Jesus Did It Better

Jesus Did It Better

Pastor Pete Metzger

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

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It's Time to Rise and Shine

It's Time to Rise and Shine

Vicar Jon Marquardt

Isaiah 60:1-6

1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
2 See, darkness covers the earth
    and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
    and his glory appears over you.
3 Nations will come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

4 “Lift up your eyes and look about you:
    All assemble and come to you;
your sons come from afar,
    and your daughters are carried on the hip.
5 Then you will look and be radiant,
    your heart will throb and swell with joy;
the wealth on the seas will be brought to you,
    to you the riches of the nations will come.
6 Herds of camels will cover your land,
    young camels of Midian and Ephah.
And all from Sheba will come,
    bearing gold and incense
    and proclaiming the praise of the Lord.

It’s time to rise and shine

“Rise and shine!” If you’ve been struggling with these late winter sunrises as much as I have, I’m guessing you’re not a big fan of that phrase either—especially when it’s the first words you hear that morning. Nothing makes me want to bury my head in the pillows (and maybe throw a pillow at whoever said it) more than being told to “rise and shine” when not even the sun will be rising or shining for at least another hour. And even when it does rise, chances are the clouds will keep it just as gloomy as before—and a cheerful “Rise and shine!” is only going to make me feel worse.

I can think of one exception. I bet these 9:00am sunrises here in the Gateway to the North would be more than welcome in the “Way to the North,” where the sun hasn’t been seen since October and won’t rise again until February. I think if someone woke me up to see that sunrise with the phrase, “Rise and shine!”, it would be music to my ears.

And so I hope you’ll forgive me for the number of times I’m about to say that phrase—in my defence, quoting the prophet Isaiah. But in his defence, unlike your cheerful morning-person family member, Isaiah isn’t telling you to get up and get to work whether the sun is up or not. He’s announcing that the dawn we’ve been waiting for is here—It’s time to rise and shine!

When Isaiah first wrote these words, it sure didn’t look like there was any light on the horizon. Isaiah himself had proclaimed what Israel had to look forward to: this war they were fighting with Babylon would end with their capital destroyed and their nation in exile. With that shadow looming over them, how could Isaiah turn around and call out, “Rise and shine!” as if it would all be okay? It would take more than the dawn of a new day to make the world seem any brighter than before.

Despite the millennia between us, we still live in a world that seems to get darker by the day. Even if we block out all the upsetting news stories, our personal struggles are more than enough to keep us gloomy long after the sunrise. Maybe it’s facing these bleak midwinter days, now that the happy glow of the holidays is fading away. Maybe it’s all this talk of New Year’s resolutions that makes you realize how much of a work-in-progress you still are. Maybe it’s the dark memories or cold consequences that are still following you into 2026, no matter how many times you try to make a fresh start. Maybe it’s the fact that you can’t get out of bed in the mornings, held down either by fading strength or debilitating anxiety that turns your thoughts dark.

If only all that gloom and doom was limited to the winter months. Seasonal Affective Disorder and a vitamin D deficiency don’t make it any easier, but a January trip to the tropics, as nice as it sounds, can’t take away all the darkness in our lives. Isaiah says: See, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples.[1]

This isn’t the kind of darkness that comes and goes with the tilt and rotation of the earth. This is a darkness that comes from us, and it comes with us. Pack your bags for a vacation, and your sinful nature gets packed along too, making sure you don’t forget to argue with your spouse and all your other usual habits. Keep your resolutions all year long, and you’ll still find plenty more ways you fall short by next January. Getting out of bed is only the first step in a day filled with even harder decisions and temptations that won’t take no for an answer.

But the darkness of sin is more than just a buzzkill. It’s a cloud that consumes everything it covers, suffocating us and threatening to cut us off from God, the source of all light and life, and thus leave us lost and alone in the shadow of death—eternally. It’s not enough to have a sunny disposition; sin has already corrupted every inch of our world, every inch of us, and that’s more than enough to earn us the grim fate that awaits all who love darkness more than God’s holy light.

As much as we try, whether through self-improvement or self-indulgence, we can’t find our way out of the darkness that surrounds us. Day after day, year after year, we wake up a sinner lost in a world of sin. And how can anyone rise and shine knowing that?

But as we’re left lying hopeless in the dark, in comes Isaiah—but not with an irritating wakeup call to get up, whether you want to or not. He comes to tell you about the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen, and he needs you to see it with him. Because after what seemed like endless night, finally, it was time for the light to rise and shine.

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.[2]

This was no ordinary sunrise—this was the dawn of redeeming grace. The Lord himself had come to shine on his darkened creation, to beam love’s pure light face-to-face. This sunrise began, impossibly, with the Son of God descending into our darkness, to wake up each morning and face the same gloomy world that we so often want to escape. He had every reason to be as miserable as we are, and every right to take a vacation from us and focus on his needs for a bit. But instead, he chose to rise and shine, day after day, working tirelessly to bring light to a world covered in darkness. He taught and healed crowds to the point of exhaustion. He went out of his way to minister to the people everyone knew to avoid. He spent the night before his death in restless prayer, with your salvation on his mind.

For 33 years, Jesus got up and got to work, whether it was convenient or not. In all that time, there was only one day he didn’t get up. The day after he was crucified and buried, when he took our sins into the grave with him so that our souls could be set free from that grim fate that loomed over us.

