Woodlawn Evangelical Lutheran Church           

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

This past Wednesday we began another season of Lent.  That name comes from an OE word for spring lengkthen and is related to the fact that our daylight is getting longer and longer.  So it’s not really a theological or spiritual word.  But the season obvious is.  It’s a 40 day period of reflection and repentance.  Now if you count it out on the calendar it doesn’t seem that 40 days is correct from Ash Wednesday through Easter.  But as the church year calendar evolved, Christians didn’t count the Sundays during this period because they were considered mini-Easters, so that’s how the date for Ash Wednesday is set.

The reason that it is forty days comes from the section before us today, the period of time that Jesus was in the wilderness facing the temptations of Satan.  That’s also why Lent is a season of repentance and reflection.  Early Christians would fast, give up certain foods for those forty days to help them focus on the suffering and death of Jesus, his battle against Satan on our behalf so that our sins would be forgiven.  It’s also why the unfortunate traditions of Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras and Carnival all developed, as people tried to get in as much feasting and celebrating as they could before Lent began.

But for Christians who truly understand the focus of Lent, it’s not just a time for repentance and sadness over the fact that our sins were the cause behind Jesus’ suffering.  It’s also meant to be a time of joy and gladness, because through that work of our Savior we have been rescued.  We have been given hope and a future.  That’s wonderfully demonstrated in the events of our gospel reading.  These words give us a framework for what Jesus ministry was all about.  So I offer:

A LENTEN INVITATION TO ALL OF YOU

Relive the Warrior’s battle against your great spiritual enemy.  And also believe the message of victory that he proclaims.

I.

            When it says here that the Spirit sent Jesus into the desert “at once,” it means that this took place right after his baptism by John.  Remember how the Spirit had descended on him in the form of a dove, and how the Father had spoken from heaven, “You are my son whom I love, with you I am well-pleased.”  That marked the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.  So where does he go first?  Not to the capital city where all the movers and shakers of Judaism were.  Not to a place where he could draw big crowds, make a splash on the religious scene and gather a huge following.  Those things would come later.  Rather, he is led by the Spirit out into the wilderness of Judea to begin the battle with the enemy of God and man, the old evil foe that we just sang about, the head of the fallen angels, Satan, or the devil.  That’s what Jesus’ mission was all about, to take on and defeat our spiritual enemies – sin, death, Satan and hell.

            Though Mark doesn’t give us the details of the temptations here, it will be well for us to review them.  In the other gospel accounts we’re told of three specific temptations, but they seem to have come at the end of the forty days.  Mark’s words here imply that  Jesus, cut off from human contact and support, was engaged with Satan for the entire period of time out there in the wilderness. This was no small skirmish between Jesus and the devil.  Satan came after him over and over again.  The three that are recorded for us underscore the tactics used by our spiritual adversary, trying to get Jesus to give up his mission.

            Remember that Jesus was a real human being, God and man in one person.  As such he was subject to the same physical limitations that we are, getting tired and hungry and the like.  He truly was our substitute, tempted in every way, just as we are.  So when Satan comes to him with the seemingly innocent suggestion that he turn some stones to bread, that was a temptation for Jesus who had been going without food during this entire time.  “Go ahead, Jesus, use your supernatural powers to take care of yourself.  Think of your needs, your desires.  There wouldn’t be anything wrong with that,” that’s what Satan was implying.

            But Jesus knew what his top priority was.  It’s not the things of this world.  It’s not taking care of #1.  “Man does live on bread alone, he replied, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  He wasn’t going to misuse his divine powers for his own personal gratification.  Satan wanted to trick him into doing that.  But Jesus stayed focus on his father’s mission of saving the world.

            So, now Satan whisks Jesus away, to Jerusalem, to one of the pinnacles of the Temple, some 150 feet above the ground.  Satan even uses the Bible to try to trick Jesus, quoting form Psalm 91 that God would send the angels to protect Jesus if he jumped down.  “That’ll make a splash!  Think of the headlines!  Think of all the people who will flock to you.  Go ahead, Jesus.  Think of all the glory you’ll achieve.”  Those are the temptations behind Satan’s dare here. 

            But again Jesus foils Satan’s attempt.  Our great Warrior-King knows that his path to glory wasn’t through impressive displays of supernatural powers.  He was no Las Vegas magician out to make a name for himself, to put himself on the national stage.  Yes, he would use his power, but only to further his mission of winning hearts for heaven.  Yes, God’s angels are very real, and their work is to protect God’s people from harm.  And what a comfort they are!  But Jesus’ answer here shows us that we are not to be reckless in the way we live, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”  Follow God’s will and God’s ways and he will be there, as we heard in our reading from Romans, that nothing can separate us from his love, no matter what trials and dangers we face as we go through life.

            Having been foiled by Jesus again, Satan now comes at him with a bold and blatant lie.  Showing Jesus the kingdoms of this world in all their wealth and splendor, the devil said, “I’ll give it all to you if you’ll just bow down and worship me.”  “Listen, Jesus.  You can skip all the misery and the suffering and having to deal with those unreliable humans.  I can give it all to you in the blink of an eye.  Here’s the quick and easy path to your goal of having a great kingdom.  Just bow down and worship me.  It’s that easy!”

