Genesis 3:1-21; 2 Corinthians 6:1-10; St Matthew 4:1-11
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Still wet from His Baptism in the Jordan River by St John, having heard the majestic voice of the Father, This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, Jesus is led up by the Spirit into the wilderness in order to be tempted by the devil. Led up. St Mark says it more forcefully: The Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness. Threw Him out there. Exorcised.
Now God tempts no one. But God in the flesh can be tempted and must be. As it is written in Hebrews, We do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:15). Jesus doesn’t wait for the battle to come to Him. He goes to it. For us men and for our salvation, He came down from heaven. Down to earth where Satan roams.
Having been anointed in His Baptism, Jesus enters the fray as our High Priest, bearing all the names of the children of Israel upon His flesh. He is Israel reduced to one. He is all humanity He is the Second Adam. But He is also the scapegoat, upon whom all our sins were laid, and is driven out into the wilderness.
And after fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. Satan pounces on this weakness. “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” If? Jesus had heard, just over a month prior, that He is the beloved Son of the Father who holds His heart. These words were pressed into His ears and have been the promise that have sustained Him these long forty days. He IS the Father’s Son. But as it was with Eve and as it is with you, Satan is trying to get Jesus to doubt God’s Word and promise. “If You are really the favored Son of God, why is He letting you starve out here in the wildness? Why has He abandoned you to hunger and thirst? If You created the world, why not feed Yourself right now?”
“Did God really say . . . ?” “Did God really say don’t look at those pictures? I’m not technically committing adultery.” “Did God really say don’t steal? The paper was free on line. I just borrowed a few paragraphs.” “Did God really say, honor your father and your mother? They’re so weird and have stupid rules.” “Did God really say defend your neighbor and speak well of him? He’s such a jerk.” You see. Its no different for you. Satan is the practitioner of a thousand arts, but the master of one. His trick is always the same. To get you to doubt God’s Word. To use your reason and senses to figure out what’s good and right. It’s called Enthusiasm, to presume that the Spirit of God speaks to you apart from His Word, and Luther says its the source of all heresy and sin.
Be careful, dear Christian, for the devil even tries to use Scripture against you. He twists it and misapplies it, trying to get Jesus to jump from the top of the Temple. Taking parts of Psalm 91, as you sang today, out of context. He tries to seduce Jesus with earthly fame and worldly goods by denying the heart and center of Sacred Scripture: the very Cross and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. His schemes and tricks are no different today. Maybe more sophisticated or more subtle, but its always about injecting doubt into God’s true and reliable Word.
Because he knows that it is the Word that fells him. This is the weapon wielded by Jesus in the wilderness. Not brute force or stunning wit, but the simple and true Word of God. It is written. It is written. It is written. Three temptations. Three Scriptural confessions. Jesus throws the Word of the Lord back into Satan’s face and each time he is defeated.
But what is the power of God’s Word? How shall it defeat the arch-enemy of His people? I know that you are weary and beaten down, dear Christians, that you are hounded by the old evil foe who now means deadly woe, but don’t read this temptation of Jesus as your example; that He defeated Satan and now stands on the sidelines cheering you on as you do battle against the devil. Don’t hear the temptation of Jesus apart from His Cross. Satan may have left Jesus and the angels came and were ministering to Him, but Matthew 4 is not the end of Satan’s barrage.
He left for a moment, but retuned again to take another stab. There’s no account of another direct face-off between Jesus and Satan in Scripture, per se, but consider the Cross. There Satan unleashes all of his venom. There he hides his assaults behind the words of the passers-by, the chief priests, the scribes and elders, even the robbers crucified with Him: You who would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. He saved others, He cannot save Himself! He is the King of Israel, let Him come down down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God; let God deliver Him now, if He desires Him. For He said, “I am the Son of God.” (Mt 27:40-43). Its all the same. Doubt the Word. Forgo the Cross. Do what you want.
But Satan’s defeat came around the ninth hour when Jesus cried out with a loud voice and yielded up His Spirit. St John records the words, It is finished (Jn 19:30). Don’t read the temptation of Jesus apart from that, lest it become some lesson in fighting off the devil’s cunning wiles. That’s not the Gospel. As awesome as that scene is - Satan fleeing from our Lord so early in His ministry - its not the end. Read it through the victory of the Cross. Then receive that victory as yours by faith in Christ.
