Homily for Lent 1-Invocabit (2020)

"Save Us from Temptations!"
Matthew 4:1-11

Listen here.

“We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). Is it any wonder you struggle in trusting God above all things? And if you experience little or no struggle, you’d better wonder if you’ve been tempted into slumber in the midst of the battle. We all face temptations; we cannot avoid them. The question is: how shall we deal with them?

In our 21st century mindset, we think of our selves as unique. We presume we are the first ones to experience the things we experience. This may be true of cars, computers and this new thing called “coronavirus.” But not of things that matter more—things such as identity, security and meaning, or life and death, or matters of trust and temptations. As St. Paul said: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man” (1 Cor. 10:13). Adam and Eve first set the pattern for temptations. Then the children of Israel—God’s own chosen people—lived in that pattern. We also toe the temptation line, trapped in the same pattern.

In the Garden of Eden, God graciously created Adam and Eve to be His perfect children, the crown of His creation. But the sly satanic foe disrupted their perfect fear, love, and trust in God. He created doubt in Eve’s heart and head. He unbuckled her from God’s Word. He promised her something seemingly better than God Himself had given. “You’ll be like God,” he claimed. Then Eve noticed the forbidden fruit. And three things about temptation jump out: 1) the fruit was good for food, 2) it was a delight to the eyes, and 3) it was desirable to make one wise. So, “she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate” (Gen. 3:6). By that eating came death!

Bread temptations are common to God’s people. The Israelites had been rescued from Egyptian slavery. Out in the barren wilderness they needed food. God graciously provided them with daily, nourishing, honey-tasting manna. But somehow that was not good enough. They moaned and groaned, griped and complained. “We want something different, something tastier!” they cried. The bread of God’s freedom wasn’t good enough. They longed for the spicy food of slavery again. Longing for something different and tastier, they showed how they despised God and His Word of promise. They too had become unbuckled from God’s Word.

We also have our bread temptations. We may not be hungry; in fact, we may be too full—too full on the daily bread of physical life. Our food, our possessions, our bank accounts, our retirement funds, our physical comfort, and our momentary happiness tend to get in the way of life with God. All too often we fear, love, and trust these things more than God. In our hearts and heads God must make us happy and keep us happy with a certain standard of living and ease of life. But we’re only showing how we too are unbuckled from God and His Word—not trusting God when He says He will provide.

Temptations are also delightful to the eyes. Whatever fruit it was in the Garden, its plumpness cried out, “Pick me!” But what really looked good to Adam and Eve was the glory of being “like God.” Why settle for being under God and His care when you can be like Him and on His level? How blind they were! Weren’t they already created in God’s image and likeness?

Such eye-delighting temptations also blinded the Israelites. They did not like what they saw in the wilderness, so they rebelled against God and His servant Moses. They feared the size and strength of the people they would conquer for the Promised Land. So they whined and griped some more. And spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness for their rebellion. God’s wrath is severe when you give into temptations, when you want to live by sight, not by faith.

We too want to live by sight, not by faith in the Son of God. We lust to see measurable proof and progress in our faith life—that we’re better people for all our efforts. We long to see the Church be successful and welcomed by worldly standards. We want to put God on the spot and make sure He will really do what Scripture promises, at least the way we think it should happen. We want Him to take care of coronavirus right here and right now. And until then, we’ll join in the hand-wringing. Actually, what we’re doing is lusting to see ourselves in control, in authority, and being “like God.” But God doesn’t much like it when we make a run for His throne.

Back in the Garden, Eve also thought, in her religious mind, that the piece of fruit would be good for gaining wisdom. No longer was God the source of wisdom for her; the created fruit was. No longer was her total trust and devotion directed to God; it was instead pointed to a piece of fruit. It was a wisdom-worship temptation.

The people of Israel also failed to worship only the one, true Triune God. Instead, they put Him to the test. “Prove Yourself, God,” was their constant cry. Instead of enduring the wilderness and gladly receiving the manna and trusting God’s promises, they were trying to make God bow to them and their demands. Remember the golden calf?

