Lent 1 – February 22nd,
2015 – Matthew 4
In the Name of Christ the Crucified +
In the Name of Christ the Crucified +
It sounds really strange to say, but I love Lent. No, this isn’t because I love fasting or
self-denial or any of the things that we may end up doing in Lent. I love what Lent is right there in that
Lectern, what Lent is in this pulpit.
While so often we think of the season of Lent as the season of *our*
repentance, *our* giving something up – something else takes the focus on
Sunday mornings. Lent is the season
where Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior, takes the battle to Satan. Throughout these next six weeks we will see
Jesus systematically destroy and break Satan’s power and authority. There’s a reason why a Mighty Fortress is the
Hymn of the Day for the first Sunday in Lent – because what we see this whole
season is “But for us fights the Valiant One, Whom God Himself elected.” It’s why in a few weeks we’ll end the 5th
Sunday in Lent singing “Sing My Tongue the Glorious Battle.”
In Lent we see that war is declared, and battle come down, that as the
head of the Serpent was prophesized to be crushed, so it is.
And it begins in a desert.
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted
by the Devil. And after fasting forty
days and forty nights, He was hungry.”
Given how little rain and snow we’ve gotten, we don’t like any mention
of desert. But for the Jewish folks, the
desert, the wilderness beyond the Jordan – that was a place they
hated, they feared. That was the place
they suffered for 40 years when they disobeyed God and Moses. It was the reminder of the fall – The Garden
in which God had put Adam and Eve was off yonder east – now become a desert
with scorching heat and wild, feral beasts.
The wilderness was the place of sin and punishment and death. The Wilderness was the emblem of all of
Satan’s power – it was Satan’s domain.
And Jesus, in the previous verses, has just been Baptized, has just
taken His place with us fallen men. And
so, there He goes – right away. God
sends His army of One off into the wilderness, the place where so many men and
women had fallen dead, where even Moses died – off to do battle against
Satan. And Jesus fasts, and is weakened.
“And the Tempter came and said to Him, ‘If you are the Son of God,
command these stones to become loaves of bread.’” Of course the Tempter comes – that is what
Satan does. He tempted Adam and Eve – of
course he will tempt Christ Jesus, the New Adam. And in the Garden, the temptation was to get
Adam and Eve to try to usurp God’s place.
Eat this fruit and you will be “like God”. Don’t be content to be God’s creation, don’t
be content to receive blessings from God – take charge, take over! And it worked then. The Garden crumbled, the flood swept its
remains away, and now – wilderness, and men and women who die. And so Satan recycles – he whips out the same
sort of temptation. When Satan says, “if
you are the Son of God” it’s not a statement of doubt that Jesus is the Son of
God… it’s a statement of disbelief that Jesus would suffer so. You are the Son of God, you can make bread, good
grief, go feed yourself. It would almost
be like me seeing one of you standing hungry with a fridge full of food, “If
you’ve got a fridge filled with T-bones and Barbecue, don’t stand there hungry,
fix something.”
Fix yourself bread, Jesus.
Did you note the insult Satan throws there? Adam and Eve weren’t created to eat
bread. They had all of the trees of the
garden but one to eat. No, bread comes
after the fall. Bread is the food that
Adam will wrest from the ground after working the crops, that Eve will have to
grind and mill and kneed and cook. No
more just plucking the low hanging fruit – now you’re going to work for your
supper, for your bread. Go on Jesus,
since You’re taking your place with the sinners – satisfy Your stomach with the
sinners’ food – turn this stone to bread.
“But He answered, ‘It is written – Man shall not live on bread alone,
but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” No, Satan, let’s get one thing straight. I’m not here to serve Myself, to serve My
Belly. I am here to see that Man, that
My Adam and My Eve and My Abraham and My Jacob and My Moses and all of My
Saints live – and they will live because of Me, because I am the Word of God,
come to fulfill that Word spoken to you in the Garden about your own
defeat. I am going to suffer and die, I
will have my heel bruised – and you will be crushed, and they will live.
So Satan changes tactics a bit. “Then the Devil took Him to the holy city
and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, ‘If you are the Son
of God, throw yourself down, for it is written – He will command His angels
concerning you – and – On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike
your foot against a stone.’” Okay,
Jesus – I get that you don’t want to eat bread from a stone. Fine.
You’re the Messiah; I can accept that.
But if you’ve got it, flaunt it.
Why be revealed to just a bunch of poor miserable scum out by the river
Jordan when You could hop right this roof, and everyone would see the Angels
coming to rescue You, and You’d be lauded and welcomed and recognized for who
You are. There’s the temptation. Think on how often the Scriptures describe
the Messiah as the Suffering Servant, the One who is abused by His own
people. That’s now Jesus saves us – by
going to the Cross, by His Suffering and Death.
