Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The text is the Gospel reading from a few moments ago.
As
modern, North Americans Christians, we live in a culture that has often lost
sight of the holy and the sacred. God’s name and the name of Jesus are tossed
around like any other word of exclamation. The church is often seen as a bunch
of restrictionistic thinkers who aren’t open to new ideas, instead standing in
the way of personal freedom and choice. God and His Word is dismissed as just
one interpretation of sacred truths. God’s plan of salvation in Christ has been
replaced with therapeutic moralistic deism – where God is basically a feel-good
deliverer of attaboys who can be called by whatever name you want him (or her)
to be.
The flip side is also true: our culture has lost sight of what is unholy and
sinful. Things are no longer spoken of as being against the will of God, as
sins, as being evil and wicked. Instead, we hear of mistakes or accidents, and
as choices which are judged over and against the shifting shadows of feelings, personal
opinion and conventional wisdom instead of the unchanging and unshifting Word
of God.
As a result, we no longer hear of temptation as being anything serious. Just
consider how the word is used in our culture and society. Unless you are in the
Lord’s house, “temptation” has lost the connection with sins and dangerous,
damning choices. Instead, it seems more like a fun, flirty choice, one option
among many: “I’m tempted to try a piece of that chocolate cake with fudge icing
and caramel sauce…” “I don’t really need a new cell phone, but that
new one is just so tempting…” “The company made me an offer for a new position
and I’m tempted to say yes…” It’s not that using the word in these
contexts is bad, necessarily. My point is because that’s what we hear and how
we use “temptation” in our daily lives, we become inoculated against what it
really means and the significance of temptation. For example, we are so
inundated with pictures of scantily clad underwear or swimsuit models that we
hardly notice when our minds wander and wonder into lustful thoughts.
Because
of that, when we face real temptation, temptation by the world in which we
live, temptation by our own sinful nature, or even temptation by satan himself,
we are caught with our defenses lowered.
So when we hear this morning’s readings of the temptation of Adam and Eve and the temptation of Jesus, it is tempting – please pardon my use of the word in this manner – to misunderstand and misapply these readings for ourselves. I suppose we would be tempted (oops – there it is again) to read the narrative of Adam and Eve and dismiss it as “they should have known better.” After all, they had a perfect, intimate relationship with God, walking and talking with Him in the cool of the day. Shame on her and shame on him for listening to that cunning and crafty serpent who misled them. It is tempting (oops!) for us to sit back in our modern, sophisticated 21st century milieu and think we would have known better. Likewise, it would be tempting (strike three) for us to misunderstand Jesus’ temptation at the hands of the devil, and either think it was a set-up – that the devil couldn’t possibly tempt Jesus because He’s God – or that it’s nothing more than a how-to-defeat-the-devil demonstration: that if you just have enough Bible verses in your hip pocket, so to speak, you can beat up the devil, too.
The temptation of Christ
Ludwig Ferdinand Schnorr von Carolsfeld
Let the narrative of Adam and Eve show you the truth of the dire consequences
of being tempted to go against the will and Word of God. Let Adam and Eve tell
you what it is to lose the perfect relationship with God. Let Adam and Eve
speak to you about what it is to stand and attempt to do battle with the devil,
daring to go one-on-one against the father of lies. Let Adam and Eve tell you
the sheer sorrow of knowing that because of their moment of weakness, all of
creation ever since that forbidden moment has had to suffer. Let Adam and Eve
tell you what it is to have no need to know what “evil” is, to desire knowledge
that isn’t theirs, only to find out first-hand what evil really is. Let Adam
and Eve tell you about what it was to only know their bodies as beautiful, and
to suddenly be ashamed of their nakedness. Let Adam and Eve tell you the
terrible shift from having only joy in hearing the Lord’s drawing near, and to
suddenly be afraid, needing to hide.
Let
Adam and Eve tell you about seeing God’s compassion for them, even after their
sinful weakness, demonstrated by
clothing them and protecting them from the weather that, suddenly, was going to
no longer be friendly. Let Adam and Eve tell you what it was to watch God
slaughter animals that they had named, to hear their cry of death, and then be
wrapped with their skin, the skin of the sacrificed animal constantly touching
their own skin, reminding them of what they had done. Ask them what it was to
watch a life taken so that they might survive; let Adam and Eve tell you what
it is to watch death for the first time. Suddenly, the consequence of temptation
becomes very real; giving into temptation is no longer blasé; the burden of
surrendering to satan’s tempting lie is grasped; and the reality of the wages
of sin is death is clearly understood.
Make no mistake: temptation is very real, and when surrendering to those
temptations, with very real, very eternal, very dangerous, very damning
consequences.
I said it would be tempting to see Jesus’ temptation as a set-up, that He would
be unable to be tempted because He is God. When Jesus stands in the wilderness,
He does so as a second Adam, in His human nature, fully susceptible to the
devil’s temptations. And, don’t be misled by the seeming simplicity of these
temptations, either. This is about much more than food, or a flying leap, or
bowing the knee. Names mean things: devil is Greek and satan is Hebrew but both
mean “accuser” – think of the prosecutorial district attorney who does not lose
a case, and you have the idea. Put this temptation in context: it happens
immediately after Jesus’ baptism, where the Father’s voice spoke over Him
declaring Jesus to be His beloved Son. In the wilderness, Satan is accusing the
Father of not being very Fatherly. The temptation: do you trust your Father? The
evidence he offers is the Father seemingly leaving His Son to starve to death,
leaving Him alone with the devil, letting Him fend for Himself. It’s as if
satan is saying, “He’s not Fathering you at all, Jesus. Take matters into your
own hands. Feed yourself; oh, you trust the Father to feed you, do you? Well,
prove it – jump off the top of the temple. You trust your Father’s plan of
glorifying you at the cross? How about the glory of the world instead…so much
less painful, so easy to do. Do you really trust your Father with your life at
the cross, Jesus?”