We also seek to gain wisdom by seeking glory apart from God. We seek it by means of worldly honor, power, and glory. “God, if you love me, take away my sickness, pain or suffering. God, why is my life so topsy-turvy? It should be easier and better than this.” Such pleas sound faithful and wise. Too often, though, we do try to control God. “Lord, look how good I’ve been this week. Look how well I’ve tended to my family. Look how well I worked at my job.” We want the glory and we expect God to work according to our wishes. But we surely deserve nothing but punishment.

So today’s Gospel comes as pure comfort and sheer joy. Jesus is tempted just as you are—with bread temptations, delight-to-the-eye temptations, and wisdom-worship temptations. Satan tries putting doubt in Jesus’ head, but Satan loses and Jesus wins the battle. He is the only Person who overcomes temptations. He is the only One to overcome your temptations!

Jesus overcomes the bread temptations. He sees the need for food, clothing, and so on. But He does not let bread consume God. You see, your identity and meaning in life come not from diet, possessions or lifestyle, but as a gift from God. Jesus Himself is the bread of life from heaven. He bakes and breaks Himself on the cross and feeds you, His people, on Himself. His Body and His Blood are the real food of heaven, the manna that sustains you to face your temptations. By this eating comes real life!

Jesus overcomes the delight-to-the-eye temptations. He doesn’t let the glittery traps of worldly kingdoms distract Him. In Jesus’ kingdom, glory comes after suffering. Jesus’ horrible suffering and bloody death on the cross bring you the true and genuine glory in God’s eyes. His gift of glory is the glory of forgiveness for you. His gift of authority is the authority to speak and live that forgiveness with one another. That’s what Jesus’ Church is all about—relying on and living in Jesus’ spoken Word of forgiveness. Jesus’ forgiveness overcomes all your temptations.

And Jesus overcomes the worldly-wisdom temptations. He does not need to test God and look for a way around suffering. He goes right through the middle of it. He absorbs the pain and the shame, the punishment and the disgrace. Most of all, Jesus absorbs God’s wrath for you. He is obedient to God even to the point of death. That’s what makes Jesus the solution, the help, the medicine, and the victor to your temptations. Jesus knows that wisdom comes in trusting God, not in testing Him. Jesus’ perfect trust makes up for your faltering trust.

So Jesus reverses and overcomes the pattern of temptations. Even as you are tempted and distressed, battered, bruised and beaten by the satanic foe, you may hold on to your Lord. Even as you seek to resist temptations, don’t look to your own feeble efforts to save yourself. Instead, look to Christ. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Yes, our temptations are common to all people. But “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13). That way of escape is your Lord Jesus Himself. Amen.

Homily for Lent 1 - Invocabit (2019)

Victory Over Temptation
Matthew 4:1-11

Satan tempts and tests Jesus, but Jesus wins the eternal victory over all temptation. For you! Today’s episode in the life of Jesus replays and reverses the temptation of our first parents in paradise. There the tempter enticed Eve with the forbidden fruit and the prospect of being “like God.” Eve “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise” (Gen. 3:6). Adam and Eve both gave in to the temptation to be more spiritual than physical, attempted to be “like God,” and plunged God’s good world into sin, chaos, unbelief, despair, and death.

But our Lord Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true Man, born of the Virgin Mary, came to reverse this Fall. He came to do battle with Satan, win back God’s creation, and restore you to life with God. On this First Sunday in Lent, we see two powerful princes engaging each other in battle. It’s the prince of this world vs. the King of heaven. They engage in a brutal battle over you, your life, and your soul. Today we see how Jesus wins the victory over sin, temptation, and the devil for you.

Each of us must endure a variety of temptations. Some may be easy to resist, but others hold you as captive as a prisoner of war. And those temptations wear down your resistance until finally you break down and give in. So, as we begin the season of Lent, here’s your invitation to enroll in Jesus’ school for training warriors. Today you are beginners as you battle your temptations, but come Easter you will be victorious, without any merit or worthiness in you.

