Lent 1 – 14 February 2016 – Year C
Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for this meditation is written in the 4th
Chapter of the Gospel according to St Luke: Verse 1 – 15
And
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the
Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted
by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended,
he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the
Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And
Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not
live by bread alone.’ ” 5 And the devil took
him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and
said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has
been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If
you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And
Jesus answered him, “It is written,
“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall
you serve.’ ”
9 And
he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to
him, “If you are jthe
Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is
written,
“ ‘He
will command his angels concerning you,
to
guard you,’
11 and
“ ‘On
their hands they will bear you up,
lest
you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
12 And
Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put
the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 13 And
when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an
opportune time.
14 And
Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him
went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he
taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
What image comes to
your mind when you think of an epic battle?
Perhaps you think of the ancient battles with thousands of troops facing
each other on a great field of battle … maybe something more modern … bombs,
artillery, computer guided rockets. If
you are into fantasy or science fiction, you might visualise energy beams and
force shields. Imagine a great
battle. What image comes to your mind?
Today’s Gospel is
an account of a great battle in the greatest of all wars. What kind of cosmic spiritual powers do the
Lord of Life and the lord of death bear against each other? The answer might surprise you because all
these two great warriors did was talk. They had a conversation out in the
wilderness. The weapons used in this
great battle were … words. That’s it …
just words.
You see the devil
is the ultimate con artist. When he uses
words, he lies … he misleads. Jesus
said, [John 8:44] “[The devil]
was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because
there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for
he is a liar and the father of lies.” The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians that [2 Corinthians 11:14] Satan
disguises himself as an angel of light. He
can disguise himself as polite … caring … nice … helpful … and so forth. He has the ability to make us think that the
loving thing is cruel … that the right thing is wrong … that the truth is a lie
… and so forth. The devil knows how to
spin the facts. He is always politically
correct. He knows how to present his
case in a way that will boost our self-esteem.
He is the master of deception.
Jesus, on the other
hand is the truth. [John 14:6]
Jesus said … “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” He also said, [John 8:31–32] “If you abide in my word, you are truly my
disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus does not spin the facts. Jesus knows that the truth is not always
politically correct. Jesus knows that
the truth does not always make us feel good about ourselves. Jesus knows that sometimes love means telling
someone a truth that they do not want to hear.
We underestimate
words. We think of the massive military
powers of the past as great powers, but they are nothing compared to
words. Words convinced the German voters to elect Adolph Hitler to lead
their country. Words convinced a group of young men to hijack some airliners and
fly them into buildings. Words convince men, women, and even
children to strap on explosive vests and detonate them in crowded areas.
Words persuade people to
elect governments. Words convince extremist that their cause is just. Words
cut into people’s hearts, causing them to give up hope and the will to live. Words decimate loving families. Words mean things and have more power
than we can imagine.
The devil bends the
power of words to his will. He
lies. He even bends Holy Scripture in
order to mislead. Today’s Gospel shows
the devil lifting the words of the Psalm out of context. He blasphemes against the very Word of God
and omits a small word here and another small word there until the remaining
words conform to his lie. In this way,
he hopes to mislead and corrupt.
The first
temptation is very subtle. Think back to
the first time you thought about the details of this account. Sooner or later most people will wonder what
the big deal is about converting stones into bread. The Gospels record two accounts of Jesus
multiplying loaves in order to feed thousands of people. What could possibly be so terrible about
making a little bread out in the wilderness where no one else even needed to
see what Jesus did?
The bread itself
isn’t the problem. The problem is doubt
… lack of faith. Jesus, in His state of
humiliation, is living in our place. Therefore,
just as we should trust God to give us all things, so also Jesus must always
place His trust in God. The devil tried
to plant doubt in Jesus’ mind. God has
forgotten you. He is willing to let you
die of hunger. His promises mean nothing
to you. Your concern is for bread;
forget about God’s Word. Take matters
into your own hands. Don’t rely on
God. The devil hoped that these words
would enter Jesus’ thoughts when he said, “If
you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
This temptation has
been around for a long time. When God
led Israel out of Egypt, He baptised them in the Red Sea and then led them into
the wilderness. They listened to the
words of the devil and complained against Moses and against God. They didn’t trust God to care for them in the
wilderness.
