Matthew 4:1-11
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Jesus Did It Better
How many of you have been paying attention to the Olympics? It’s hard with the time difference, but there are apps to watch events live or highlights after the fact. There are websites that track medal counts. It’s fun to see the events and the athletes that compete in them.
My wife and I say the same thing almost every Olympics – they should really provide context by putting a normal person in each of the events. How well would a mechanic do in doubles figure skating? How far would a lawyer fly off the ski jump? Then we could really know how impressive it is what these athletes – these gold medalist, world champions – do.
In a way that’s what Matthew shows us today. He shows us Jesus pulling off a world-class, gold medal type performance. Only, what Jesus is doing in Matthew 4 isn’t something obscure, something we’ve never seen or done before; it’s our daily, lived experience, just done better.
Matthew tells us that before the water from Jesus’ baptism was dry, the same Spirit that descended on him in the form of a dove, filled him and led him out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, where he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, so that at the end of that time – in what must be one of the biggest understatements in the whole of Scripture – Matthew tells us, he was hungry.
That’s when the world-class effort began. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”[1]
It almost sounds reasonable. Jesus was hungry and as the Son of God he had the power to do what the devil was suggesting. It almost sounds reasonable, but then again, every temptation does, doesn’t it?
Here’s something to remember about Jesus’ fast. He didn’t impose it on himself. The Spirit led him into the wilderness to fast without food for forty days, with the implicit promise that the Father would sustain him. I’ll be honest, I don’t know how that’s human possible, but this wasn’t even unprecedented. God did the same thing for Moses when he was receiving the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai: “Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water.”[2] God took care of Moses and had already sustained Jesus for this long. To make bread now would be to break faith in God to provide.
The devil does the same thing to us, doesn’t he? He meets us in our weakness and causes us to question the goodness of our God. Money’s tight. You’re not sure how you’re going to get by. What’s the first thing you trim from your budget – your internet or your offerings? Your health deteriorates. You’re not sure how you’re going to get through. Where’s the first place you turn – your medicine cabinet or your knees in prayer?
We fall prey to those kinds of temptations to diminish our faith in God – or lose it altogether – all the time. But how did Jesus fare? He says, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”[3] Jesus didn’t appeal to the authority and power that were rightfully his. Instead, he used the same tool that God has placed into your hands: “It is written.”
Jesus won round one, but the devil was undeterred: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”[4]
The devil is no fool. Seeing Jesus’ commitment to the Word of God, Satan tried to use that against him. Instead of losing faith in God to provide, now the Tempter wants Jesus to trust God too much, if that were possible, i.e. to put God to the test. Instead of causing Jesus to question his Father, he’s trying to coax him into being over-confident and self-confident.
The devil does the same thing to us, doesn’t he
I really love this one quote by a Bible commentator, in part because of how dated it is, but at the same time because of how timeless its application is: “A church member, admonished because at a circus he had eagerly rushed into a corrupt side show, defended himself by saying, ‘I cannot deny that I went there, but while I was there I was constantly praying, “Turn my eyes away from worthless things.”’”[5] We may not go to circuses and waste our time in salacious side shows, but how many sinful activities do we engage in while simultaneously asking God to forgive us for what we are currently doing? How many times have we prayed, “lead us not into temptation,” but then willingly walked straight into one?
The devil loves to exploit our overconfidence, and he does it with great effect. But it didn’t work on Jesus. Again, he replies, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”[6] Jesus didn’t waste his time toying with temptation to try to prove how strong he was. He demonstrated true spiritual strength by again quoting God’s Word – a tool that God gives to you – and then illustrating whose approval he craves most, i.e. not the devil’s or the world’s or his own, but his Father’s.
Then, finally, the devil approaches Jesus with a supernatural revelation, showing Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in an instant, and lying through his teeth: “All this I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me.”[7]
Jesus had to know that the kingdoms of the world weren’t the devil’s to give away. Jesus also knew that he wasn’t there to sit on a throne on earth anyway. He had come to seek and save the lost – not from worldly oppression or natural disaster or social injustice, but from sin. And yet the devil is still no fool. He knew Jesus’ love for the people of the world and offered them to him at a bargain price: “All this I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me.”[8]
One thing we do know about Jesus is that he wasn’t exactly excited to die on the cross. He even prayed to his Father to find another way to save the world. And so, even though he knew the Father’s plan, and even though he knew how unrealistic and irrational this temptation was, it was still a temptation.
Again, who of us hasn’t been in the same position? We know the Word. We know God’s promises. We know what kind of behaviour God expects from us, and what kind of things we can expect from this life – that it’s not always going to be gumdrops and lollipops. And yet, when the Tempter paints a picture of what life could be or maybe what we think life should be, we bite, even though we know how unrealistic and irrational that temptation is. All the problems in our marriage aren’t going to be magically resolved if we seek solace in someone else’s arms. Our feelings of insecurity aren’t going to disappear if we fret away every hour of the day trying to earn enough money to make it through the month.
Satan so often capitalizes on our impatience and how intimidating a prospect it is to be obedient to God in everything all the time.
But how did Jesus fare? He says, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”[9] Jesus’ desires did not blind him to reality, nor was he daunted by how difficult the rest of his life was going to be. He may not have looked forward to the cross, but not even the most elaborate lies of the devil could sway him from going there.
Jesus won! He beat the devil. And amazingly he did it not by wielding his almighty power, not by playing the God card, but by using the same tool that God gives you.
But here’s where we need to be careful not to draw the wrong conclusion or learn the wrong lesson. Jesus was a human, just like us. He was tempted in every way, just like us. He used the same tool that God gives us. But that doesn’t mean that we should think that we could what Jesus did. That’d be like me handing you a pair of ski jumping skis and expecting you to make it off the 140m jump alive.
We don’t fall into temptation because we don’t know enough or because we don’t try hard enough. Even when we know the devil is whispering in our ear, even when we know that what he is tempting us to do is wrong, even when we know what the right response should be, we don’t always do it, do we? Because we’re weak, and the devil is wily, and sometimes we just want to sin.
If this passage were only a guide for how to repel the devil, it would have value, but it wouldn’t be enough. Jesus doesn’t just set an example for us here. He sets the standard. He does what you and I consistently fail to do, and he does it – not because it’s fun but because he loves you.
Jesus loves you enough to take on human flesh and blood, to expose himself to 40 days (and 30+ years) of temptation, to be vigilant and perfect his whole life long, so that, as Paul put it in our second reading for today, through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.[10]
Jesus is your champion. And by his victory he made you more than a spectator of his glory. He made you a sharer in it by his grace. His perfect life and his innocent death forgave all your failures and sins, and gave you the goal – the gold medal standard – salvation and eternal life in him.
So don’t be just a spectator in your spiritual Olympics. Resist the devil as Jesus did. Make use of the Word of God as Jesus did. Apply it when temptation comes, and when your flesh fails nevertheless, turn to your champion for the forgiveness he won for you, through hard trial and vigorous effort, through his perfect obedience and innocent death, and know that his victory is yours no matter how well or poorly you do, because Jesus did it better. Amen.
[1] Matthew 4:3
[2] Exodus 34:28
[3] Matthew 4:4
[4] Matthew 4:6
[5] William Hendriksen, Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke, (Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 1978), 240.
[6] Matthew 4:7
[7] Matthew 4:9
[8] Matthew 4:9
[9] Matthew 4:10
[10] Romans 5:19