On Wednesday you received those ashes on your forehead with the words, “Remember, O man, that thou art dust and unto dust shalt thou return.” Today you heard in the first reading the curse pronounced on Satan, On your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. Yikes! In our flesh and by our strength we are food for the devil.
I know you struggle and fight and pray. And the Word of God fends off the devil, but he’ll be back. He will always be back. Part of his deception is that he wants you to try and fight him off. He knows that you can’t win. He’s battle hungry. He wants the easy fight. He wants Jesus not to be your Savior, but your cheerleader, standing on the sidelines telling you that you can do it. Satan knows that’s the best way to beat you down.
Therefore trust the Word of God spoken to you in your Baptism. “You are My beloved child with whom I am well pleased.” There the Triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - gave you the victory over sin, death, and the devil. There the GodMan, who took up the dust of your flesh, stomps the head of the devil with His pierced heal for you.
The battle rages on in your life, each and every day, but the victory is won and yours by faith in Christ Jesus. It is as St Paul says to the Corinthians. It appears one way, with afflictions and hardships, calamities and hunger, through sleepless nights and dishonor, treated (and maybe evening feeling) like imposters, but the reality is something else altogether: as dying, yet behold, you live; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as having nothing, yet possessing everything!
In your daily struggle, dear Christians, you have your Baptism - His Name upon you - to which you return daily in repentance and faith. You have His absolution, the sweet declaration that your sins are forgiven in the Name of Jesus. You have His Supper, the very Body and Blood which already vanquished the foe. All of these come with the authority of His cruciform Word. And through these means you have not only the real strength you need in the fight, but also the very victory and Victor Himself.
Are you tired? Hungry? Thrown yourself down. Fall down and worship. Come eat of the Tree of Life with its fruits of Christ’s Body and Blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Here you dwell in the shelter of the Most High. Here He covers you with the pinions of His merciful Word and blessed Sacrament. Here is your refuge. Here the Lord satisfies you with long life and shows you His salvation. In your weakness, here is all the victory you need.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Still wet from His Baptism in the Jordan River by St John, having heard the majestic voice of the Father, This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, Jesus is led up by the Spirit into the wilderness in order to be tempted by the devil. Led up. St Mark says it more forcefully: The Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness. Threw Him out there. Exorcised.
Now God tempts no one. But God in the flesh can be tempted and must be. As it is written in Hebrews, We do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:15). Jesus doesn’t wait for the battle to come to Him. He goes to it. For us men and for our salvation, He came down from heaven. Down to earth where Satan roams.
Having been anointed in His Baptism, Jesus enters the fray as our High Priest, bearing all the names of the children of Israel upon His flesh. He is Israel reduced to one. He is all humanity He is the Second Adam. But He is also the scapegoat, upon whom all our sins were laid, and is driven out into the wilderness.
And after fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. Satan pounces on this weakness. “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” If? Jesus had heard, just over a month prior, that He is the beloved Son of the Father who holds His heart. These words were pressed into His ears and have been the promise that have sustained Him these long forty days. He IS the Father’s Son. But as it was with Eve and as it is with you, Satan is trying to get Jesus to doubt God’s Word and promise. “If You are really the favored Son of God, why is He letting you starve out here in the wildness? Why has He abandoned you to hunger and thirst? If You created the world, why not feed Yourself right now?”
“Did God really say . . . ?” “Did God really say don’t look at those pictures? I’m not technically committing adultery.” “Did God really say don’t steal? The paper was free on line. I just borrowed a few paragraphs.” “Did God really say, honor your father and your mother? They’re so weird and have stupid rules.” “Did God really say defend your neighbor and speak well of him? He’s such a jerk.” You see. Its no different for you. Satan is the practitioner of a thousand arts, but the master of one. His trick is always the same. To get you to doubt God’s Word. To use your reason and senses to figure out what’s good and right. It’s called Enthusiasm, to presume that the Spirit of God speaks to you apart from His Word, and Luther says its the source of all heresy and sin.