In this lifelong struggle against temptations we learn to pray: “Lead us not into temptation.” And you know what this means: “God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally over come them and win the victory.”

We constantly fight against three things. As Luther said in the Large Catechism: “Temptation…is of three kinds: of the flesh, the world, and the devil.” (LC III:101). What kinds of temptations bedevil us under these headings?

First, Luther says, “We live in the flesh and carry the old creature around our necks; it goes to work and lures us daily into unchastity, laziness, gluttony and drunkenness, greed and deceit, into acts of fraud and deception against our neighbor…. All this often wounds and inflames even an innocent heart.” (LC, III:102)

How does this play out in your life? Yes, you have “the old creature” hanging around your neck. Day by day, hour by hour that little sinner that lives inside you lures you into many sins. You may be lazy as you spend countless hours in front of the TV or keeping up with Facebook. You may get up and go to work with frustration raging in your heart or fatigue grinding you to the bone. Maybe you have one too many drinks after dinner, or maybe your gluttony shows in eating more than you need, or buying those new clothes just because they’re “in” this year.

Just as our sinful nature tempts us, the world also entices us. Luther says the world “assails us by word and deed and drives us to anger and impatience. In short, there is in it nothing but hatred and envy, enmity, violence and injustice, perfidy, vengeance, cursing, reviling, slander, arrogance, and pride, along with fondness for luxury, honor, fame, and power. For no one is willing to be the least, but everyone wants to sit on top and be seen by all.” (LC, III:103)

Sounds like Luther is describing the politicians, the pundits, the Hollywood elites, and many others in news stories of our day! The world despises you because you love and confess Jesus. The world would much rather teach you to follow your own pride and seek your own fame. And, like little pieces of filet mignon, you and I baste in the poisonous juices of this proud, arrogant, evil, corrupt world. You are constantly tempted to get along with the world, and most of the time that means downplaying your faith and confession of Christ. It’s often expressed in the slogan, “Can’t we all just get along?” when people want to downplay religious differences and keep Jesus on the sideline of life.

The third way we are tempted, Luther says, is by the devil himself. “Then comes the devil, who baits and badgers us on all sides, but especially exerts himself where the conscience and spiritual matters are concerned. His purpose is to make us scorn and despise both the Word and the works of God, to tear us away from faith, hope, and love, to draw us into unbelief, false security, and stubbornness, or, on the contrary, to drive us to despair, denial of God, blasphemy, and countless other abominable sins.” (LC, III:104).

Whenever you are tempted to think and feel that God is not good—even unfair—you can be sure that the devil is firing his assault rifles at you. Whenever you treat God’s Word lightly and think that you really don’t need to read and study it at home, the devil is trapping you in his minefield. Whenever you flex your spiritual muscles and think that you don’t need to confess your specific sins—to God or privately to your pastor—the devil has made a successful strike to keep you from enjoying Jesus and His blood-bought forgiveness. Remember what St. Peter said: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Pet. 5:8).

Temptations all around, some like hidden terrorist snipers and others like suicide car bombers causing as much damage as they can! “As long as we remain in this vile life, we are attacked, hunted, and harried on all sides.” (LC, III:105)

But don’t despair! Let today’s Gospel of Jesus conquering temptation give you comfort, joy, and hope. Satan entices hungry Jesus with food, but Jesus relies on “every word that comes from the mouth of God.” When Satan uses God’s Word to lure Jesus into showing off His trust in God, Jesus refuses to test the Lord His God. And then Satan tempts Jesus with immediate success in His mission of saving the world, but Jesus refuses to misplace His worship. “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”

Notice how Jesus resisted the devil simply by using God’s Word. You too can resist Satan and His hellish temptations by hearing, reading, marking, learning and taking God’s Word to heart. The more you cling to God in His Word, the more your Lord Jesus arms and equips you in this battle. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” (Eph. 6:12-13)

But Jesus does more than just give you good strategies for defeating the devil. He actually wins the victory for you and in your place. Not only does He win the temptation battle in the wilderness, but He also wins the whole cosmic war by agonizing and bleeding and suffocating on the cross. You don’t need to give in to Satan’s hollow, empty promises, because Jesus is your daily bread, His victory is your success, and He does reign over the whole world by His cross-won grace and mercy.

