First Sunday in Lent - Sermon and video of Divine Service
Christ in the Wilderness - Ivan Kramskoi - Public Domain
First Sunday in Lent
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.
In the Small Catechism with Explanation that we use for Catechism class, there are additional questions and answers that help inquiring minds think critically and appreciatively about the Christian faith. One of the additional questions for the sixth petition of the Lord’s prayer, “And lead us not into temptation,” is this: Does God ever tempt us? This is a question that many a Christian have wondered. The answer that is provided for us is this: “God does not tempt us to sin. However, He does at times test our faith in order to bring us closer to Himself and strengthen our faith.”
Because our Lutheran theology rises directly out of the Bible’s teaching, there are six Bible passages that are offered to support the answer to this question. One is James 1:13 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one.” Another is from Matthew 15:21-28 where Jesus tested the faith of the Canaanite woman. Then, James 1:2-3 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
(Other passages cited: John 6:5-6; Genesis 22:1-19; and Judges 2:22. Pages 272-273, Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation, CPH, 2017)
The testing that the Lord leads us into serves to produce steadfastness, deeper faith, endurance, character, and hope. The explanation that Martin Luther provides for the sixth petition, “And lead us not into temptation” is “God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory.”
God’s Word makes a clear distinction between “testing” and “temptation.” They can sometimes feel like the same thing to us as we are going through whatever we are going through. However, there is a difference. When God is testing us, the end result is positive, for example, we come out with a stronger faith and additional wisdom. Temptation, on the other hand, is the devil’s work. The desire of Satan is always to move people away from faith in the one true God.
In the wilderness, Jesus goes through a series of temptations. The text tells us plainly that this is Satan at work on Jesus when he is at his weakest physically. Failure in temptation can lead to destruction, death, and being enveloped into a permanent darkness devoid of hope.
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke report on the temptations of Jesus that occur right after His baptism. Mark does not give us nearly as much detail at Matthew and Luke. What is clear to me from all three accounts is that the temptations in the wilderness is a replay of the temptation of Adam in the Garden of Eden. As Adam and Eve lived in seclusion in the Garden and then were faced with the devil incarnate as a serpent, Jesus is in seclusion in the wilderness and Satan comes to tempt him. Satan is there to tempt Jesus to fail. Failure here means that his ultimate human destination of the cross will have no salvific value for us. Should Jesus have failed and succumbed to Satan’s temptations, Jesus would have been just yet another man who is killed by the Empire for the Empire’s purposes.
In Romans 5:12-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:22, 44-49, the Apostle Paul says that Jesus is the second Adam or the new Adam. Unlike the first Adam, Jesus is obedient to the Father. He remains true to His mission in becoming Incarnate. Despite his weakness after 40 days of fasting, despite his hunger and pain, Jesus keeps His eye on the coming cross. He trusts the relationship He has with the Father and the Holy Spirit over the deceptive lies of Satan. Jesus resists the temptations that appeal to His hunger; His human pride; and His natural human instinct to avoid humiliation and pain. When Jesus says “no” to Satan; He says “yes” to us. He declares that we are worth saving. He saves us through His sacrificial death on the cross.
Every year, in our three-year lectionary, the Gospel reading for the First Sunday in Lent is about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. Why the first Sunday in Lent? Many of us make a commitment on Ash Wednesday to either abstain from something or develop and maintain a new habit or spiritual discipline. Even though only a few days have passed since Ash Wednesday, many of us have already been tested or tempted in regarding the commitment that we made. Gave up donuts? Well, did you discover that everywhere you went you practically stumbled into a donut and people trying to give you one or two? Promise to read five chapters from the Bible in the morning, every morning? How hard could it be? Well, have you suddenly been so busy, so rushed, so bothered, in your designated reading time that you were beginning to wonder if there was a conspiracy against you?
In both cases, there may indeed be a conspiracy of some kind at work. God only knows whether it was a testing or a tempting. In either case, we give thanks to God that He has created faith within us so that we can trust in Him as we go forward.
A practical reason for placing the temptations of Jesus on this first Sunday of Lent is to assure you that despite your success or failure in keeping your commitment, the commitment that truly matters is Jesus’ commitment. Ultimately, his steadfastness, his faithfulness, his determination is what matters for us. Regardless of the outcome of our own efforts, Jesus has already saved us. Our own efforts, while important and beneficial, are not salvific. Jesus is our salvation. Jesus succeeds and says “no” to Satan so that when He goes on to the cross for our sakes, it matters, it counts, it changes the world, and it gives us hope. Jesus, the perfect God-Man, dies in our stead. Jesus substitutes Himself for us and his sacrificial death atones for our sins. By the shedding of His blood, we are saved.
As we continue through these days of Lent, we pray that as we struggle with the commitments that we made, we rejoice that we have the confidence that Jesus has already won the victory for us over sin, death, and the devil. Lord, help us grow in this faith!
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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