Text: Matthew 4:1-11

            Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  The temptation of Christ in the wilderness is, I think, one of the most interesting events in the life of Christ.  Here for the first time we openly see our Savior fight against and triumph over the devil, and his temporary victory in the wilderness leaves us with a foretaste of his final redemptive work.  But Christ’s fight and victory over the devil in the wilderness is not exactly what we would expect—for it is one that takes place through his own trial and suffering.

And the suffering in the wilderness that he endures is by no means an accident; instead it is the actual will of the Father, the very plan of salvation.  And it tells us a great deal about Christ’s coming journey to the cross and our salvation.  In this wilderness, we see the will of the Father in action for he is the one who sends the Spirit upon Jesus and it is the Holy Spirit who then drives Jesus into the wilderness for the express purpose of being tempted by the devil.  And there in that desolation and loneliness the words of the Father pronounced at Jesus’ Baptism, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” begin to find their fulfillment because here Christ temporarily overcomes the devil and defeats him at his own game.  And Jesus does this by fulfilling the law which we cannot and suffering its punishments which we deserve.  Both of these realities begin to take place in that lonely wilderness where Christ fought against the devil.

Just look at the first temptation of Jesus.  Here we see that Christ’s wandering in the wilderness strikes hunger upon him, a real hunger which causes suffering.  Such a scene in the wilderness draws to mind the ancient Israelites as they once wandered in the wilderness during the Exodus.  They too were hungry and were tempted in the midst of that suffering to cry out against the Lord.  They were tempted to turn their hearts away from the Lord and set their minds upon Egypt with its provisions.  In the same way, the devil comes to Christ and tries to tempt him just like he did the Israelites to desert the Lord in search of his own bread.  While the Israelites could have returned to Egypt and fed themselves, Jesus only needed to use his divine power to turn desert stones into bread and thereby feed himself without trusting in the Lord.

But unlike the ancient Israelites, Jesus will not do this terrible thing.  He will not serve his own desires even in the midst of great hunger and suffering, because unlike the unfaithful sons of Israel, Jesus is the faithful Son of God.  He will not succumb to the devil’s temptation to use his own powers to serve himself.  He will not doubt the good and gracious will of his Father even when his situation appears to justify grievances against the Lord.  No, Christ truly is pleasing to the Father because he will not abandon the Word of the Lord.  He will not falter like the children of Israel did.

But what about our own sins and temptations, where do we find ourselves in the wilderness of our own life?  I think, the third temptation of Christ seems to speak directly to many of the temptations and trials we face.  Here the devil takes Jesus to a very high mountain and shows him the kingdoms of the earth, and then he turns to Christ and says, “all these things I will give to you, if you fall down and worship me.”  What would we do if such a question were posed to us?  Indeed, how many times everyday does the devil come to us and tempt us to abandon the Lord and his paths for the kingdoms of this world.  We are tempted to wholeheartedly trust in mammon, to seek after glory in the eyes of men—even at the expense of our neighbor.  We constantly want to rule over others whenever and wherever we can, whether it be at work, at home, or in the church.  Oh how the devil often comes to us and whispers in our ears, worship me and I will give you everything, turn your back to the Lord, smite your neighbor, and the kingdoms of this world shall be yours.  And sometimes it seems that if we possessed the kingdom of this world, if we possessed enough money or fame all of our sufferings would pass away.  And I think its likely that we would all prefer to be free from suffering in this life.  Oh how easy it is for us to succumb to such trickery, and all too often we do.

And yet for Christ, he cannot succumb.  There is only one Lord for him and though suffering he may be, Jesus replies to the devil, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”  For Christ, there is no other way than the way of the Lord; no other riches besides those that are found in the Father’s good and gracious will.  And for this reason, Jesus knows that even the temptations he faces in the wilderness are truly pleasing in the sight of his Father because his will is always best.  And through his submission to these sufferings, Jesus shows the Father and us that the devil and his schemes are no match for the Son of God.  Whatever power the devil seems to possess is really no power at all before the Son, and the kingdom with all its riches that he offers is not even a reflection of the kingdom of God and all its riches.  And at Christ’s rejection of the devil, Satan truly is vanquished and must flee from the Savior.

So, this Lenten season as we ponder the meaning of Jesus’ wilderness wanderings, as we travel with our Lord to the cross of our redemption, and as we repent of our own sins and failures—these temptations and sufferings of Jesus remind us that we are not alone in the midst of our own trials and sufferings.  In those times, indeed throughout the whole course of our lives, with us and for us stands Jesus our Savior who today shows us from his own trials with the devil that no temptation or suffering is too great for him.  Through his own trials and temptations, through his own sufferings at the hands of the devil, he allows us to see our own hope because the devil himself in all his might cannot defeat our suffering Savior.

And this means for us that when we are dragged down by the guilt of our own sins, when the devil seems to overrun us in pain and agony, and at those times when everything seems lost, Christ is there for us because he too has suffered at the hands of the devil.  The only difference is that unlike us, he cannot stumble.  By virtue of his fight with the devil and by his wilderness victory, which points to the final defeat of the devil on the cross, Jesus leaves us with hope in the midst of the many trials and sufferings we face in this life.  He knows that we cannot defeat the devil by our own powers or good works.  He knows the weakness of our nature and how often we will submit to the temptations of the devil.  But here we see from Jesus’ own struggle with the devil that he has actually overcome the devil for us.  For Christ did not go out into the wilderness for his own benefit but as the Father willed him for the benefit of others.

For this reason, because Christ stands with us and for us there is actually no temptation we face which is too great.  We may not be able to defeat the devil and his temptations as Jesus did, but we can be certain that all our temptations have already been defeated in Christ’s victory over the devil, a victory fought out in the wilderness and one which will have its culmination in the death of Jesus.

In Jesus Name.

Amen.

          Vicar Taylor