So today Jesus draws you to God’s Word as God’s food. As you hear the Gospel you are strengthened to resist temptations and you are forgiven when you fall. Through the washing of your Baptism you are made the “sons of God,” and that strengthens you to deflect the doubts that Satan would try to sow in you. And through Christ’s Body and Blood on the altar, you are nourished and fortified to trust His forgiveness and resist all temptations.

Luther said, “We Christians must be armed and expect every day to be under continuous attack.” (LC, III:109) He also said, “We cannot prevent the birds from flying over our heads, but we can prevent them from building nests in our hair.” Your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has conquered the old satanic foe for you. When you pray to God that you may finally overcome temptations and win the victory, remember that Jesus has already answered your prayer. In His gory, bloody death, He won the eternal victory for you. In His life-giving, soul-strengthening water, Word, and meal, He sustains you in His victory over temptation. Amen.

Homily for Lent 1 - Invocabit - 2017

"To the Throne of Grace"
Matthew 4:1-11

Listen here.

We have an enemy who loves to parade around as our friend. He’s very slick, even quite appealing. But he is absolutely dangerous. He doesn’t just wish you pain; he wants you to have pain that never ends, suffering untold, agony unquenched. He wants to devour you, inside and out. And he’s not some fictitious monster dreamed up by a Hollywood film-maker. You can take all the fantasy monsters, roll them into one, and you still won’t even begin to touch the evil of this enemy, our old evil foe.

He first appeared to Eve as a serpent, and as her buddy. He asked, “Did God really say?” He appeared completely on her side when he said, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Very slick! He never told her to eat it. He never handed it to her or coaxed her. He just planted that insidious seed of doubt. “Did God really say?” And he did something even more dangerous. He gave that oh-so-subtle suggestion that God may not be entirely honest with you. He suggested without saying it that God is holding something back from you, and holding you back yourself. And with the hook firmly set, he just waited for the play on the line, and then he had them. Not just Eve, but Adam with her.

And not just them. He also had US! You see, we are in them, in our first parents. Their disease of doubt and their infection of faithless distrust are also ours. The contagion of death that they embraced has also been passed on to us like a congenital birth defect.

They were riddled with conflict between themselves—blaming each other, blaming God, blaming the serpent. Blaming anyone else would do! They were expelled from the Garden, and they would struggle through all the days of their life knowing where they would end up. How terrifying it sounds: “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” And, if you want the real terror of those words, remember what God had said to the serpent: “on your belly you shall go, and DUST you shall eat all the days of your life.” The serpent would eat dust. Adam and Eve would be that dust! Yes, they would be serpent food. And, again, we are with them. We too are headed for the dust from which we came…and we too are serpent food. St. Peter tells us the same thing, but he refers to the enemy as a lion: “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 3:8).

Then comes today’s Gospel reading. Imagine what it was like for our ancient foe when he first met flesh and blood that would not cave into his deadly insinuations. Again the insidious seed of doubt: “IF you are the son of God….” Again, he did not outright say it; he merely suggested it. “Come on! You can’t really be God’s beloved Son, can You? Look where you are: wandering out here, all alone, in the wilderness, hungry and starving, parched and famished.” Three times the tempter assaults Him—once with hunger, once with pride, and once with riches. And three times the tempter is rebuffed. Three times he is silenced by the bold, confident words of the Word made Flesh. Three times “It is written” rings from the mouth of Him who is the Word of God made dust for us. And stung by this defeat, the devil withdraws from Jesus, but only for a time.

