Invocavit, the 1st Sunday in Lent + Matthew 4:1-11
In
the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
The
Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. It’s hard to
imagine anything more audacious than this. God the Son becomes a flesh and
blood man, like us in every way except He is without sin, and the devil has no
problem setting his sights on Him. The tempter waits until Jesus has fasted
forty days. The devil knows the weakness of the flesh, especially when the
flesh is hungry. This audacity didn’t end when Jesus sent the devil away,
either. This was just the opening skirmish. St. Luke writes “when the devil
had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13).
Defeated for the moment, the devil never sleeps. He tempted Christ throughout
the days of humiliation. After the first time Jesus teaches His disciples about
His suffering, death, and resurrection, Peter rebukes Jesus. “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not
happen to you!” Peter exclaims (Matt.
16:22). Jesus sees Peters concern for what it is, the devil’s temptation to
abandon hardship, suffering, and cross, so He says, “Get behind Me,
Satan! You are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God,
but the things of men” (Matt. 16:23).
Even on the cross, Satan tempts Jesus with language similar to what we hear
today. “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross”
(Matt. 27:40).
As the
devil attacked Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God in human flesh, so he
attacks you. He tempts you with the same vim and vigor because you belong to Christ. Paul says, “You are the body of Christ, and members individually” (1 Cor. 12:27). If the devil attacked the Head he
will most certainly attack the members of the body. “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26). If
the devil attacked the only-begotten Son of the Father, who is of the same
substance with God the Father, he will most certainly maliciously attack those
who are sons of God by adoption. And as Christ was tempted, not just once, but
regularly, by the devil, through all sorts of wicked schemes and even through
the voice of others, so you must be tempted not just once, but regularly. The words
of Sirach, though not inspired by the Holy Ghost, are nonetheless true: “My son, if thou come to serve the Lord,
prepare thy soul for temptation” (Sirach
2:1). Don’t think that temptation will go away as you grow in faith. Don’t
imagine that temptation to sin will grow cold as you mature in Christ’s Word.
The opposite is true. As temptation was part of life for Christ, so it will be
for those who trust in Him and take up their crosses and follow Him.
So we share in this with Christ, the Head of the
body. Or rather, He shares in our temptations, for the three temptations Satan
wields against our Lord are the three types of temptations which daily assail
us. The first temptation is doubt. “If you are the Son of God, command that
these stones become bread.” This is more than temptation to fill the belly.
The devil tempts Jesus to doubt the Father’s Word and His goodness. The devil
approached Jesus after His baptism by John, when the heavens opened so that the
Holy Spirit came down on Jesus in the form of a dove and God the Father said, “This is My beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). The devil’s word invites Jesus
to doubt the Word spoken by the Father. “If you are the beloved Son of God, why
do you suffer like this? If God your Father is well pleased with you, why isn’t
your life better?” Turn stones into bread because God the Father isn’t
providing for you. Do it yourself.”
It’s just another rendition of what the devil said
to Eve in the Garden. “Did God really say?” But this is how so many of
Satan’s temptations go. God gives us His very words in Scripture. He makes all
sorts of promises to us and faith believes those promises. But the devil shoots
his fiery darts and invites us to doubt that God’s promises aren’t really true,
that He doesn’t really mean what He says. “Did God really say He’d give you
daily bread? Did God really say your sins are forgiven simply by believing in
the merits and death of Jesus? Did God really say He will never leave you nor
forsake you?” The devil attacks Jesus with doubt in the Word and Jesus defeats
the temptation by doubling down with the Word. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Not only is the word true, but
the Word of God is our source of life, so that even if there were no daily
bread, we’d still have all we need.
The second temptation is presumption. The devil uses
the Scriptures against Jesus since Jesus has relied upon them. “Throw yourself
down from here, because God’s promised that you don’t dash your foot against a
stone. Put God to the test.” So we are tempted to put God to the test when we
want Him to do something that’s not necessary, or when we want Him to do
something He hasn’t promised to do in His Word. The Psalm Satan quotes says
that God will protect the one who trusts in Him. That one He will deliver from
trouble. That doesn’t mean we should put ourselves in harm’s way, expecting
that God will protect us from evil that we willingly walk into. Christ defeats
this temptation first, by seeing it for what it is. Just because someone quotes
Scripture doesn’t mean they’re using it correctly. He then explains, “You
shall not tempt the Lord your God.”
Then comes the last temptation: apostasy. It sounds
like an exaggeration. “Fall down and worship me and I will give you all the
kingdoms of the world.” But you know this temptation much better than you
think. The devil doesn’t necessarily promise you all the kingdoms of the world,
but he does offer you comfort and ease in this world. Confessing Christ is a
lonely proposition in our day. Confessing the Gospel and Christ’s doctrine in
all its purity is an even lonelier position. The world hates Christ and most of
what calls itself church today hates God’s Word and His true doctrine,
preferring lies to the pure doctrine of the gospel. The temptation is to
compromise with the world and the false church. If you just give an inch,
you’ll get along so much better in the world and with the rest of visible
Christendom. If you compromise on doctrine, even in the slightest bit, you can
have bigger buildings, bigger budgets, and bigger crowds. All Satan wants in
return is compromise. But it is written, “You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you
shall serve” (Matt. 4:10). Neither are we, members of Christ’s body, to
compromise on Christ’s doctrine, since we do not live by bread alone, but by
every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Like your Lord, you are beset by temptation every
day. But look to Christ. He defeats the devil by using the Word of God
according to its plain sense and in faith. And His victory is not His alone.
His victory over the devil is yours by faith because Christ gives all He earns
to those who trust in Him. When you are tempted to doubt God’s Word, to
presumptuousness, and to compromise with the world, remember the Lord’s promise
to provide an escape, which is faith in His Word. Don’t fear when temptations
come. View them as signs that you are God’s beloved children through baptism
because the devil only tempts those who belong to Christ by faith. And should
you falter and fall to the devil’s schemes, do not then fall to the temptation
to despair on account of your sins, but rise in repentance and trust His
promise to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Christ’s
victory over the devil is yours by faith. Know the devil’s schemes. But know
the Word of God all the more and meditate upon it, for man does not live by
bread alone.
In
the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.