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PERICOPE STUDY
CENTER FOR THEOLOGY, LRC
THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT
FEBRUARY 13, 2005
MATTHEW 4:1-11
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.
The wilderness, the number forty, the temptation to forget
God when things get tough – it is like a repetition of the history of Israel
at the beginning of their journey out of slavery to new life in the land God had
given them generations earlier. But this time it is not a story of failing and
being rescued but of strength and faithfulness. Even though these Sundays are
not, strictly speaking, a part of Lent, they are embedded within the season and
provide a reminder of the victory to which God seeks to lead all sinners.
While Israel entered the wilderness, also by the guidance
of God, it was not for the purpose of facing temptation. They did not need a
wilderness to make them think that life was hard and God was forgetting them.
Before they were finished with the experience they would complain about God’s
miraculous care for them because it was always the same. They came to
characterize it as tedious rather than dependable.
At the end of forty days without meals the devil tries the
same ploy that had worked so well with Israel in their wilderness and more than
once after that in their history. He reminds Jesus of his hunger and points to
the round rocks that look so much like those loaves of bread that came out of
the oven of His mother for years and satisfied his hunger. All he has to do is
use his power over nature to supply a need. The only difference between this
occasion and the many times he will use that power in his ministry is that here
the need is his own instead of something he sees in other people. On a later day
he will witness the hunger of other people and he will be moved to compassion
and turn bread and fish into a banquet for them. The purpose of his ministry
will be to answer the needs of others and not to fill his own need, and he
points the devil to a need that is greater than the need for food, man’s need
for the word from God that offers salvation and point to true service. It is a
word that gives God’s gift of love and forgiveness that gives life to sinners.
It is for them that the Savior has come and not to provide for his own needs.
That will mark all his ministry, even to the point of moving him to sacrifice
himself to save those sinners.
Successful tempting requires patience. A good tempter will
not stop trying if his first attempts do not succeed. If the surroundings
reminiscent of Israel’s suffering will not work perhaps he can have more
success with the sign of their success – the temple in Jerusalem. Here the
devil suggests that Jesus turn his thoughts away from himself and seek the glory
of God, providing the opportunity for God to demonstrate His power and care by
rescuing the One He has sent to fulfill His promise of saving for His people. It
is the successful Savior that people follow and if he can demonstrate his power
at the start of his stay among them perhaps they will follow him.
Jesus sees clearly the fallacy of the devil’s reasoning,
for God’s plan is not that he win by preventing his death but by giving his
life. It will happen not on a day when God rescues him from suffering and death
but on a day when God forsakes him.
Jesus has clearly seen the nature of the struggle between
God and Satan, so there will be no avoiding it. He will not be tempted to look
after himself first and he will not turn away from a confrontation with God’s
enemy, so that sly devil suggests that he himself will acknowledge defeat and
give in to God, if only Jesus will recognize that the devil does have some
authority in the world. Indeed, his record of success has not been bad. The
number of people who choose him over God is enough to force the admission that
“many are called but few are chosen.” If only Jesus will face the truth and
acknowledge that this enemy is a formidable one, he will offer his surrender and
the battle will be over.
For the Christ the field of battle has already been chosen.
He will struggle and win upon a hill, not that of the temple or on that which
affords a view of all the earth but on a more modest mountain whose location can
only be approximated today. What is left from that fight is not the pieces of
the true cross but the sinners who have found hope and peace in the proclamation
that Christ died for them and rose again for their victory.
By the grace of God there are times when we can tell the
devil to his face, “Away with you, Satan!” That is not the victory but the
result of victory. The victory is Christ’s and it becomes ours by his
forgiveness rather than by our show of the power he has given. It is a victory
that can show itself also as sinners cower in temptation and contrition and
dying and the Savior declares, “Your sins are forgiven.” That is how it
becomes our victory.
W.E.M.
02.08.05
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