And Satan is offering another path – and Jesus smacks Him down. “Jesus said to him, ‘Again, it is written –
You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” No, I’m not here to make My Father or the
angels jump through hoops. If I wanted,
I could summon forth legions of angels right now, even without jumping. But I’m not, because the point isn’t getting
My way, or making My life easy, it is to save My people. That’s what My Father has commanded, and
that’s what I’m going to do.
And now, Satan begins to panic a bit. This is strange. Temptations given by the Tempter tend to
work. And so Satan acts in desperation. “Again, the Devil took Him to a very high
mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these I will give
you, if you will fall down and worship me.’” Satan knows defeat is coming, knows that a
foe he can’t beat is coming. And so he
tries to cut a deal. Alright Jesus, you
can destroy my kingdom, I can accept that.
Let’s deal. I will let You have
all this world, all these people – but just let it be on my terms, let me be
the top dog – and You can do with them whatever You want. It’s so much easier my way, and it basically
gets You everything thing You want. And
Jesus will have none of it. “Then
Jesus said to him, ‘Be gone, Satan! For it is written – You shall worship the
Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.” And with those words something happens that
had never, ever happened before in the history of mankind. A man, a human being, of flesh and blood –
stood up to every single one of Satan’s temptations. Adam, Eve.
They didn’t. Nor did Cain or
Abraham or Moses or David or any of them.
Satan had always been able to get them to mess up, to dance to his own
tune. Whether it was anger or slipping
wickedness in under the best of intentions or corrupting with power – something
had always worked. And now, there stands
Christ Jesus, True God but also True Man – a Man Satan can’t lure into
sin. And then, Satan does the only thing
he can. He flees in terror. It will be war, and Satan will regroup, he
will marshal his demons, he will send his false prophets, he will stir up
hatred. He will fight. But for us stands, unmoved, the Valiant One –
Christ Jesus. In our place. For just as Adam and Eve and Abraham and
Moses and all the others gave into temptation, so too do we. We are frail, miserable sinners. With might of ours could naught be done. And so there stands Christ, in our place,
fighting the battle we couldn’t.
And so now, what does Christ do for us today? He knows.
He knows how Satan still hounds you, He knows that the Serpent is bound
and bruised – but still has his little season until the Last Day when he will
finally be thrown into the lake of fire will all his demons. So what does Christ do for you today?
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from
the mouth of God.” Do you
see? This verse isn’t just a bit of
pious chit chat – this verse describes the reality of this place, of the
Church, of worship, of the Divine Service.
We don’t live just by bread alone, by our toils out there in the world,
by the sweat of our brow. No, to live, and
live forever, we are gathered here, where Christ Jesus comes to us in His
Word. Indeed, here, at this altar where
He takes bread, the reminder of our sin, and makes it to be His own Body, given
for you, to take away your sin. The food
of our shame is become the very medicine of immortality. Do you see?
What does Christ do for you today? “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not put
the Lord your God to the test.’”
Do you see? We sin, we seek and
crave glory, we put God to the test over and over – and so Christ Jesus calls
us here to this place, to His House which will be a House of Prayer. And He bids us pray “Lead us not into
temptation.” He knows our struggles, He
knows what life is like out there in the world, with Sin and Satan bugging and
tempting us all the time – and so He gathers us, and He has us pray. We pray over and over in this service – Lord
have mercy. Hear our pray. Lead us not into temptation. Think on all the times in the Gospel where
Jesus has the disciples pray – because He knows we need prayer, that we need
God to strengthen us – so He gathers us and prays for us and prays with us;
Indeed, He intercedes for us constantly before the Father. They are not putting You to the test, Father
– for they are Mine, and I am with them and forgiven them, and the Spirit
intercedes for them with groanings too deep for words. Do you see?
What does Christ do for you today? “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “You
shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.’” Do you see?
You are the baptized. You belong
to God, not to Satan. In fact, every one
of you has undergone an exorcism – that is what Baptism is. In fact, in Luther’s baptismal rite, Luther
has us spell it out – “Depart, o unclean spirit, and make way for the Holy
Spirit.” Be gone, Satan. You no longer belong to Satan. You no longer belong to sin. You no longer belong to death. They may pester you, they may hound you. But you aren’t theirs. You belong to Christ Jesus, and You will
worship the Lord your God for all eternity, and you will serve Him alone for
all eternity – for you belong to Christ.
He has died and risen for you, He has fought all the battles that need
be fought for you, and even though you die, yet shall you live, Risen again
unto life everlasting. God make us ever
to see and know this more and more, even unto everlasting life. In the Name of Christ… +
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