Matthew 4:1-11

Lent 1 | February 26, 2023 | Matthew 4:1-11 | Judson F Merrell |

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

 ² He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.

 ³ The tempter came and said to him, „If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.“

 ⁴ But he answered, „It is written, ‚One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'“

 ⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple,

 ⁶ saying 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, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'“

 ⁷ Jesus said to him, „Again it is written, ‚Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'“

 ⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor;

 ⁹ and he said to him, „All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.“

 ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, „Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‚Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'“

 ¹¹ Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

 (Mat 4:1-11 NRSV)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

This past Wednesday the church entered into the season of fasting and penitence known as Lent.  As we gather on this first Sunday in the season of Lent, our lessons point to the importance of this season by once again recalling the temptation of Jesus by Satan.  In Matthew’s timeline, this temptation happens after Jesus’ baptism and before he begins his ministry.  Therefore this is a text that is of extreme importance not only to the life and work of Jesus, but also to the life and work of the church today.

Matthew begins this text with a rather interesting word:  “then.” In his commentary on Matthew, Stanley Hauerwas writes “We dare not miss the ominous resonance of this “then”.  With “then”, Matthew gestures to the mystery of the incarnation.  The Father willingly wills the Son to be subject to time, to be subject to our flesh, to be subject to the devil.  Jesus, the Son of God, is led by the Spirit into the wilderness and abandoned to the “tempter.”  This “then,” therefore, anticipates the agony of the cross and the cry, “My God, my God, why have your forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)[i]  This “then” is the first bookend on this season of Lent, which ends with our Lord crucified on a cross.

Matthew tells us that Jesus fasts for 40 days and 40 nights.  In his hunger and weakness is where the devil shows up, hoping to win over Jesus just like he did over Eve.  The difference is that this time the devil will lose.  Jesus may be hungry, but he doesn’t need to eat that fruit of the tree.  He doesn’t need to turn rocks into bread.  Jesus is sustained solely on the words of the Father: “This is my Son the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  Sure, Jesus could have turned the rocks into bread.  In his ministry, Jesus will feed thousands of people. Looking at the Old Testament we could say that God is in the business of feeding people.  He provided manna in the wilderness.  He provided food to Elijah as Elijah makes a 40 day journey to Mt. Horeb.  But in all cases, the food that God provides is tied to the Word of God.  What Satan is asking Jesus to do here is to separate the two, and that can’t be done.

Defeated on this first temptation, Satan now takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple.  Satan wants Jesus to take his fate into his own hands.  He is trying to force God’s hand, to make him rule as we would want God to rule.  But we know that Jesus, obedient to the end, won’t do this.  When we hear Jesus pray in Gethsemane “let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want” we are reminded of this obedience.  We are reminded of the humbleness of our Lord, and that in that humbleness is the strength needed to overcome Satan once and for all.

With the third temptation Satan tried to blur the lines between worship and politics.  Satan offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world.  The reality over this temptation though is that Jesus already rules over these kingdoms.  As king of creation they are already subject to God.  As much as Satan wants Jesus to break the first and second commandments, it’s not going to happen.  Where we would be weak, Jesus is strong.  Jesus will not be tempted by the politics.  He is the incarnation of right worship to God, perfection made man.  Satan will not win, and once he realizes this, he himself follows Jesus’ command to leave.

As Satan realizes he is defeated, Matthew again uses the word “then.”  “Then the devil left him.”  Notice Matthew doesn’t say that Satan is gone forever.  He is certainly not gone.  What we have in this story is a glimpse at what it looks like to live in the struggle that has only just begun.  The church still lives in this struggle on a daily basis.  Temptations still abound, pulling us from the grace and peace that is God.  Sin still abounds, pulling us from the right worship of God.  However, temptation is not the final say.  The devil does not have the final say.  God has the final say, and that is to tell the devil to get lost.

As we reflect on this text today, we do so in the context of a church still living in a world where temptations exist.  But ministry also exists.  In the midst of evil in the world, the church stands firmly on the side of God.   This past Wednesday we started our journey together through Lent.  We did so by celebrating the sacrament.  We have the Word of God tied to the very food God provides.  Fed and sustained with the body and blood of Christ, we go into the world with what we need, striving to be the people that he has called us to be.  That is the journey of Lent, the journey of life, and the journey of being a disciple of Christ.  Thankfully, it is a journey we don’t walk alone.  In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Judson F Merrell, STS

[i] Matthew, Brazos Press 2006 pg 50