Each temptation, Jesus, as the Son of Man, turns to the same Word of God that
you and I have. This is not to model for us how we are to do battle, but to
stand in our place. Fully God, yes; but more than that, also fully man. Jesus
faces the Devil’s temptations without using His Divine glory and power. He uses
the same gift you and I have: the Word of God and His baptism.
Remember: immediately prior to His temptation, Jesus is baptized. As water
drips off of Him, the Spirit descends in the form of a dove and the voice of
the Father is heard: this is My beloved Son. In this baptism, done to fulfill
all righteousness, His holiness is washed into Baptismal water and the sins of
the world are poured onto Him. But, so that He can be a high priest to
understands our weaknesses of the flesh, He is also truly tempted in His human
flesh.
Jesus perfectly resists and defeats satan’s temptations. We call this reading
“Jesus’ Temptation,” but don’t think this was the only time Satan tried to
steer Jesus astray. He was constantly trying to turn Jesus from the cross. Last
week, on the mount of Transfiguration, he used Peter to try to convince Jesus
to stay on the mountain and not go down to Jerusalem, below. When Jesus is
arrested, he was tempting Jesus to call down an army of angels to defend him
against unlawful arrest. Even on the cross, the thieves and the crowds both
tempted Jesus to save Himself and come down off the cross. In each and every
temptation, from the wilderness to His final breath, Jesus was entrusting
Himself to the Father’s promise that He was, indeed, the Father’s Son and the
Father would love and care for Him in life and death.
He
does that to be the perfect Sacrifice to pay the consequences of our failure to
resist, our submission to that which allures us. There must be a cross. There
must be suffering and death. There must be blood-payment. Someone – a Lamb, a
perfect, holy, spotless Lamb, the very Lamb of God - must die. His death cry,
“It is finished!” rattled from his throat. The sacrifice was
complete.
I
do want you to know and understand this: being tempted is not a sin. We know
this because, as you heard, Jesus was tempted – real, hard, difficult
temptations for His human nature to face. Yet, the Scriptures also say although
He was tempted, He remained without sin. Therefore, it is not being tempted
that makes us sinners. The devil wants you to think that, liar that he is, that
since you’ve been tempted, you’re already guilty so you may as well go ahead
and go all-in. But at the same time, don’t fall for the idea that there’s a
line in the sand, that you can dance with temptation up to that line and be
just fine. Just don’t cross that line. That’s a temptation in and of itself. I
guess in a perfect world, we could always clearly see where temptation stops
and sin starts, but we aren’t in a perfect world, and we are imperfect people,
and in the heat of the moment we don’t think clearly and faithfully enough to
see that mark. Besides, the problem with lines in the sand is that the sand
shifts – just when you think you’re safe, the sand shifts underneath and you
find yourself across the line.
That’s when satan ups his ante with his greatest temptation of all. He turns
our Baptism and God’s promise into a question. “Are you really a child of God?”
Are you sure that Jesus’ death is enough? After all, what you just did…are you
sure you are worthy of the love of God? Does He still love you? And, what about
that secret sin you carry, the one you pray never sees the light of day. Do you
think He forgives that? If you really were a son of God, a daughter of God, a
child of the Lord, you wouldn’t continue doing such things.”
In
the 6th Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we pray “Lead us not
into temptation.” I used to think this was praying God would protect us from
being tempted from sinning. While that’s true, if that’s all we think when we
pray this, we’re missing the greater meaning behind it. Luther, in his Small
Catechism, explains that this petition asks that God would guard and keep us so
that the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature may not deceive us or
mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Despair
and shame have many nuances, but the greatest despair and the worst shame is
when we think we are no longer God’s beloved. Immediately before this, in the
Fifth Petition, we prayed “Forgive us our trespasses.” The longer I serve as a
pastor, and the more I care for hurting souls, the more I believe that these
two petitions go together like this: “Don’t let us be tempted that our sins
aren’t forgiven.”
Instead,
flee to your Baptism. Earlier, I said let Adam and Eve tell you their story of
temptation. Now, let your New Adam and New Eve tell you and remind you of your
baptism. Let your Baptism tell you that you are a child of God through Christ
Jesus. Let the waters speak, telling you that you are united with Christ into
His death and His resurrection. Let the Baptismal promise declare that His
death is your death, that He strips your sins from you, washing them away. Let
water and Word proclaim that when God sees you through the cross of Jesus, He
sees you as His beloved whom His Only-begotten Son died to save. With your New
Adam and New Eve, rejoice: you are redeemed – you are bought with a price. You
are sinless and blameless in His eyes. You are wrapped, not in an animal skin,
but in the righteousness of the Lamb.
So,
when you are tempted, resist as you are able, by the power and strength of the
Holy Spirit. You are not on your own: God will not let you be tempted beyond
what you can endure. But your old adam and old eve will surrender and you will
fall. This side of heaven, that is a guarantee. And, when you sin again hear
the voice of the Father calling you from your hiding place, “Where are you?”,
hear that as Him calling you back to your Baptism and to Himself. Turn to Him
in repentance and faith, trusting the forgiveness of Jesus for you. And then
return here, to His house and say, “Here I am” and hear His Word of forgiveness
for you. Then, depart in peace and in great joy knowing your sins are forgiven.
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