A similar thing
happens in our time as well. At the first
sign of any trouble, we are ready to turn to the world for advice. We trust the words of the world. We trust the words of the devil. We trust our own words. We don’t trust the Word of God.
The second
temptation seems very daring on the part of the devil. He asks Jesus to worship him. At first glance, this seems to be beyond
belief. Surely, anyone who still has a
few working brain cells knows that worshipping the devil is really, really
wrong, incredibly stupid, and very, very dangerous. Here we forget two things. The devil is the ultimate con artist, and any form of worship that does not
worship the true God, worships the devil.
This means that we can worship the devil without knowing that we are
worshipping the devil. Jesus Himself
said, [Matthew 12:30] “Whoever
is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
The devil offered
the world to Jesus. Today, I notice that
many people are willing to do almost anything just to get along. The devil uses this against us. He will find a Biblical truth that makes
people uncomfortable. Then he will tell
us that it’s not an important doctrine … just a few words in a part of the
Bible that most people don’t even read.
“Worship me,” he says, “by ignoring those few, insignificant little
words and I will guarantee you peace and unity in your congregation and in your
lives. All you have to do is give up a
few words that most people don’t even know are there. Is that really so bad?” Suddenly, the devil has us judging what parts of
the Word of God are important and what parts we can let slide for the sake of
peace. By suggesting that we can judge
God’s Word, he is suggesting that we can judge God Himself. When we are arrogant enough to judge God’s
word, we are worshipping the devil.
In the final
temptation, the devil put on the robes of the preacher. He quoted from the Word of God, but He only
quoted the words that suited his purpose.
He left out four words that change the very meaning of the passage. In this way, the devil changed the psalm from
God’s promise to protect us into God’s permission to do stupid things … like
jump from the pinnacle of a very tall building.
False preachers
still do this sort of thing. They pick
and choose which words they will use and which words they will discard. Even though Jesus said, ‘This is my body;’ ‘This is my blood,’ there are many in
theological authority who advocate that what Jesus really meant was, ‘This represents my body;’ ‘This represents
my blood.’” – No – No!! Even though Jesus told the church to teach all that He commanded, we draw the line
at enough – enough for me to get by!
… and then we decide what is enough.
We simply forget that telling God that we don’t need any more of His
word is the same as telling Him that we don’t need any more of Him.
Sadly, we must all
confess that we do not listen to the Words of God as we should. We often let the devil, the world, or our own
sinful nature pick and choose the words of God that we will hear. The devil and the world seduce us with the
words that we want to hear, and we
have especially made ourselves into false gods by listening to the world’s misleading wisdom instead of
God’s Words. We all deserve punishment
both here in time and forever in eternity for listening to the words we like
instead of the words we need.
Never the less,
there is comfort in today’s Gospel. Friends,
our champion, Jesus Christ, saw through the lies of the devil. He never gave in to the temptations that the
devil placed before Him. In fact, Jesus
endured temptations greater than any we must ever endure, but He never
sinned. He clung to His perfect
righteousness; a feat we are incapable of ever doing.
At the same time
that He lived a perfect, sinless life, He was filled with sin … not His own sin
for He had none, but He was filled with our sin. All the sins of all the people of all times
and places were heaped on Him. When the
time came to punish our sin, the punishment fell on Him. He took on Himself the punishment for all the
time that we listened to our own words, Satan’s words, instead of His
words. While Jesus suffered and died on
the cross, He paid for our every sin.
Yet Jesus did not
remain dead. [1 Peter 1:3]
According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living
hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. According to this great hope, we look forward
to the day when Christ will raise all the dead and all who believe in His Word
will join Him in eternal peace.
This world is a
dangerous place. The devil and the other
evil angels constantly tempt us to turn away from the truth of God’s Word and
listen to the devil’s lies, the world’s lies, and the lies of our own sinful
hearts. In this way, they hope to rob us
of our salvation. Never the less,
Christ, our champion and saviour has endured the temptations of the evil one
and remained without sin. He has taken
our sin on Himself and endured its punishment.
He has triumphed over sin, death, and the power of the devil. In this way, He has defended us and made us
His own forever. We now wait in the
safety of His protection and look forward to eternal life with Him. Amen
The love and grace
of our great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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