Wednesday after Invocavit + Luke 10:38-11:13 + February 21, 2018
On
Sunday St. Matthew told us once again how our Lord Jesus Christ defeated the
devil’s temptations in the wilderness. This is important for us to hear every
year, so that the Holy Spirit can remind us that we are in a great battle in
this life. The Son of God assumed human flesh, just like yours and mines,
except without sin, and was tempted like a flesh and blood man. But this is not
written so that we only know we have a Savior who can sympathize with us,
though that is a wonderful comfort. The temptation of Jesus was put into
writing to teach us that although we are beset by all sorts of temptations
every day, we have the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. When we believe
the Gospel, that Christ has died to make full satisfaction for our sins, all of
our sins are forgiven and we are given Christ’s perfect righteousness and
merits. Not only are we declared to be righteous, we are declared to be
victorious over the devil, since that is one of Jesus’ merits. This too is a
wonderful comfort in the hour of temptation, that our Lord has already defeated
the devil. No matter how impervious he appears, no matter how impenetrable his
temptations seem, the devil has already been defeated by Christ. And you are in
Christ by faith. Therefore Christ has defeated the devil for you.
Now
He wants to defeat the devil in you. Christ does not want you to remain in your
sin. He wants you to cast it off, fight against it, and strive to be rid of it.
You won’t achieve this, of course, because though forgiven, you still have the
sinful nature. Christ will accomplish it entirely on the Last Day when He
raises you up from the grave with a glorious, incorruptible body. But until
that day Christ wants to fight and defeat the devil in you. On Sunday we heard
how Christ did this when He was tempted. He relied solely upon God’s Word. You
can either listen to the Word of God or the word of the devil, and in this way
Christ becomes a pattern for us whom He has made into sons of God through
baptism and faith.
But
you can’t rely upon the Word if you don’t know the Word. And you can’t know the
Word unless you hear the Word. This brings us to Mary, sitting at Jesus’ feet,
while her sister Martha is doing all the housework. I think we can all relate
to this sort of thing, whether we have siblings or not. There is work to be
done. There is always one who does the work. And there is one who knows how to
get out of the work. Martha is the first. She’s doing the work of serving.
She’s preparing the meal. Mary is the second. She’s found a way of getting out
of the housework. At least that’s the way Martha sees it. But Mary isn’t
entertaining. She is listening. She is hearing. She “sat at Jesus feet and heard His Word.” This is what Jesus wants
both of them to be doing. Dinner preparations are no problem for Jesus. How
often did He feed multitudes in the wilderness with only a few loaves and some
small fish? He doesn’t assume flesh to be served, especially not supper. He
comes to teach God’s Word. He will tell a crowd at the end of the next chapter,
“Blessed are those who hear the word of
God and keep it!” Hearing the Word is the good part. Hearing the Word is
the “one thing needed.” Don’t worry so much about the things of this life,
they’ll still be there later.
Instead,
hear the Word of the Lord. Read it. Mark. Learning it. Inwardly digest it by
thinking it over, committing it to memory, yes, even if your memory isn’t worth
much, commit to memory nonetheless. The Holy Spirit works through the Word
implanted in your heart by preaching and reading and memorizing it. In the hour
of temptation, whatever temptation is specifically yours, the Holy Spirit will
bring that to mind, especially if you’ve dwelt on it and gave it some good
thing thinking. Are you tempted to worry for the future? Jesus tells you in
Matthew 6:32 not to worry “For your
heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” Are you tempted to
covet your neighbor’s possessions or lifestyle? Hebrews 13:5 says, “Let your conduct be without covetousness;
be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never
leave you nor forsake you.” Lust. Greed. Ambition. Discontent. Resentment.
The Word is filled with words about these sins, and not just commandments
against them, but positive remedies against all the sins we face. Christ sets
the example of Mary before our eyes today. He isn’t so much concerned with our
hustling and bustling. He wants us to pick the better part.
He
arms us with the Word. He also arms us with prayer, specifically the Our
Father. He teaches us to pray against the devil. Not just “lead us not into
temptation.” But “Hallowed be Thy name.” Why? Because Satan does not want God’s
word to be kept pure. Nor does he want us to live holy lives according to God’s
Word. “Thy kingdom come,” because the kingdom of the devil fights against God’s
kingdom to tear it down and push it back. But God’s kingdom comes whenever we
hear the Word and believe His Word and rejoice in it. “Thy will be done,”
because the will of the devil is to tear us away from God’s Word, away from
faith, and lead us into sin and then presumption and then despair. But God’s
will is that the will of the devil be broken and hindered, just what Christ did
to the devil in the wilderness! Christ teaches us to pray this prayer, not as a
generic prayer, nor as a placeholder, but as a prayer against the work of the
devil in our world, in our church, and in our lives. “Lead us not into
temptation” is just a reiteration of the first three petitions of the Our
Father, in all these we’re praying against the devil, and for the strengthening
of our faith in the Word and Promises of God.
And
Christ promises that the Our Father
who art in heaven will hear and give us precisely what is good for us. He will
not give you an inedible stone instead of bread. He will not give you a
venomous serpent instead of an egg. He is a good and gracious Father to all who
trust in Christ’s work for them. He promises to give you all things that are
good for you, in a manner that is truly good for you. Not only this, but He promises
to give you what you need most for this life lived in the midst of temptation
and trial: the Holy Spirit. “How much
more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask?” That
is what we’re praying for in the Our Father. We cannot keep God’s name or His
Word holy without the Holy Spirit. The kingdom comes “when our heavenly Father
gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and
lead a godly life here in time and yonder in eternity.” God’s will is done when
He keeps us in His Word, the good part that Mary chose, learning it, committing
it to memory, and treasuring it so that it can comfort us and fortify us for
times of temptation. May the Lord grant this to us all, to hear God’s Word so
that it sticks to our ribs, to pray to Him daily for all the we need, including
the Holy Spirit, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit Christ may begin to
defeat the devil in us in our daily temptations, even as He has already
defeated him for us in the wilderness and upon the cross. Go in peace, dear
children of God.
In
the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.