In the Wilderness With the Son of God

Intro

Towards the end of the movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” King Arthur and his knights are faced with a test to show they are worthy to cross the Bridge of Death. This test consists of 3 questions: What is your name? What is your quest? And the third question varies, sometimes it’s “what is your favorite color?,” sometimes it’s “what is the capital of Assyria” or “what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.”

The reason I bring this up, is because Jesus in our Gospel text is also facing a test, a challenge to prove that he is worthy, and believe it or not, I think that what Jesus proves in this test can be summed up by three very similar questions: First, what is your name, that is, who are you? Second, “what is your quest or your purpose?,” and the third question is none of the ones mentioned above, but “what do you need to achieve your quest?”

By pondering how Jesus’ 40 days of fasting and spiritual battle in the wilderness answer these questions, I believe we will learn something about Jesus, and in a smaller way, also something about us as his followers in this Lenten season. What is Lent all about anyway? Why has the church felt the need to imitate Jesus and share in his 40 days of fasting and testing? I think considering these 3 questions will help us find out.

Who Are You?

The first question that Jesus’ temptation answers for us is “who is Jesus?”. And the answer to that question isn’t really a mystery or in doubt; the test simply serves to confirm an answer we’ve already been given. Who is Jesus? The voice of God the Father declared the answer to Jesus only one verse before our text: when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river, heaven opened to Jesus and the voice of God said, “this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Jesus is the Son of God from all eternity, totally beloved by God and utterly pleasing to him. And Satan uses that identity of Jesus as the basis of his first 2 temptations. Each of these temptations begins with the statement, “if you are the Son of God.” Now I don’t think that either Satan or Jesus really doubted that Jesus was the Son of God. The temptation to turn stones into bread wouldn’t have been much of a temptation if Jesus wasn’t reasonably certain he had divine power as the unique Son to transform matter. The question was whether Satan could shake that identity. Could Satan strain the relationship between Jesus and his Father by getting Jesus to misuse or abuse his Sonship? Any of these temptations would mean Jesus betraying what it meant for him to be the Son of God. He could put his human needs and hunger before the will of his Father, using his power for selfish motives. Or he could throw himself from a high place and force God to save him, making God his servant rather than the other way around. Or worst of all, He could give the loyalty and honor due to God to Satan instead, for just a fleeting moment. But Jesus never does. He truly is the Son eternally, and you can’t break the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. One commentator on this passage sums it up beautifully, “heaven is open above him, the Spirit alive within him, he is the well-loved Son; he’ll be alright.”

What does that have to do with Lent and with us? It answers the question of why we choose to imitate Jesus and want to follow in his footsteps. The only reason that we can face temptation, hardship, and self-denial is because Jesus already faced those things for us in our place, and he has shared his status as Son of God with us. You have been adopted as a child, a son or daughter of God. What Jesus is by nature, you are by grace. Your Baptism connects you to Jesus and to his baptism and his life and death and resurrection. Your Baptism gives you the same thing that it gave Jesus: a promise that you also are a beloved child, that you’re well-pleasing to God. The forgiveness of sins has made you pleasing and acceptable in God’s eyes, just like Jesus is. It’s just as true of you that heaven is open above you, the Spirit alive within you, you are a well-loved son or daughter, you’ll be alright. That’s why we choose to willingly accept hardship and discipline: we are sons and daughters of God, and we want to learn to be like our older brother, Jesus. And Hebrews tells us “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?” Your status as Son is secure because Jesus’ status is secure. Jesus passed a test that we never could to give us that status, so now you have what you need to face whatever smaller test or discipline that God sends to you.

What is Your Purpose?

So what are you facing? Now for the second question: What is your purpose or mission? The purpose of any son of God is to love God above all things and to love others, putting them above yourself. That is Jesus’ purpose too. In his earthly ministry, his mission was to use his power as the Son of God to save humanity, not to serve himself. The will of God was to save us, and Jesus put the will of God and our needs above his own. During these 40 days of testing, that meant going without basic necessities like food. In possibly the greatest understatement in the Bible, Matthew tells us that after 40 days without food, Jesus was hungry. No kidding. I don’t know whether this was something Jesus was only able to do through supernatural endurance, or just a natural feat of self-denial, but either way, his suffering must have been immense. And yet even so, he would not use an ounce of his power for himself to meet his very real human needs. He knew that that was not God’s will for him at this time. 3 times Satan invited him to put himself first, put his needs before his purpose, to seek food, or a personal proof of God’s faithfulness, or an easy way to the glory and riches of the world. But Jesus would not do it. Even though his human desires were very real and he felt them keenly, never once did those desires outweigh his desire to do the will of his Father.

