Lent
1
Mt
4:1-11
2/18/24
“Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the
LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, ‘Let my son go
that he may serve me.’” These are the
words that God spoke to Moses as he was heading back to Egypt, after God had
called him at the burning bush. God
identified Israel as his son and told Pharaoh to let him go.
Pharaoh refused and so Yahweh brought
ten plagues upon Egypt. The last of these was the Passover as God killed the
firstborn of Egypt but spared Israel.
Pharaoh sent the people away, only to change his mind and send his army
after Israel. Yahweh delivered Israel as he brought them through the Red Sea
but drowned the Egyptians.
God had rescued Israel, his son, in
the exodus. But Israel immediately
proved to be an extremely unfaithful son. In the very next chapter after
passing through the Red Sea the people have no food. They grumble against Moses and Aaron saying, “Would that we had died by the hand of
the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread
to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this
whole assembly with hunger.” In response
God gave them manna from heaven as he fed them on their journeys. But later they would complain about the
manna: “we loathe this worthless food.”
In the next chapter, as we heard
recently, the people had no water. They
quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” But Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with
me? Why do you test the LORD?” Yahweh had Moses strike the rock with his
staff, and water came forth for the people.
We learn that the place was called Massah, because there Israel tested
the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Then, after they arrived at Mt. Sinai
and Yahweh had brought them into the covenant, Moses went up on the mountain to
receive the tablets of testimony. He was
gone for forty days, and during that time the people told Aaron to make them
gods who would go before them. He made
the golden calf that the people worshipped.
Only through Moses’ intercession did God spare Israel. If Israel was God’s son, then it was a very
unfaithful son from the beginning. That unfaithfulness continued throughout the
nation’s history. Rather than being a
light to the nations bearing witness to Yahweh, they brought shame upon God’s
name.
This is the background against which
we need to hear our text this morning.
Israel had been an unfaithful son.
Yet now God had sent his own Son to take Israel’s place. Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the
virgin Mary, Jesus Christ was the descendant of David because Joseph had taken
him to be his own. When Herod sought to kill Jesus, Joseph had been warned in a
dream and had taken Jesus and Mary to Egypt.
Matthew tells us, “This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the
prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’”
The prophet Hosea had written these
words as a description of what God had done for Israel. But now they found their fulfillment as God
brought Jesus – who was Israel reduced to one – out of Egypt in the return to Palestine
after Herod had died. Jesus now stood in
the place of the nation.
Just as Israel passed through the water of the
Red Sea, so now Jesus passed through the water of his baptism. The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus and the
Father said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Quoting words from Isaiah chapter 42, God
identified Jesus as the Servant of the Lord.
The Servant in Isaiah is at times the nation of Israel. But on other
occasions he seems to be an individual.
Jesus Christ was designated as the Servant of the Lord – the individual
who stood in place of the nation.
During the season of Epiphany we considered
Jesus’ baptism. We learned that at his
baptism he took on the role of the suffering Servant. Though without sin, he entered the water of
baptism to take up our sin. He became
the One who would fulfill the words of Isaiah chapter 53: “All we like sheep
have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD
has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
From the moment of his baptism the purpose of Jesus’ ministry was to
obey the Father’s will by serving us – by offering himself as the sacrifice on
the cross.
Israel passed through the water of the Red Sea
and then entered the wilderness. Now,
immediately after Jesus’ baptism we hear in our text, “Then Jesus was led up by
the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” The Spirit who had come upon Jesus at his
baptism now leads him into the wilderness to be tempted. Israel, God’s son had
failed. Now Jesus, God’s Son goes forth in place of the nation.
We learn that after fasting forty days and forty
nights, Jesus was hungry. So the devil approached him and said, “If you
are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Israel had failed when they were hungry. Now the devil tempted Jesus to use his power to
serve himself when he was hungry.
But Jesus was here
to carry out the Father’s will. He was
here to serve us. Our Lord answered, “It
is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
comes from the mouth of God.’” He quoted
words from Deuteronomy that expressed how God had used the manna to teach
Israel to trust in God. Jesus replied that he was here to keep God’s word as he
trusted in the Father’s will.
Next the devil took Jesus
to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple. He said 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, lest you strike
your foot against a stone.’” The devil tempted Jesus to force God to rescue him
in a dramatic way that would call attention to Jesus. He even quoted Psalm 91 in order to justify
the idea.
But Jesus said to
him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God
to the test.’” Israel had tested God at
Massah when they had no water. But Jesus
would not put God to the test in order to gain glory. The psalm spoke of
trusting in God’s protection and care, not provoking God to rescue. Our Lord trusted in the Father as he walked
the way that led to the cross.
Finally, the devil
took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world
and their glory. He said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall
down and worship me.” The devil offered
Jesus the quick and easy way to glory. But Jesus said to him, “Be
gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your
God and him only shall you serve.’”
Israel had worshipped the golden calf, but Jesus would only worship and
serve God. Then we are told that devil left him.
Where Israel was the
unfaithful son, Jesus remained the faithful One. He did not submit to the devil’s temptations.
This is good news for us, because we aren’t that different from Israel. We fail to trust God to provide us with daily
bread. We question whether God really
cares for us as we put God to the test. We worship and serve false gods as we put
a host of different things before God.
The devil tried to
derail Jesus’ ministry through the temptations. But unlike Israel – and unlike
us – Jesus was faithful to the will of the Father. He overcame the devil as
continued in the way of service – as he continued in the way of the cross.
Jesus went to the
cross as the suffering Servant who gave himself as the sacrifice in our
place. He said, “The Son of Man came not
to served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” He fulfilled the words of Isaiah, “But he was wounded for our
transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the
chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”
He won forgiveness for us and freed us from sin.
Jesus gave himself into suffering and death on
the cross for us to fulfill the Father’s will.
But God’s saving will did not end in death. On Easter, God raised Jesus from the
dead. He vindicated Christ as the
Servant who had faithfully carried out God’s will. Because of Christ’s
resurrection death cannot hold onto us.
Eternal life is already ours because to die is to be with Christ. And
Jesus will raise up our bodies to be like his on the Last Day.
The devil tried to offer dominion
and glory to Jesus in a quick and easy way.
But for Jesus the way that went through the cross led to those very things.
After his resurrection Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” As the one who possesses all authority Jesus
instituted Holy Baptism. He said, “Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
You have been
baptized into the death of Jesus the risen Lord. His victory is now your victory. Jesus overcame the devil in his temptation.
He defeated sin and death by his death and resurrection. In Christ, you are already on the winning
side. Through faith in God’s gift of baptism your sins are washed away and you
are a saint. You are a child of God.
Through baptism
the Spirit of Christ has given you the washing of regeneration and renewal. You are a new creation in Christ. The Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is
now at work in you. That is why Paul
told the Romans, “We
were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just
as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too
might walk in newness of life.”
It is the
Spirit who now leads and enables us to resist temptation. We see sin for what it is and seek to turn
away from it. Jesus becomes our example
as we seek to trust God and do the will of the Father. Just as Jesus served us, we now serve those
whom God has placed in our life.
The nation of
Israel was an unfaithful son. It did not
fulfill God’s saving purpose. But God
sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to do what the nation could not. He was Israel reduced to One - the faithful
Son who trusted in the Father and carried out his will. He was the suffering Servant who gave himself
for us.
In the
temptation of Jesus, we see Christ overcome the devil as he continues on the
way to the cross. Faithful and obedient
he died for our sin. Yet the cross led
to resurrection as Christ gives us life.
Baptized into the death of the risen Lord, the Holy Spirit now leads us
to resist sin and to share Christ’s love with others.
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