In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
You are not alone in suffering temptation. Saint Peter writes be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. King David may have been tempted to “cut and run” before facing Goliath. Rather than fighting him with weapons and armor made for men much larger than him, David chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. What would five smooth stones and a sling do against an almost nine feet tall giant? Where you see something impossible, God sees something possible. Yet our sin-sickened reason trusts in what is seen rather than what is not seen.
Satan tries to point Jesus toward fleshly things in order to trick Him into hearkening to the false word of darkness. Even the most inhumane torturer would allow a person to eat something after a while. Jesus did not eat much, if anything, after forty days in the wilderness. Lesser men would take the opportunity to command stones to become bread merely by speaking the word.
Standing on the pinnacle of the temple and being told to throw yourself off because angels would catch you is a tempting proposition. Blessed Martin Luther’s Small Catechism teaches us to pray every morning and evening let Your holy angels be with me that the evil foe may have no power over me. However, Satan purposely misquotes Holy Scripture to try to gain an advantage over our Lord. What sounds like light from above is actually darkness from below.
Satan then has the nerve to tell the Son of God to bow down and worship him. Satan has already taken the world captive to death. He might as well go for broke and drag Jesus with him. It seems the whole world worships their own god. Why not confirm the obvious by joining the idolatrous millions?
If you stood in Christ’s place, the battle would be over before it begins. You would scream at stones, jump for joy, and fall down in order to let Satan run roughshod over you. It’s much easier to let him win rather than fight the good fight. You cannot win the victory over sin and temptation. Repent of your notion that you can fight the battle against the evil foe by yourself.
A moment ago, we sang the so-called “Battle Hymn of the Reformation”. We are so used to hearing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” at the end of October that hearing it at the beginning of Lent might be strange. Nevertheless, there is no better hymn to sing on the First Sunday in Lent. Consider the second stanza:
With might of ours can naught be done,
Soon were our loss effected;
But for us fights the valiant One,
Whom God Himself elected.
Ask ye, Who is this?
Jesus Christ it is,
Of Sabaoth Lord,
And there’s none other God;
He holds the field forever.
Matthew chapter four is not about how Jesus gives you the strength to overcome temptation. If that were so, then why bother singing this hymn? Why bother preaching Christ’s victory over Satan? You could do it all! May it never be so! Matthew chapter four is instead about the valiant One Whom God Himself elected to fight Satan face-to-face not using five smooth stones and a sling. He fights Satan with the Word of God, beating down Satan under His feet.
The author to the Hebrews writes we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Unlike Adam, unlike David, unlike any other human being that has ever lived, is living now, or will live before Christ’s return, Jesus Christ resists temptation by speaking the Word that can never die. Three passages of Holy Scripture spoken in the right place at the right time undo the dirty deed Satan pulled on our first parents. Satan’s lies are ultimately undone when Jesus rises from the tomb as triumphant Lord of heaven and earth. Our Lord’s death buys you back from the devil. His resurrection paves the way for your resurrection when He returns to throw Satan and those who follow him into the burning lake of fire.
These things shall come to pass, just as today’s Chief Hymn says:
Though devils all the world should fill,
All eager to devour us,
We tremble not, we fear no ill;
They shall not overpower us.
This world’s prince may still
Scowl fierce as he will,
He can harm us none.
He’s judged; the deed is done;
One little word can fell him.
It’s often been debated what is that one little word Blessed Martin Luther mentions. Perhaps that word is “liar”. When [Satan] speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. Everything that comes out of his mouth in Matthew chapter four is a lie. Jesus counters his lies with truth. Our heavenly Father’s Word is Truth. His Word declares you forgiven. Your sin is pardoned in Christ’s atoning blood. Even if the devil and the world took everything you have, they have nothing. The Kingdom is yours because of Jesus Christ. He holds the field forever. He triumphs over Satan for you in order that your journey through life, though marked with temptations, will be a journey not taken alone. Jesus and His holy angels walk with you, delivering you from every evil and, at the last, graciously taking you from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