And the day after that, it was back to “Rise and shine!” When Jesus rose from that grave, he caused us to rise—no longer dead in sin but made alive with him, with our sins left behind. That means that every dark memory that keeps you up at night, every source of guilt or shame that keeps you stuck in bed, every trace of who you were before Jesus shined into your life is gone, replaced with perfect light that he calls yours. Did you catch that? Isaiah says that “your light has come.” Because Jesus also causes us to shine—giving us his glowing record so that we can receive the rewards of eternal life and light.

That’s what Isaiah means when he tells us to “rise and shine.” It’s not about what we have to do, it’s what God has done for us. And by believing in that reality, that Jesus rose and shined light into our lives, we have a reason to get out of bed in the morning. By the true enlightenment he gives us, we can start to see the world the way Jesus sees it—a world trapped in sin that he came to save.

There’s another miracle here that Isaiah wants us to see. The life-saving light Jesus shines on believers also reflects off them, producing a dazzling effect:

Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look about you. All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip.[3]

The nations didn’t come all at once, of course. The first sign of this fulfillment, 700 years after Isaiah, involved only the dim light of a strange star appearing in the sky. Yet that star was enough to catch the attention of certain wise men in the east, who were able to match it with a prophecy even more ancient than Isaiah. With just a glimmer of his light, God led these foreigners hundreds of miles to reveal that the one “born king of the Jews”[4] would be their King too.

This is the great Epiphany, the “reveal” of God’s plan, that the Apostle Paul was called to preach—that people of every nation, Jew and Gentile, would be drawn to Zion’s light and be granted equal status among the redeemed, no matter what they were or where they came from.

Somehow, some way, that light shined on you. Whether it came to you as a baby in baptism or much later as an adult; whether it brought you straight to St. Peter or another church like it, that light shined on you and led you out of the darkness of unbelief into the warm sunlight of God’s love, welcoming you in, irradiating the shadowy snares of sin that destined you for doom and gloom.

You probably weren’t led here by following the light of a strange star. Chances are, some of the first glimmers of Jesus’ light came to you reflected off of other believers—parents, relatives, friends, or just a kind stranger that saw an opportunity. A chance to bring the saving light of the gospel into a gloomy life.

Whether or not you remember when that happened, God now grants you the chance to join in—to rise and shine, reflecting his light like the moon reflects the light of the sun, so that even more lost sons and daughters can be guided safely home.

We live in a world still covered in thick darkness. That’s especially obvious when we compare the sinful lifestyles we see to the life God wants his people to lead. And as believers who want to honour God and his commands, some of that darkness can be painful to see—from views on sexuality or abortion to public slander of the Christian church bordering on blasphemy. Even if they don’t have a vocal vendetta against believers, they’re not too concerned about living a God-pleasing life.

It can be tempting to view those lost in darkness with contempt, to seek out ways to shut them down or at least shut them out, to guard the light and shun the darkness. And by trying to protect our moral sensitivities, we all but guarantee that they won’t see the gospel’s light from us. We might try to frame it in a nice way, thinking, “They just wouldn’t fit in at church.” But if God’s light were only for the well-behaved, none of us would be here!

After all, the wise men from the east weren’t the only ones who knew about the Messiah. When they reached Jerusalem, it was the Jewish chief priests and teachers of the law who told them he would be in Bethlehem—yet those law-abiding Jews stayed home, while these pagan astrologers went to offer gifts to a King who had no obligation to accept them, yet loved them all the same. God wants all people to be saved, whether they look like “Christian material” or not.

The people in your life who seem the most lost in darkness aren’t nearly as dangerous to you as they are to themselves. I don’t mean you need to put yourself or your conscience in harm’s way, and certainly don’t join in any sinful activities. But you can do more than just be nice to them. You have the chance to come in like Isaiah and tell them about the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, and that you want them to see it too. Show them why you bother getting up on a cold, dark Sunday morning to go to church instead of sleeping in or going to hockey practice. Show them how you can still get up in the morning even when it means facing trials that would keep anyone else stuck in bed or at least terminally irritable. Show them how even when you can’t get up, when it’s possible you might never get up again, you still have full confidence that you will rise, because the Son of God rose and shines on you. Show them how Jesus shines on them, too.

Not every interaction will lead a whole nation to the light. But any interaction could lead to a chain reaction. Every lost sinner brought home brings with them more spiritual gifts, which leads to more light-reflecting, which leads more people to our light and brings more glory to God. To witness that, to even play some part in that, is a blessing that Isaiah says ought to make our hearts “throb and swell with joy.”[5]

The many WELS posters and publications we put out clearly show that chain reaction is happening in our own church body, and it’s happening here too. Look around you at the brothers and sisters here who have been brought in since you first came—and the brothers and sisters who first shared their faith with you. On our gloomiest days, God uses each one of us to reflect his light back at each other, so that every corner of our lives can be lit up with the comfort of forgiveness and the assurance of salvation.

For now, we still struggle at times to wake up and face this gloomy world, where darkness tries to creep back in. The sun still rises and sets, and life doesn’t always look as bright and cheery as we’d like it to. But we can keep rising and shining, knowing that the light God shines through his people and his Word gives us just a glimmer of the full, radiant glory in store for us, just over the horizon. When that day comes, the dawn of eternity, he will gather his people from all nations to walk where there will be neither sun nor moon, because the Lord will be our everlasting light. On that day, when our light comes again, we’ll hear that phrase one last time: “Rise—and shine!” Amen.

[1] Isaiah 60:2

[2] Isaiah 60:1

[3] Isaiah 60:3-4

[4] Matthew 2:2

[5] Isaiah 60:5