Lent 1 2019 Invocabit

Genesis 3:1-21

March 10, 2019

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

 

Our OT reading for this morning from Genesis 3:1–19 gives us the account of Adam and Eve’s fall into sin and the resulting curses pronounced upon them and the serpent. Though God had given them for food all the trees of the garden, including the tree of life, Adam and Eve listened to the voice of the serpent and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent preached that they would not die because God knew that when they ate they would be as God Himself. Indeed, they would be gods unto themselves. The result of their eating was death, just as the Lord had promised. “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Is it any surprise then, that our Lord, after His baptism in the Jordan, is called into the wilderness? He fasted, and while he was fasting, a voice in the wilderness cried out, “If you are really the Son of God…” The temptation for Adam and Eve was to reject their calling as creatures and become as gods to themselves. The temptation for Christ was to reject His calling as the Son of God, submitting to the Father’s will, and take matters into His own hands. But our Lord does not bite the bait. He keeps the fast that Adam failed to keep.

For us men, and for our salvation, this new and better Adam said “no” to the devil’s temptations. Rather than eat the forbidden fruit of earthly power and glory, Christ ate ashes like bread and mingled His drink with weeping (cf. Psalm 102:9). He refused to satisfy Himself, to indulge His appetite, and denied Himself food and drink for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. He was content to live by the Word of His Father.

The devil tempts Him in three ways. 1st temptation is one of greed and caring of this life so that you neglect the Word of God. The devil attacks Christ with the worry of His body, His hunger, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.”  This temptation is common among Christians, especially by those who have less than most. It is for this reason that St. Paul warns that the love of money is the root of all evil, for it is the fruit of unbelief.  Christ’s answer, “Man does not live by bread alone.”  God certainly gives daily bread even without our prayers, but our life is sustained by the Word of the God, not by the things of this world.

The 2nd is a spiritual temptation, about tempting God. What happens is that the devil teaches us to put God to the test.  He takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and tells Him to tempt God, to throw Himself down to see if the Father will really take care of Him.  It makes perfect sense that this temptation follows the first one very. When the devil finds a heart which trusts in God in lack or need, then he attacks on the others side.  When there is no lack, he tries to create the idea that is one.  Where there is no lack for the body, the devil goes after the soul. It’s like when you start to get bored with God, with coming to church, with reciting the creed or the Lord’s Prayer or the liturgy, when you think you know it all well enough and need no more instruction by the Word. This is a dangerous plague by which the devil deceives the hearts of many, but not the Word of God incarnate.

The 3rd temptation involves empty glory and the power of this world. The devil shows Jesus the kingdoms of the world and offers to give them if only Jesus would worship him.  How ridiculous this must seem to the creator of all things.  The nations already are His, as are you.  And He is yours. If Christ is with you, what else do you need?  Would you choose to give up glory, fame, power rather than the Word?  This is what happens with us: if we have nothing, then we doubt God, if we have much, they we become tired of it and want to have something else. It’s the idea that whatever God does for us is never right.  

Here Christ gains the victory and teaches us how to gain the victory. All this then is a mirror of bodily and spiritual temptation, with which the devil daily plagues and afflicts us, so that we are in a constant and unceasing fight with him. Church after church is under assault. And the temptation is always to make church less churchy.  No more hymns that link us to the past or teach deep truths to music.  No more liturgy that gives us God’s Word as our language of prayer and praise. No more Scripture readings that are too long regardless that faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ. Enough is enough. Fight back.  Abide in the Word. Cling to Christ. Resist the temptation of the devil and the sinful world who seek to make you like them.  You are baptized into Christ and His victory.  By your side we have also the gracious presence of the Lord Christ to comfort us, and His holy angels, as the Lord says in John 14:30, “See, the prince of this world is coming, and he has nothing on me.”  The best shield and weapon against this is God’s Word and prayer. That is why this Sunday is called Invocavit, from Psalm 91:15, “He calls on me, and I will answer him.”

Jesus’ temptations are not just a duel with the devil or an example for us to follow.  Rather, the point is that all of Jesus’ temptations are salvific.  They are part of God’s plan of salvation.  By Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness and on the cross, He triumphed over the devil and won the forgiveness of sins for all people. The main purpose of Christ’s temptation in the wilderness was to redeem the history of Israel—and of all humanity—in the person of Jesus. And this, He did, to deliver us. As we pray in the great litany:

“Good Lord, deliver us. By the mystery of Your holy incarnation; by Your holy nativity; By Your baptism, fasting, and temptation; by Your agony and bloody sweat; by Your cross and passion; by Your precious death and burial; By Your glorious resurrection and ascension; and by the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter:” Help us, good Lord.