This Scripture account is one that traditionally ushers us into the season of Lent. Jesus was led by the Spirit to the wilderness. There, He was tempted by the Devil for 40 days. This should tell us something about the tenacity and determination of Satan. Not even the Son of God, just baptized in the Jordan and full of the Holy Spirit, stops Satan from carrying out his tempting intentions.    

The parallel Gospel accounts of this event (Luke 4:1-13 and Matthew 4:1-11) note that Jesus went without food for 40 days during this time. Physically weakened, feeling hungry, and at a moment of weakness, Satan comes to tempt Him. This should also be a warning for us. As baptized Christians, filled with the Holy Spirit, we should expect to be afflicted with the constant temptations of Satan. Whether we are hungry, tired, overworked, overwhelmed, sick, or dying, Satan will not relent. In fact, he will only intensify his efforts for us to abandon our faith. 

However, when we follow Jesus into the wilderness, He reveals to us how to make Satan’s temptations crumble. With every temptation of Satan in this account, let’s note how Jesus responds.

temptation #1.

“If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread” (Luke 4:3).

First, Satan tempts Jesus’ pride by way of His hunger. Every playground bully knows this trick, “Oh yeah, if you are so tough, then prove it!” But notice how Jesus promptly and even courteously responds: “It is written [in Deut. 8:3], man shall not live by bread alone” (Luke 4:4). He immediately rebuffs Satan with the Word of God.

temptation #2.

“And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, ‘To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours’” (Luke 4:5-7).

Satan knows our weaknesses and our desires. He is a sly fellow. He sees the life you live—your habits, your tendencies, and your inclinations. And then he pounces on you. He tries to do that to Jesus with the second temptation. Satan tries to get Jesus to worship him by tempting Jesus with power and prestige. But once again, Jesus answers with the Word of God (from Deuteronomy 6:13): “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”

This is rather instructive. Satan loves to attack our worship of God. If he doesn’t hesitate to tempt Jesus in His worship, he sure won’t hesitate to tempt us to disorder our worship life.  Power, prestige, money, and materialism—all things our society worships. Jesus again reminds us to be fortified with the Word of God against Satan’s temptations.

temptation #3.

“And [Satan] took Jesus to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,” and “On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone”’” (Luke 4:9-11).        

Being bested twice, the devil finally tries to use the Word of God against the Son of God. “O.K. Mr. It is written. Chew on this.” Satan quotes Psalm 91:11-12 in order to tempt Jesus into proving He was the Son of God. He tries to twist and turn God’s Word—to use just enough of it so that it can make a lie seem true. “Come on Jesus. If you are really the son of God, prove it!” 

What does Jesus do? Once again, He lets the power of God’s Word blast away. He quotes Deuteronomy 6:6. “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Luke 4:12). Jesus was not going to prove that He was the Son of God on Satan’s terms. He was going to do it on His terms—terms that would come by way of the cross and empty tomb. He had come to fulfill the Word of God.

the Word of God saves us.

Satan cannot bear up under the power of God’s Word, but he will still try every angle to get us to doubt God’s Word. It started in the Garden of Eden when he said to Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1).  Today, his sinister temptations and sly words continue to afflict us. “Did God really say marriage is only between a man and a woman? Did God really say life begins at conception? Did God really say the love of money is the root of all evil? Did God really say Jesus is the only way to eternal life?”

Like Jesus, we need the Word of God upon our hearts, in our minds, and on our tongues as we bear up under the daily temptations we face. It is only the Word of God that can guide us in the way of truth.  

we follow Jesus through all seasons.

Throughout those 40 days, Jesus was tempted to doubt God’s Word. It’s from these 40 days of temptation that we get the 40 days of Lent. And just as we can follow and learn from Jesus during His 40-day temptation, our Lutheran tradition has created a rhythm and routine for the whole church year that centers around the life of Christ. The life and movement of Christ’s life shapes the cycle of our yearly worship still today. Advent leads to Christmas—Christmas to Epiphany—Epiphany to Lent—Lent to Easter—Easter to Pentecost—and Pentecost back to Advent. Each season emphasizes a particular part of the life of Christ and His message of salvation.

The joy of our church seasons is that they wrap us in the life of Christ even as we travel the various seasons of our own lives. In other words, we are not alone as we journey through the ups and downs, the hurts and heartaches, the joys and sorrows, and the failures and successes that come during the varying seasons of our lives.

In fact, as we are wrapped into the life of Christ through the church season, we are sacramentally united to Christ and His life when we are baptized. That means you and I are truly never alone. Christ goes with us. He is ours and we are His. Through the water and the word of baptism, He has claimed us as His very own, given us His Holy Spirit, washed us with His love and grace, and promised never to leave us nor forsake us.     

We are in the season of Lent. Thus, we focus our eyes on Jesus’s journey toward the cross, which readies us for the celebration of Easter. But as we do, we journey through all the other seasons of life, along with this season of Lent, where Satan is sure to tempt us and society taint us, keeping our eyes set on the cross of Christ, the forgiveness He has won for us, the hope He has achieved for us, and the life He gives to us.  

In the joy of Jesus,

Pastor Lucas

Rev. Dr. Lucas V. Woodford
President
Minnesota South District, LCMS
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