Each year during the season of Lent, as we begin our journey to the cross and the empty tomb, we begin in the wilderness with Jesus and the devil. So for a few moments let us walk through our text this morning, taking time to meditate on each verse.
–Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Throughout Matthew’s Gospel, our narrator goes to great lengths to show that Jesus is a new Moses, the one who fulfills the mountain top law with his own person on the cross. You have heard it said, but I say to you, we read several weeks ago. You have heard it said that the law was written on stone tablets, but I say unto you that the law is to be written upon your hearts as it is I who opens your heart through suffering, death, and resurrection. The wilderness into which the Spirit leads Jesus reminds us of Israel and their 40 years wandering and being refined into the chose people of God. The wilderness is where Israel discerned the question, “Is the Lord with us or not,” which was answered with the affirmation of crossing into the promised land. Jesus is lead into the wilderness to meditate on his mission to, for, and with both the chosen people of Israel and those who have been outcast by an ill interpreted Law, and Jesus meditates in the presence of the devil.
I don’t normally preach on the devil because I fear I would make the devil sound more interesting than God; however it is an unavoidable truth in our text today. The person of the devil has its roots in the old testament person named Satan, or in Hebrew, Hasatan, the Accuser. The devil is evil personified, which places our understanding of the devil in a bit of a paradox. Evil is a shadow, which cannot stand on its own. A shadow is nothing in and of itself. It only exists when something blocks light. Theologically speaking, evil is made manifest when someone or something stands between us and the light of God shining through Christ. As John says in his prologue, “In him was life and the life was light, and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” One way to look at evil is with the number -2. It is impossible to have -2 of something. I can’t hold it in my hand. I can’t put it in a box because -2 doesn’t exist, at least, it only exists as an absence. You can have 2 less than something, but you can never have -2 in and of itself. The devil, being a manifestation of nothingness, places him in a paradox. Stanley Hauerwas writes, “Our sin drives us mad because our very ability to revolt against our creator is dependent on the gifts we have been given by him. That is why the devil is at once crafty but self-destructively mad, for the devil cannot help but be angry, recognizing as he must that he does not exist.” In other words, the devil is the manifestation of nothingness, which drives him mad because he cannot exist within the Grace of God. The devil is a shadow. Shadows are real, but they are only seen when we block the light. So, when we surround ourselves with the light of the resurrection, in essence, the devil does not exist.
After fasting for 40 days, again reminding us of the Israelites journey in the wilderness, the tempter said, “If you are the Son of God, transform these stones into bread.” Can you imagine the good we could do if we could transform rocks into loafs of bread. We could end world hunger. The shelves would always be stocked, that is, until the ground under our feet gives way and we are left with nowhere to stand. Jesus replies, “Humanity does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” In others words, we need bread, and God provides bread, but even bread is failing if it is set apart from the eternity which lies in the heart of God. It strikes at the heart of our own sin, when we give up the eternal, the good of the kingdom, in order to fight for self preservation, security, and personal happiness. Jesus says no to the devil’s request, but Jesus does not reject bread. Later Jesus looks upon the multitudes and takes a few loaves of bread and feeds thousands. Even this miracle points to holy because it is Jesus who later says, “I am the bread of life.” It is Jesus who takes common bread, blesses it and says, “This is my body given for you, eat it in remembrance of me.” Bread is not made of stones. It is the body of Christ given to us so that we might receive the grace of God, the grace which surrounds us with the light of the resurrection, burning away the darkness with which the world surrounds us.
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple saying, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will give his angels charge of you, and on their hands they will bear you up let you dash your foot against a stone.” The devil is crafty. He now uses scripture to tempt Jesus, which shows us the danger of using scripture to support our ideas and ideology, rather than allowing scripture to shape our politics. In other words, this temptation calls attention to our sin when we use scripture to support our conviction rather than allowing scripture to give birth to conviction. Jesus rejects the devil’s suggestion saying, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Jesus says no to leaping from the pinnacle of the Temple, rather, like with bread, Jesus is the Temple. Jesus says that the temple will be destroyed and will be rebuilt in three days time. The Temple is the place where God resides, and Jesus walks the earth to show us that he is the incarnation, the place where God rests. The good news is that Jesus rejects the accuser and takes on the brick and mortar in his own body, which was beaten and crucified and was risen, so that we too might reside with God for eterntiy.
The devil, running out of options, then takes Jesus to a high mountain and promises to give him the kingdoms of the world. This unveils our temptation for earthly power. Jesus rejects the devil saying, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” Jesus talks about, not kingdoms, but the Kingdom, the place where the last shall be first, a kingdom as a treasure in a field, a kingdom as precious as a pearl, a kingdom which bursts from the tomb, again, shining in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.
Then the light was too bright, and the devil left him.
This time during Lent is a time when we take time to investigate our sin. See, the problem with sin is that it’s half right. Sin can be understood as a perversion of God’s first commandment, to be fruitful and multiply. Sin is half right. It’s great at multiplying, but it is never fruitful. Making bread out of stones is half right. It ends hunger, but there’s more to life than a full stomach. We may not dash our foot against a stone when we leap from the Temple, but when we hurl ourselves away from the Temple, the place where God rests, we leap away from the source of life itself. Having influence and power in the world can bring about remarkable things, but when we strive after power for our own benefit, we begin to tell God that we don’t need him or the grace he provides. Like Adam and Eve who ate of the fruit so that they might be like God. What goal is more lofty? The problem is we are not to be God, rather we are to live lives of dependency on God, the only one who is good, eternal, full of grace and mercy.
We are to be more than admirers of Christ. The crowd admired Jesus. They followed him and were cured and were fed and were amazed at his signs and wonders, but at the end of the day, it was the crowd which shouted, “Crucify him.” We are to be more than admirers. Let us be children of God. Let us walk through this wilderness feeding not on stones, but on the bread of life which drives away the darkness. During this season of Lent, may you walk with God, through Christ, in the power of the Spirit, daily communing with God allowing God to bathe you with light on the way which leads to life. May you be filled with the strength, compassion, and grace of God, so that your eyes may be affixed to the victory of Christ’s triumph over death. Do not be tempted with nothingness. When the shadow of this world covers you, feed on the bread of life, rest in the place where God resides, fill yourself with humility and servanthood, so that you experience the life God has prepared for you, now and for all time. Amen.