February 21-Lent 1-St. Luke 4:1-13

‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’ (Ps. 19:14) Amen.

‘Grace, mercy and peace will be with you, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.’ (2 John 3) Amen.

‘And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.’ (Vv. 1, 2)

As we read the several accounts in the Gospels of the temptation of Jesus, we learn something about the devil, our adversary. This is nothing new; we know this about the devil from our own experience. The difference in this case is how Jesus responds to the tempter’s working against Him.

Our adversary, the devil, is a clever debater. If you grant him one false premise, he will then run with that opening. He will draw thousands of false deductions, that is conclusions, from it[1]. Notice what Jesus does here. He does not seek to argue with the devil.

Instead, Jesus simply quotes from the fifth book of Moses each time, Deuteronomy. That is Jesus only and always combats the devil with Scripture. He gives you a picture here of how you should combat the attacks of Satan.

Luther gives the same advice. He tells us when the devil comes around and tries to tempt us to doubt our Savior or fall away from the faith, we are told not to disagree or argue. Dr. Luther’s advice is very simple. He instructs you to respond in this way. “Yes, devil, you are right. I am a poor miserable sinner. However, I am baptized my heavenly Father has granted me forgiveness for Jesus’ sake. I now belong to Jesus and you cannot snatch me away (St. John 10:28-29). Now be gone!”

Notice that this advice does not say argue with Satan? It is good advice. Luther is simply telling you the same thing that Jesus your Savior tells you in this account from Luke’s Gospel. When the devil comes and tells the very hungry Jesus to command some of the stones to turn into bread, this was a very real temptation. In His human-ness, Jesus would have been sorely tempted to do exactly this. He had eaten nothing for forty days. This was a real temptation.

Again, the devil tempts Jesus to fall down and worship the devil in order to gain power and prestige in this world. These are temptations that we can all relate to. This is probably why the Holy Spirit picks out these three as a sort of summing up of all the temptations that Jesus was attacked with. These are very familiar temptation for all of us.

Even if you have never been tempted with world domination, you can relate. It would be nice to be in charge. We all like to act as arm-chair politicians and criticize those in power, whatever their political party may be. We tend to assume that the grass is greener over in some other yard than it is in ours. We all have been hungry in our lives. Each of you has been hungry in your lives. Very likely we have all had opportunity to be tempted to take food that is not ours in order to satisfy that hunger.

Yet, that first temptation is not simply one of satisfying physical hunger. Though that surely would have been in the mix. No. There is more involved in Satan’s temptation. Jesus, during that time of fasting, was focused on prayer and communion with His heavenly Father. Jesus was doing what we can all do. In your case or mine, we read a devotion and some Scripture passages, we pray for ourselves for others and for all the world. This is what Jesus was doing when the devil comes and interrupts Him. So it makes sense that Jesus answers the way that He does. ‘The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”’ (Vv. 3, 4)

The devil is seeking to tempt Jesus away from trust in the Father. It is the same temptation that you face. The devil says to Jesus, “If…” It is that “if” which is the catch. It carries with it all the freight of doubt that it did when the devil tempted Eve. He is trying to sow that little seed of doubt in Jesus’ mind. The devil is actually doing here the same thing that the Pharisees and the people of Nazareth (see St. Luke 4:23) and others would later also try. The devil is saying, “If, you are really God’s son, perform for me! Perform a miracle and then I will believe”.

In Jesus’ response, from Deuteronomy 8:3, we are reminded of the Manna that the Israelites were given. The words that Jesus quotes are the teaching of the Israelites that the bread from heaven was given by the power of God’s word. The Israelites in the form of manna were really being fed on the word of God. This response reminds us of the words of Dr. Luther’s great hymn: ‘one little word can fell him’ (TLH 262).

It is this way of responding to temptation that you also can use to combat the devil and your own sinful flesh. We can all respond to temptation with God’s word. ‘And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I will give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”’ (Vv. 5-8)

As if the devil had not already done this, in this temptation the devil clearly reveals what he really is. This temptation reveals the devil as the liar that he is (St. John 8:44). This is like a second of time or a single tick of the clock. The panorama that the devil shows Jesus is a moment a great feat of imagination, a mental satanic “movie” performance[2]. As we know, God has allowed to the devil a “little season” to tempt and be in control of this earth. Yet, it is not as the devil would have us believe. This power is not his by right. It is his because the Father has allowed it for this time (St. John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). This power and authority that he tries to say to Jesus, and you, that he has are false. The devil does not really have the power to give control of the kingdoms of the world to whom he will. That power has always and will only belong to God. What the devil is trying to do here is a bald and obvious lie. What he tries to claim he has authority to give to Jesus is not his to give. Again, this is a real temptation for Jesus. After all, this triumph and rule of all the world would have provided an easier route than the way which led to the cross and sufferings. It would not have been a real victory or triumph though. Jesus would have been the slave of Satan by this so-called “easy” route. It would have been a lie.

The devil tries to do this with you and me. He may not take you to a high mountain and show you all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. The devil will try to draw you into a pact with him. He will try to get you to put your trust in him, or in money, or in ambition, or in some one or thing other than the Triune God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He will try to get you to break the first commandment: ‘ “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”[see Deut. 6:3]’ (V. 8)

‘And he took him to Jerusalem and set him up on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down form here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”’ (Vv. 9-12)

Again, the devil puts Jesus’ trust in the Father to the test. In the first temptation, he had called Jesus’ trust into question. Here he puts that trust to the test. As we saw from the Introit, this Psalm has to do with trust in God’s loving care. Satan misapplies this Psalm and twists it to mean presumptuous trust and reliance on God[3]. The devil wants Jesus to put that trust to the test, but Jesus in His answer points out, again from Deuteronomy (6:13), that testing is not trusting.

Often times, when we are trusting in God to care for our needs and provide for us, it does not happen on the timetable we have. We often are tempted to demand of God that He care for us rather than patiently waiting on His promise (see Exodus 17:7). It may be an illness, the raising of children, work, or just one season of life or other that is dragging on beyond what you or I think it should[4].

So, you and I are tempted not to trust our heavenly Father to provide what it is that we need. We demand as the Israelites did when they demanded water of God rather than waiting patently for Him to provide according to His promise. Again, when we find ourselves demanding something from God. Remind yourself that you are baptized. Because of that your Father will provide what you need. May it be comfort. May it be food and shelter. May it be whatever.

‘And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.’ (V. 13) The final words from Luke’s account of the temptation of our Lord are very instructive. Here the Holy Spirit points out that this temptation did not end here, rather it became more subtle. It is the same way for you and me. We may go through a season of great temptation, but it never ends as long as we are in this life. The devil and his angels only go away and watch for an opportune time. In Jesus’ case, we know of at least one other opportune time the Garden of Gethsemane. At the arrest of your Savior, at that most trying of times, the devil returns.

When the devil returns to tempt you it is still true that you now belong to your Father in heaven through the promise of your baptism. You have now been made a son of God (Galatians 4:4-7) and nothing can snatch you from the Father’s hand (St. John 10:28-29). Amen.

In Jesus’+ Name. Amen.

[1] Encyclopedia of Sermon Illustrations, p. 60, entry #246.
[2] Word Pictures in the New Testament, vol. II, p. 50.
[3] Word Pictures in the New Testament, vol. II p. 52.
[4] Sermon Studies on the Gospels, Series C, NPH. p. 126.