Yes, the enemy will be back. The enemy will again invite Him to distrust the Father. This time it will be as He hangs on the tree. Jesus will hear the words “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Mt. 26:40). A different voice, but the same mind, the same insidious suggestion. The evil foe says, “You cannot trust Your Father or His goodness. He has forsaken You! You cannot trust His promises to You. See where they land you? Give up! Despair! ‘Curse God and die!’ (Job 2:9). You will be my food too!”

But Jesus does not despair, not in the wilderness, and certainly not from the cross. Instead, He trusts with absolute trust. He believes with absolute confidence that the Father’s will is good, that He is the Father’s beloved Son, and that His Father will not abandon Him even in death. He trusts that through His death the Father will bring the children of dust back to the immortality that He had planned for them from the beginning. David’s prayer centuries earlier was also His prayer: “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol” (Ps. 16:10). And His Father did not abandon Him there!

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, and ahead of today’s Gospel. Even though Jesus was tempted, He did not give in. Oh, He was truly tempted to be sure. He certainly felt the pangs hunger, the allurement of pride, the glitter of the world. But He was also armed with the Word, unlike Adam and Eve and all of their children, including us. He stood firm and endured the test to its very end. This One who does not give in to temptation at all now feels the full, cumulative weight of all temptations pressing down on Him. We usually cave long before we feel even a smidgeon of it; but He knew and felt it all.

And that brings us to the soothing sweetness of our second reading. “We have a great High Priest…Jesus, the Son of God”—true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true Man, born of the Virgin Mary. He “has passed through the heavens” and now He stands before the Father as our Righteousness. Look to Him, for He knows and feels everything you go through. He knows and feels all the temptations you experience—all those temptations by which Satan would lead you away from Him, promising all kinds of fun and good times and then laughing in your face as he devours you for eternity. Look to Jesus, because He has known those same temptations through to the bitter end for you. Look to Him, “because He Himself has suffered when tempted,” and “He is able to help [you] who are being tempted” (Heb. 2:18). Look to Him, because He has said “No!” to all of them for you. Look to Him, because He can sympathize with your every weakness, your every impulse to distrust God and to rely on yourself. Not only does He understand; He also reveals that temptation is a dead-end road and the enemy only wants to seduce you to destroy you.

Instead, your Lord and Savior calls you to come to Him, to His “throne of grace,” where you will find “mercy and grace to help in time of need.” And where is this “throne of grace”? Look right up here at His holy Altar! Here your great High Priest reaches out to you and gives you the sacrifice which He offered once for all to His Father, the sacrifice that is the ransom price of your soul and body. He gives you the Body and Blood of His sacrifice so that you may have forgiveness, so that He may enter you and fill you. Flee to Him, and you flee to the One Man who could not and did not fall to Satan’s temptations.

Think of that! In this One Man, this New Adam, and only in Him, is there full and free forgiveness for every time you have yielded to the tempter and fallen. In Him and only in Him do you have strength for the ongoing battle. And, yes, in Him and only in Him do you have full, final, and lasting victory.

Let’s not forget perhaps the most important expression of all: “Let us then with confidence draw near.” With confidence? Yes, with strong faith. He does not call you to Himself as slaves who cringe and cower. No, He calls you to be His beloved sisters and brothers who receive His heavenly inheritance. It’s the inheritance He has obtained by sharing our flesh and blood and going to a cross, and He gives it to you in His Body and Blood.

Yes, you DO have an enemy. You DO have a malevolent spirit intent on destroying and devouring you. He is mightier than you, and full of wickedness. Never underestimate him! But your Savior Jesus Christ is stronger than your enemy. Your Savior Jesus Christ knows you inside and out, and He sympathizes with you in your weaknesses. He calls you to His “throne of grace” to receive the only help that dwarfs the power of your enemy. Your Savior’s help is like the ocean, and the devil’s temptations are like little sparks. Those sparks fall on the ocean of Jesus’ help and they are extinguished. By yourself and in yourself, you don’t stand a chance against your enemy. But in and by Christ Jesus, united to Him as you trust the promises of your Father, you are “able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm” (Eph. 6:13). Here’s the throne of grace. What are we waiting for? Amen.