Be careful, dear Christian, for the devil even tries to use Scripture against you. He twists it and misapplies it, trying to get Jesus to jump from the top of the Temple. Taking parts of Psalm 91, as you sang today, out of context. He tries to seduce Jesus with earthly fame and worldly goods by denying the heart and center of Sacred Scripture: the very Cross and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. His schemes and tricks are no different today. Maybe more sophisticated or more subtle, but its always about injecting doubt into God’s true and reliable Word.
Because he knows that it is the Word that fells him. This is the weapon wielded by Jesus in the wilderness. Not brute force or stunning wit, but the simple and true Word of God. It is written. It is written. It is written. Three temptations. Three Scriptural confessions. Jesus throws the Word of the Lord back into Satan’s face and each time he is defeated.
But what is the power of God’s Word? How shall it defeat the arch-enemy of His people? I know that you are weary and beaten down, dear Christians, that you are hounded by the old evil foe who now means deadly woe, but don’t read this temptation of Jesus as your example; that He defeated Satan and now stands on the sidelines cheering you on as you do battle against the devil. Don’t hear the temptation of Jesus apart from His Cross. Satan may have left Jesus and the angels came and were ministering to Him, but Matthew 4 is not the end of Satan’s barrage.
He left for a moment, but retuned again to take another stab. There’s no account of another direct face-off between Jesus and Satan in Scripture, per se, but consider the Cross. There Satan unleashes all of his venom. There he hides his assaults behind the words of the passers-by, the chief priests, the scribes and elders, even the robbers crucified with Him: You who would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. He saved others, He cannot save Himself! He is the King of Israel, let Him come down down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God; let God deliver Him now, if He desires Him. For He said, “I am the Son of God.” (Mt 27:40-43). Its all the same. Doubt the Word. Forgo the Cross. Do what you want.
But Satan’s defeat came around the ninth hour when Jesus cried out with a loud voice and yielded up His Spirit. St John records the words, It is finished (Jn 19:30). Don’t read the temptation of Jesus apart from that, lest it become some lesson in fighting off the devil’s cunning wiles. That’s not the Gospel. As awesome as that scene is - Satan fleeing from our Lord so early in His ministry - its not the end. Read it through the victory of the Cross. Then receive that victory as yours by faith in Christ.
On Wednesday you received those ashes on your forehead with the words, “Remember, O man, that thou art dust and unto dust shalt thou return.” Today you heard in the first reading the curse pronounced on Satan, On your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. Yikes! In our flesh and by our strength we are food for the devil.
I know you struggle and fight and pray. And the Word of God fends off the devil, but he’ll be back. He will always be back. Part of his deception is that he wants you to try and fight him off. He knows that you can’t win. He’s battle hungry. He wants the easy fight. He wants Jesus not to be your Savior, but your cheerleader, standing on the sidelines telling you that you can do it. Satan knows that’s the best way to beat you down.
Therefore trust the Word of God spoken to you in your Baptism. “You are My beloved child with whom I am well pleased.” There the Triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - gave you the victory over sin, death, and the devil. There the GodMan, who took up the dust of your flesh, stomps the head of the devil with His pierced heal for you.
The battle rages on in your life, each and every day, but the victory is won and yours by faith in Christ Jesus. It is as St Paul says to the Corinthians. It appears one way, with afflictions and hardships, calamities and hunger, through sleepless nights and dishonor, treated (and maybe evening feeling) like imposters, but the reality is something else altogether: as dying, yet behold, you live; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as having nothing, yet possessing everything!
In your daily struggle, dear Christians, you have your Baptism - His Name upon you - to which you return daily in repentance and faith. You have His absolution, the sweet declaration that your sins are forgiven in the Name of Jesus. You have His Supper, the very Body and Blood which already vanquished the foe. All of these come with the authority of His cruciform Word. And through these means you have not only the real strength you need in the fight, but also the very victory and Victor Himself.
Are you tired? Hungry? Thrown yourself down. Fall down and worship. Come eat of the Tree of Life with its fruits of Christ’s Body and Blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Here you dwell in the shelter of the Most High. Here He covers you with the pinions of His merciful Word and blessed Sacrament. Here is your refuge. Here the Lord satisfies you with long life and shows you His salvation. In your weakness, here is all the victory you need.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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