In the Name of Jesus
Matthew 4,1-11 (Mark 1, 12-13; Luke 4,1-13)
Invocavit (1. Sonntag der Passionszeit) „He will call“
Euphrasia, Virgin in Egypt, † 410
13. March 2011
1. O Jesus, Faithful Savior, who once for us fought a difficult, grueling battle, behold, we are now assembled to consider it from Your Precious Word. Let it be to the salvation of our bodies and souls; let Your believers among us be mightily strengthened by it in their faith, but let no one among us leave here who is not mightily awakened to embrace You in faith. O Dearest Lord Jesus, You alone know how many still lie enslaved in the power of darkness. O rise up and fight also now for these lives. Make the dead living, raise the fallen, make the despondent happy, give the faint courage and zeal, and also today conquer again among us through Your Word. Your shall be the glory, O Jesus always and eternally (Walther 42). Amen.
2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Gospel according to St. Matthew where the holy evangelist writes: 1Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2And after fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. 3And the tempter came and said to Him, „If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.“ 4But He answered, „It is written, »Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.«“ 5Then the devil took Him to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple 6and said to Him, „If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, »He will command His angels concerning you,« and »On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.«“ 7Jesus said to him, „Again it is written, »You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.«“ 8Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9And he said to Him, „All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10Then Jesus said to him, „Be gone, Satan! For it is written, »You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.«“ 11Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to Him. This is our text.
3. When Jesus was baptized, His heavenly Father spoke from heaven: „This is My beloved Son, in whom I am pleased. “ Immediately after this, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Jesus had arrived vicariously for the nation of Israel, to be in its place and to repeat its history (Gibbs 193). When Israel went into the desert under Moses, God tested the people for faith and righteousness (Gibbs 193). Israel failed, however, falling into sin and gross idolatry time and time again (Gibbs 193). Now that the true Son has arrived in the place of Israel, He will be tempted to sin by Satan himself (Gibbs 193). Because the people of Israel failed the testing, Jesus must be subject to the tempting in their place (Gibbs 188). This is the Father’s good pleasure, and this Son will show His perfect Sonship by perfect obedience (Gibbs 193).
4. The term „Israel reduced to one“ was first coined by Lutheran theologian Dr. Horace Hummel in the 1970s, and was put into print in 1979 with his book The Word Becoming Flesh. Dr. Hummel explained the term this way: „That is to say that Old Testament history really is our history via Christ…. Since Christ is ‘Israel reduced to one,’ and since Israel’s inner history was all recapitulated and consummated in Him, the ‘new Israel,’ the church, expresses [her] identity and mission in terms of the promise given the old Israel“ (Hummel 17).
5. In Jesus’ temptation, we see a dovetailing of two Christological themes: Jesus, as Israel reduced to one, standing in our place, as the Christus Victor who triumphs victorious over our old, evil foe, the devil.
6. Jesus stands in Israel’s place because Israel failed the testing Yahweh subjected them too in the Sinai Desert. Jesus stands in the place of all the nations because all the nations failed to trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for their deliverance. Jesus stands in our place because we were born in bondage to sin and Satan.
7. In his Gospel, Matthew uses three different nouns to describe the devil. He is called „the tempter“ (4,3), for he is one who tempts people to sin against Yahweh’s law. He is called „diabolos, the devil, the slanderer“ (4,5), for he is one who slanders the good name and honor of people. He is finally called „Satan, the adversary“ (4,10), for he is one who works against God’s will in people’s lives. In each of his temptations, the devil’s attack against Jesus call up for review the nature of Jesus’ identity as God’s Son (Gibbs 198). Satan tries to get Jesus to misunderstand or contradict what it means for Him to live out His mission as God’s Son (Gibbs 198). In other words, it is a question of grasping His identity (Gibbs 198). Jesus overcomes each temptation, for in Jesus we do not see a Messiah of power nor a Messiah who abuses or misunderstands God’s power, but a Messiah of faithful obedience and service to God and to God’s people whom He will save from their sins (Gibbs 197). Jesus is Israel reduced to one, for He stands in Israel’s place and in our place as the one who overcomes the devil for us for we haplessly fall for the devil’s wily temptations time and again.
8. Jesus’ temptation, then, is not about seeing Jesus as our moral example, so that if we just quote the right Bible verses then we too will overcome the devil. The fact is, we often do not have the right verses at hand to duel with the devil, and even when we do we often fall into sin any way because the devil is much more knowledgeable and more powerful than we are. The law reveals that we daily fall prey to the devil’s temptations and sin. We are in bondage to the devil, and we have no way to free ourselves from that horrendous captivity.
9. Jesus’ temptation, then, is about seeing and trusting Jesus as our savior. Jesus is tempted by the devil just as we are, and His temptation is His Heavenly Father’s will. Jesus is tempted in our place, and in our place He is victorious. The devil’s trickery does not trip up Jesus. Jesus overcomes. Jesus knows who He is. He is the Son of God who lives by the Word of God. He is the Son of God who trusts His Heavenly Father when trials and tribulations come His way. He is the Son of God who will do His Father’s will and none others, not even the devil’s.
10. In his Gospel, Matthew presents Jesus’ work, and in Chapter 4 His work is to be our Savior. Jesus was triumphantly victorious over the devil. Jesus is Christus Victor over the devil on behalf of Israel, the nations, and also you and me (Gibbs 198).
11. As Jesus’ disciples, we can learn to recognize the devil’s temptations as attacks on our identity as God’s children, and on what it means to live out that identity in the world and in our vocations (Gibbs 198). From Jesus’ temptation we learn this: Know from God’s Word who we are and how that identity as God’s baptized, adopted child is to be lived out (Gibbs 198). Jesus is our Victor. No matter how many times we fall to the devil’s temptations, Jesus has overcome the devil. Christ’s victory is our victory. We have it by our Baptism in God’s Triune Name. We have it by faith in Jesus. We have it by Jesus’ death and resurrection. We are saved, and Jesus did everything necessary to merit our salvation. Amen.
12. Let us pray. O Jesus Christ, the Son of God, daily destroy the evil works of Satan so that we shall be saved from sin, death, and the devil. Amen.
One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the New Testament Greek Manuscripts, Matthew © 1995 by Reuben Joseph Swanson.
Gibbs, Jeffrey A. Matthew 11:2 – 20:34. Copyright © 2010 Concordia Publishing House.
Hummel, Horace. The Word Becoming Flesh. Copyright © 1979 Concordia Publishing House.
Walther, C.F.W. Selected Sermons. Copyright © 1981. Concordia Publishing House.
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