The First Sunday in Lent (Invocavit)

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In today’s Gospel text, we read of our Lord’s forty day fast in the wilderness and His temptations by the devil. Here our Lord does battle with the devil and overcomes him. Here our Lord stands in the place of ancient Israel, whose forty-year wandering in the wilderness included numerous temptations, to which ancient Israel fell prey. But where Israel failed, Christ remains faithful. He will not give into the devil’s temptations to forego the suffering of the cross. For this is why He was born. This is why He was baptized. By His fasting, Christ overcame the devil for us. For the Holy Spirit has led Him out into the wilderness for this purpose. And the Holy Spirit will continue to lead Him to the fulfillment of God’s plan of redemption for humanity which will culminate in the cross.

Today’s text affords us opportunity for further reflection on the topic of fasting, which we began to consider on Ash Wednesday. There we considered the necessity of Christian fasting according to our Lord’s command: “When you fast…” (Matthew 6:16a, 17a). We said that Christians fast from things that are not sinful to help us learn how to fast from things that are sinful. Most fundamentally, fasting is done in its literal sense—that is fasting from food. By refraining from eating food for a period of time—whether that be for a single meal, for an entire day, or, in our Lord’s case, for forty days—by refraining from eating food for a period of time, the Christian seeks to train himself to say “no” to the impulses of the flesh. Since gluttony is a particularly significant temptation in our world today, fasting from food is probably a wise practice for all Christians to at least consider, lest our belly become our ultimate God.

But there is a type of fasting which is more metaphorical than literal. This type of fasting can be equally as beneficial for Christians who struggle with sins beyond gluttony. This is a type of fasting which is more properly called abstention, by which a Christian seeks to train the body without foregoing food entirely. Such abstention can be from food—like abstaining from meat or alcohol. Or such abstention can be from other things—such as abstaining from social media, from the news, from secular music, from physical intimacy, from warm showers, from a bad habit, and the like. These kinds of abstention can be a great tool for Christians who are seeking to curb sinful impulses and flee from sin. Abstention is a great place to start for someone who is not ready or able to fast from food.

But the distinction between fasting and abstention is not the most important distinction when we talk about Christian fasting. For thus far we have only spoken of one kind of fasting—fasting which a Christian chooses for the purpose of fighting against sin and learning the virtue of temperance. This fasting from things that are not sinful is undertaken by the Christian in order to help us learn how to fast from things that are sinful and to prepare us for the second kind of fasting. Again, we spoke at length about this first kind of fasting and its necessity in the Christian life on Ash Wednesday. You can go back and listen to the recording of that sermon online or pick up a printed copy of the sermon in the narthex by the Portals of Prayer.

But there is another kind of fasting. This second kind of fasting is not something that we choose for ourselves. It is the kind of fasting that God lays upon us; and it must be borne patiently. This kind of fasting which is laid upon us by God is of another nature entirely. This is the kind of fast which we see in today’s Gospel text. We read:

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry (Matthew 4:1-2).

Here is Christ alone in the wilderness. He has nothing to eat. All He can do is to willingly suffer whatever God lays upon Him. The first kind of fasting of which we spoke—the kind which a man chooses for himself in order to fight against sin—this kind of fasting can be ended whenever one wills. It can be satisfied by food. But the kind of fasting which God lays upon a man must be observed and borne until God Himself changes it and satisfies us. So it is that this second kind of fasting is more precious than the first because it is a gift of God Himself.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was led into the wilderness by the Spirit. He did not choose this path, though He did go willingly. He desired to be led by the Spirit, for the Apostle writes: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8:14). In love, the Spirit leads the Son into the wilderness to be tested, tried, and tempted. In the wilderness, a fast is laid upon our Lord that no man can bear alone. In fact, only the Old Testament pillars Moses and Elijah were able to bear a forty day fast. Just as these Old Testament saints were supernaturally sustained during their forty day fast, so too was our Lord. But unlike Moses and Elijah, our Lord fasted for us.

So it is that this narrative is written for our instruction, so that we would know how Christ has served and helped us by His fasting, hunger, temptation, and victory. For Christ, having been laden with the sins of mankind in His baptism, was immediately cast out into the wilderness (cf. Mark 1:12). There He fasted and bore the pain of human hunger. There He was tempted by the devil. And there He overcame him, just as He would soon overcome death and the devil by the cross. For here on the first Sunday in Lent, we are given a sneak peak into Holy Week. This is the preliminary sparring match between Christ and the devil. There on Calvary’s cross, the confrontation will reach its climax. On Thursday evening, Christ would eat His final meal before His suffering and death. Then He entered His final, climactic fast. And as Psalm 91 foretells a mere one verse after the devil’s deceptive citation, Christ will crush the serpent’s head:

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: The young lion and the dragon shalt Thou trample under feet (Ps. 91:13).

Through His fasting and temptation, Christ has overcome the devil, just as He has promised: “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). The prowling lion (cf. 1 Peter 5:8) no longer has ultimate power over God’s saints. The dragon’s destruction is assured (cf. Revelation 12). The serpent who once overcame by the tree of the garden will now be overcome by the tree of the cross (Proper Preface). Therefore, suffering and temptation cannot destroy those who belong to Christ. For God, who was able to nourish Christ forty days without any food, will also nourish His Christians in this earthly life.

But this narrative was also written for our admonition, that we may learn to cheerfully suffer those things which God lays upon us. If our Lord was baptized and was immediately given to fasting and temptation, how can we expect any different? If Christ, who is the eternally beloved of His Father, had fasting laid upon Him, we too will have fastings laid upon us by our heavenly Father.

Therefore, dear friends in Christ, do not loose heart when the Lord lays upon you sufferings and struggles in this life. Though it may seem more than you can bear, though it may seem unfair that He lays these things upon you one after another with no end in sight, though it may seem like these sufferings are a sign of God’s displeasure and punishment, be encouraged. Christ also endured fastings which were laid upon Him by the Lord. He endured hunger and sleepless nights. He endured pressure from others and unending hostility. He was tried and tempted by Satan. And though He would have undoubtedly been tempted to believe that these sufferings were a sign of God’s displeasure, yet the Word of God at Christ’s baptism remained true: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).

You who have been baptized into Christ can be assured that this is true of you also. On account of Christ, God the Father is well pleased with you. Though you are a sinner who surely deserves nothing but punishment, Christ has fasted in your place. He has overcome sin, death, and the devil for you. And on account of His shed blood, you are pleasing to our heavenly Father. The fastings that He lays upon you are not a sign of His displeasure. Rather, they are a sign of His love. For: He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32).

And so, dear friends in Christ, let us cheerfully suffer hardship, temptation, and fasting for the service of God and the good of our neighbor just as Christ did for us. And let us do so as often as God requires it. But in all things, let us commend ourselves to God:

…in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings, by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things (2 Corinthians 6:4b-10).

God grant it.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.