see Christ for who He is. We can say with the hymnist that “the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His Glory and Grace.”

There are two more points to quickly observe. First, Jason was not alone in listening to the beautiful music. We are called to glorify Christ with a community of believers as we proclaim to one another the riches of His Glory in Christ. Second, Jason trusted the music of Orpheus was of more beauty than the call of the sirens. We too must know and trust that the treasures of Christ (Col. 2:3) are of more beauty and value than any passing temptations that come our way.

As Christians, we can wholeheartedly echo Paul when writing in the final chapter of his second letter to Timothy that, no matter what trials and temptations we face, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will save me unto His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (2 Tim. 4:18).