            “Away from me, Satan!” Jesus said.  The Bible says to worship the Lord and to serve him only.”  Never mind the fact that the kingdoms of this world already belong to God and to Jesus.  Satan may have some sway over the sinners who run things, who’s only goal is piling up wealth and prestige and power.  But this is God’s world.  He’s in control.  It’s all under his direction.  Nothing happens here without his knowledge.  Jesus’ mission was to free the world from the stranglehold of sin and death and Satan.  Jesus wasn’t going to let anything, no matter how appealing, to keep him from carrying that out.  His kingdom is not of this world, but one set up in hearts and souls, one focused, not on the here and now, but on eternal joy and happiness in heaven.  The route to that is not by listening to Satan, but by following Jesus and his word, by worshipping the one and only true God.

            It’s important for us to look at these temptations of Jesus at the beginning of the Lenten season for a couple of reasons.  First we see him as our substitute going about the work that was absolutely necessary for our salvation.  That was his mission and nothing was going to deter him.  Satan had to be defeated.  Our warrior-king met the enemy head on and defeated him in these temptations.

            And this was a precursor of the final battle that would take place three years later on a hill just outside Jerusalem.  There the war would be waged.  Pain and suffering, agony and even death would be inflicted on Jesus.  Satan would get the idea that he was coming out on top.  But when Jesus said from that cross, “It is finished,” that meant Satan’s days were numbered.  The war was already over.  The payment for sin was made.  And that was shown on Easter morning by Jesus’ triumphant resurrection from the grave.  The first thing he did that day was descend into hell and take a victory lap, displaying the fact that he had overcome sin, death, Satan and hell.

II.

            That’s what Lent is all about.  That’s why we encourage all of you to come for those special services that began this past Wednesday.  As we focus on Jesus’ suffering and death, we see that it was his love for us, despite our sinfulness, his love compelled him to go to that cross and fight for us.  His victory is our victory.  The freedom Jesus earned is our freedom.  The stranglehold of Satan has been broken.  We have freedom from the slavery to sin, death and hell.

            That brings us to the second half of our reading today.  After Jesus had been ministered to by angels, then he was ready to travel up and down Palestine with the good news of the kingdom of God, that the time had come for men and women of every age to prepare their hearts through repentance and to believe the good news that Jesus was that promised Messiah and Savior.  This was the core of his teaching, the second great goal of his ministry.  Now was the time for people to see in Jesus their only deliverer from sin, that he had come to bring them into the kingdom of God.

            Now, that was a term every God-fearing Jew was familiar with.  The idea of the kingdom was at the center of the OT, with the Messiah as the great king who would usher in that kingdom.  We’ve been looking at that extensively in our Saturday and Sunday Bible classes.  The details of this kingdom are all spelled out in the OT.  It would be a kingdom of perfect peace and justice, a kingdom where the people of God would be blessed tremendously.  In this kingdom their enemies would be dealt with, the Messiah’s throne would be established in Jerusalem and he would reign forever as the great descendent of King David. 

But many at Jesus’ time were thinking of this kingdom only in earthly terms.  They were looking for a Messiah who would drive out the Romans, who would bring prestige and prosperity to Israel and make it a player on the world stage again, as it had been under David and Solomon.  They only saw the Messiah as a king and general and judge in earthly terms. 

The fact that his kingdom would be set up in the hearts of people, that he would have to suffer and die to establish this kingdom, that the blessings and peace and justice were all meant in a spiritual sense, that many did not grasp.  When Jesus came preaching that the kingdom was near, that the time had come, many flocked to hear him.  But only a handful, a couple hundred at best, really understood that the kingdom of God is the rule of the Messiah in our hearts.  It’s a rule of law and gospel, moving us to repent of our sins and letting the Spirit work faith and trust.  It is in the heart that Jesus establishes his throne.  It is through faith in him that we find perfect peace and comfort, not just for this life, but for all eternity.  The justice that our warrior-king delivers is his victory over our spiritual enemies, a victory earned through his perfect life, completely withstanding Satan’s lies and temptations.  Through Jesus we have perfection, the washing away of our sins, the garment of salvation that is ours to wear as we enter the gates to the new Jerusalem, our eternal home in heaven.

That is what makes Lent so special for us.  We know how the story ends, with Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  We know the message of victory that is proclaimed to us, not just during Lent but throughout the year.  We have the gospel message that we can now use to fight off the temptations of the devil, of the world and of our own sinful nature.  We know that Jesus has won the battle for us and through faith in him we get to share in his victory.  That is why we will live for him, why we will fight sin and temptation.  We are in service to the Warrior-king.  Through word and sacrament we have been drawn into his kingdom of grace where forgiveness and love are the order of the day.  That is what moves us to serve him, to bring him the best of our offerings, to use our lives to spread the message of his victory.

So again, my invitation to you this Lenten season is to relive your Savior’s battle with sin and Satan.  Believe that what he did, he was doing as your substitute, so that Satan’s power over you would be done away with.  Believe that message of victory which we recount during our Lenten services.  Take advantage of those extra opportunities to see his love and power in action on your behalf.  Stand in humble awe before his cross and see there the culmination of his mission and the heart of his message.  Honor him as your victorious warrior-king.  AMEN.