What can you learn from this about your mission, your quest? Because Jesus remained faithful to his mission to save you and made you a child of God, you have the mission of loving God above all and loving others before yourself too. What does that mean for you right now, in these 40 days of Lent? For some of you, you may have chosen to do a fast, or give something up, following in Jesus’ footsteps in a small way. Good for you. No one is required to do that, but it’s a good and wholesome tradition. But if you have, keep in mind that the purpose of fasting is not for yourself, it is always to the purpose of teaching you to love God and love your neighbor. There are two things that should always accompany fasting in Christian tradition: prayer and giving to the poor. If you skip lunch for instance, you can devote the time you spend preparing and eating it to prayer, and you can give the money you would have spent to feed the poor. In that way your fast deepens your love for God, and helps your neighbor. If you think that you’re just improving yourself, or earning brownie points with God, then you’d be better off not doing it.

Even if you aren’t doing a self-chosen fast, you may be experiencing a particular hardship or temptation at this time. The fast that God chooses by laying the cross of suffering and testing on you is better than any fast that you choose anyway. If you are facing a time of testing this Lent, remember the status of Son that Jesus has given you. That is enough for you to stand up to the test. And don’t let Satan tempt you with what he tempted Jesus with in that second temptation: To presume upon the grace of God by forcing his hand. So often Satan tempts us when we are weak by saying, “is it not written, ‘every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people?” Go ahead and throw yourself off the cliff of sin. Do the selfish thing, the thing you know is wrong. Answer with what Jesus did, “it’s also written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” It is truly written that there is forgiveness for any sin you could commit. But to test God’s grace is not the way for a forgiven Son or Daughter of God to behave when the test or temptation comes upon them.

What Do You Need?

So finally, to our last question, “what do you need to face the test?” What is your equipment? Let’s look at what Jesus used to face his test and defeat the devil. Jesus needed no miracles, no weapons, not even a scrap of food to stand up to the devil. He faced down all the might of the evil one with only two things: His Baptism and the words of Scripture. Jesus needed no proof other than the promise made at his Baptism that he was the beloved Son of God. That was enough. And when he answered Satan’s temptations, he could have spoken a new and clever word with divine authority to defeat him. But he didn’t. He needed nothing more than the words of Scripture written down so long before. Each temptation was foiled with words from Deuteronomy 6-8, the same words that God gave Israel when he tested them in the wilderness. If they were good enough for Israel, they were good enough for Jesus.

So what do you need to face whatever temptation, whatever fast, whatever wilderness you’re in this Lent? The same things that Jesus did: The promise of your Baptism and the Scriptures. Word and Sacrament. Nothing more. Now it’s true, you have other needs, like food to survive. Jesus needed food desperately; he knew it, and God knew it. But he didn’t need it more than Baptism and the Words of God. That’s why he teaches us not to worry about food or clothing, because God knows that we need these things, and he tells us “seek first the kingdom of God,” the kingdom that comes through Word and Sacrament, and all these things (food, clothes, whatever else you need) will be added to you. The last verse of our text shows that God gave Jesus exactly what Satan tempted him to seek, in God’s own time and his own way: God commanded his angels concerning Jesus, and they ministered to him, which means they brought him the food that he refused to create by his own power. Jesus sought first the kingdom of God, and the rest was added to him. The same is true for you. There may be many things that you feel that you cannot do without. But rest assured that you don’t need them more than you need to rest in your Baptism and the word of God. And God knows that you need them too. He will supply you with whatever you need this Lent.

Conclusion

So then, answer me these questions three! What is your name? A Son of God, well-pleasing to him because of Jesus. What is your quest? To love God above all things and your neighbor as yourself. And what do you need? Your Baptism and the Words of Scripture. When you remember that, you’ll be just fine this Lent. Even if you don’t know the capital of Assyria.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.