21 February 2021
Text: Matt 4:1-11 (Gen 3:1-21, 2 Cor 6:1-10)
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
Our readings call to mind two battles in the same war. This is an ongoing war between mankind and the devil. In the first battle, when Satan tempted Adam and Eve, the devil emerged victorious. And this was the most costly defeat in the history of warfare. For not only were Adam and Eve cast out of their land, not only did they both lose their lives – our entire planet was destroyed and every human being who has ever lived since has been killed, and is mortal, as a result.
What was once perfect is now chaotic. Peace has been replaced by strife and conflict. Love has given way to selfishness and hatred. The abundance of the earth is now gone, with scarcity and struggle left behind in its stead. Our world is now one marked by prey and predator, by slave and master, by victim and oppressor, by attacker and defender. Satan’s victory nearly destroyed every shred of our humanity, and no son of Adam is without the curse.
Except one.
After the great rebellion in the garden, God confronted Adam with the words we heard on Ash Wednesday: “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” We are cursed by hard labor and by thorny ground. Our family lives are cursed by strife, and mothers suffer on account of bearing children. But the most ominous curse was given to the devil, the tempter who made war on the pinnacle of the Lord’s creation. For though Satan got the best of this man Adam, there will be a rematch of sorts, a coming offspring, that is, the Seed of the woman. And this man to come will deliver a death blow to the head of the serpent, but the serpent would likewise strike the heel of this his victim.
Four thousand years would elapse before this epic battle would be reengaged between the Seed of the woman and the devil. Satan would be unsuccessful in killing the Christ child by means of his servant Herod. And our Gospel today chronicles another skirmish leading up to the climactic battle. On this occasion, the New Adam, the Seed of the Woman, the promised one is “tempted by the devil.” Satan hopes for a knockout blow, a quick defeat that will destroy the Seed of the woman before He will be able to smash the serpent’s head.
Three times, the devil tempts Jesus the way he tempted Adam. First, he tempts Jesus with hunger, for He had been fasting. Our Lord defeats the serpent with Scripture. Second, he tempts Jesus with putting God to the test. Our Lord defeats the serpent a second time with Scripture. Finally, he tempts Jesus by an appeal to power. Our Lord defeats the serpent yet a third time by Scripture. Our Lord casts out the defeated devil, as He is the incarnate Word of God and He throws the Word of God into the devil’s face. And “the devil left Him.”
But Satan has not at this point been defeated once and for all. That is yet to come, dear friends. For the heel of our Lord will be bruised by an enormous spike on the cross. And yet, in His crucifixion and death, Jesus will deliver a mortal blow to the head of the serpent. Our victorious Lord overturns the lost battle of the first Adam, the defeat that we still suffer today. And His triumph happens dramatically, snatching victory from the apparent defeat of dying on the cross. For Jesus defeats Satan by obedience to the Father and in love toward us. In shedding His blood, He redeems us and all of creation from the sins of Adam, right down to our own sins. We are forgiven and freed, and we are given the promise of eternal life in a new heaven and a new earth, with the tempter being thrown into the lake of fire.
And though Jesus has won the victory, although He declared “It is finished,” we are still waiting for the consummation of this new creation. And so we wait, dear friends, working while it is still daylight, bringing the Good News to any and all who will listen, who will join our Lord’s victory, and who want to take part in the crushing of the serpent’s head.
Satan still tempts us, but he does so as a condemned prisoner on death row. He still wants to draw us away from the Father, he still wishes to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, he still seeks to counter the work of the Holy Spirit in keeping us in the one true faith, and in the promise given to us at our baptism. But he is but a snarling dog on a leash. He cannot hurt you without your own consent, dear friends. He is a fearsome enemy, but he is a defanged and declawed enemy. He can frighten us, and he could trick us if we allow it – but he cannot defeat our victorious Lord. He cannot take away our eternal life.
And while we wait for our Lord’s return, we are given grace to turn back to our Lord, resisting Satan like our Lord, using the Holy Scripture as a sword, and resisting the devil’s attempts to rob us of our salvation. We continue to preach the Gospel to any who will listen, offering the free grace of forgiveness, life, and salvation by the blood of Jesus to all who hunger and thirst for righteousness. We join St. Paul in preaching, “Now is the favorable time. Now is the day of salvation.” We invite still more to join us in the ark of the church, for the door is still open, and though time is fleeting, anyone can come in and enjoy the protection of our Lord. All are welcome!
And though the devil is defeated, we still live with his troubles for the time being, as St. Paul lists: “afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger” – and everything else that mars this once-perfect world. But in Christ, we fight back with these gifts of God: “purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, and genuine love.” And this happens “by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left, through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise.”
Dear friends, don’t grow discouraged at this late hour. Jesus has won the battle. He shows you exactly how to resist. Use the Word of God to beat back the crafts and assaults of the devil. Hear the Word read and preached. Fortify yourself by taking the Holy Sacrament. Comfort yourself in your baptism and in the promise that God made to the devil, that “first gospel” in which He promised to avenge us, and in which Jesus delivered the death blow to the old evil foe at the cross.
In good times and bad, through life and death, when we are strong and when we are weak, let us look to the Word of God, for the promises in Scripture are fulfilled in Jesus, and our faith will be strengthened and steeled for battle. And when your back is against the wall, and the serpent bares his fangs in your face, look to our Lord Jesus Christ, and command the devil, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.”
Look to the cross, where the first battle of Eden was avenged, and where we were liberated from Satan’s tyranny. Call upon the Lord to save you, and be ready for His coming. Give no quarter to the devil, and pay no heed to his temptations. And even as the angels came and ministered to Jesus, so too do they come to our aid, dear friends.
Let us use this holy season to discipline ourselves for battle and to joyfully await the Lord’s coming in glory.
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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