On this first Sunday in Lent when we read of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness; our first thought is that this is an instructional account designed to teach us how to be strong and resist temptation. Just as no one can escape temptation, neither can we resist temptation. No one, that is, except Jesus. For Jesus this temptation was no nail biter and the outcome was known and certain before the temptation happened. It could be that Jesus was in no danger of failing because He is the Son of God. Not being the Son of God in the same way Jesus is, I would hesitate to dismiss this. But there is certainly something more.
Jesus knew who He was and is; He knew the will of the Father in the same way. There was no daylight between Jesus and the Father. Jesus says so. “The Father and I are one.” Jesus was not teaching us the secret to resisting temptation so that we could learn it and stand up to the devil. We will never be strong enough to resist temptation. But Jesus always is. The strength of Jesus is knowing who He is, who the Father is, and the Scriptures. Our weakness is forgetting who we are, who the Father is, and God’s Word.
In reality there are not many temptations but only one. It is not that we are tempted by the devil by many things but there is only one temptation. It is at its root the First Commandment. It is a battle over identity. The devil, the world, and our sinful nature seek to distance us from knowing the Father in heaven, from knowing who we are as the children of God, and from the Word of God. All temptation and all sin begins with idolatry. It is a matter of the will. We see ourselves as separate from God and we see God trying to steal from us what we have claimed for ourselves and we speak with our own voice instead of the voice of God’s Word. That is why Jesus is strong and we are weak.
We are always putting our will first instead of God and His gracious will, always trusting in ourselves and our wisdom instead of surrendering to Him and His wisdom, and always trusting more our thoughts and feelings than what God has said. So the devil comes at Jesus with three challenges to who Jesus is, who the Father is, and what God’s Word says. Jesus does not give into temptation because He knows who He is and who the Father is and what God’s Word says. He answers temptation not by throwing words back at the devil but by confessing in those words who He is, who the Father is, and His own submission to God’s Word.
This encounter in the wilderness is not a shouting match of Bible passages but Jesus insisting to the devil that He knows who He is, who the Father is, and what God’s Word really says. In the face of this, the devil cannot win. He cannot match this divine and eternal truth because he is the master of lies and deception and Jesus speaks only truth.
“If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” Here the question is not about hunger and the power of Jesus to turn stones into the bread that would satisfy His hunger but If You are the Son of God. It might sound like this temptation is about hunger and doing whatever you can to satisfy that hunger but it is in those first words the devil is tempting Jesus. Does Jesus know who He is or not? Jesus insists He does know who He is. He does not need to satisfy His every whim or desire in order to be at peace with Himself and within Himself. The suffering of His body will not shake Jesus loose from His confidence in who He is and who the Father is. On the other hand, we question God for every ache or pain.
“If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” Here the question is not simply who God is and what He has promised but again, If You are the Son of God. Does Jesus know and trust the will of the Father or not. That is the question here. Jesus’ answer shows He does know the Father, He knows the will of the Father, and He has absolute trust in that will. He does not need to test the Father to know what the Father will do. On the other hand, we are always asking God for signs and testing His mercy.
“All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” By these words the devil is asking Jesus again if He knows who He is and who the Father is and what the Word of God says. Jesus insists that He does know. Short cuts offer Jesus no cover for sin. The devil can promise Jesus anonymity and hide Jesus’ sin but Jesus refuses any cover or any easy way out of the cross and suffering and death. If the Father really loved you, Jesus, He would not want you to suffer or die or go without anything. Does that sound familiar? But Jesus knows the love of the Father without doubt and He knows that suffering, self-denial, and even death cannot thwart the Father’s will and purpose. Jesus insists He will be true to the Father even though this faithfulness will most certainly lead to pain and even death. The devil leaves Jesus. Jesus gives the devil no weakness to exploit and alone, the Father sends the angels to comfort and to minister to Him.
Arguing with the devil or our own flesh is worse than futile, it is disaster. Once in Eden, Adam and Eve tried to resist the devil by arguing with him or reasoning with him. It was fatal. You cannot argue with the devil. You cannot argue with your own weakness of flesh and desire. Jesus does not argue with the devil but asserts God’s Word from a heart of faith that has full and complete confidence in that Word. He is reminding Himself who He is and who the Father is and that the Word of God is not His enemy but His strength and power. That is what Adam and Eve forgot in the Garden of Eden and what you and I forget before temptation.
The devil tries to get Jesus to think about Himself and His wants or needs. Eat, for Pete’s sake. Jesus does not deny His hunger or even consider what He could do to satisfy it. He asserts the words of Moses that the real hunger that kills is not bread for the body but the bread of life that proceeds from the mouth of the Father. Jesus does not quote Scripture to make the devil shut up but to speak comfort to His own heart and strength to His own soul.
It is the same with the next temptation. The devil tries to get Jesus to take the promises of God out of context and use them as a premise for sin but Jesus will not. Don’t tempt the Lord or constantly beg Him for signs of His goodness or proof of His love. Jesus does not even argue with the devil over whether or not the devil can give Jesus the world and all its glory. He simply asserts that worship belongs to God alone and He refuses to claim equality with God a thing to be grasped and is content with who He is and knowing the Father and living in confidence of the Father’s Word and will.
The Word of God is not primarily a weapon to use to battle Satan but it is comfort and assurance for the tempted. This is what we forget. The appeal of temptation is always to things of this life and to the desire to be happy, satisfied, respected, and to get what you want. It does not matter if it is gluttony that eats as if there is no tomorrow or pornography that prefers imaginary sex over real relationship or lies which hide your weakness and glorify your abilities. It does not matter if you are in Eden holding conversation with a serpent or making up numbers on your income tax form or taking credit for what you did not do. The appeal is always to the now – while the Word of God points us to eternity. The weakness is about over estimating who we are and forgetting to stand on God’s Word and will alone. Defeat is trading our words for God’s Word and trying to argue our way out. That is why Jesus did not fall and we fall over and over again.
We are weak because we are like the willful child who insists God would not want us to be unhappy or to suffer any want or need or to not listen the voice of our own feelings. We are strong when we know who we are, the children whom God has rescued through His Son and redeemed at the cost of His own suffering and death and when we are confident of the Father’s love for us and do not rely on signs or proofs apart from the cross and when we know God’s Word well enough that we can address that Word to all our hurts, sorrows, pains, and wants. And when that happens, the devil will leave us alone too and the angels will minister to us with the bread of heaven and the cup of salvation until we want for nothing more. Amen.
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