This sermon was preached at Glenwood and Canoe Ridge Lutheran Churches, Decorah, Iowa on March 1, 2020. It’s based on Matthew 4:1-11. If you’d prefer to listen to it, find it at https://soundcloud.com/stacey-nalean-carlson.
Matthew 4:1-11
1Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4But he answered, “It is written,
‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
5Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
7Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; 9and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ”
11Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
Where were the angels as Jesus was accosted by the tempter?
I’m not sure I’ve ever asked that question of this text before, but it’s the question I’m asking now. Must Jesus, as the words of the familiar spiritual go, walk this lonesome valley alone? Does he have to face the tempter, stand the trial, by himself? Are the angels not allowed to help him until after he’s already passed the test?
Are the angels in this scene something akin to the volunteers who leap into action as you complete a long-distance race? The ones standing by with bananas and chocolate milk and a mylar blanket to wrap around your spent, shaking body? I guess it wouldn’t make sense for them to come offer all of that when you still have miles to go. Or would it?
I want the chocolate milk and the mylar blanket and the warmth of a companion on the journey when I’m still far off from the finish line. So it bothers me that the angels suddenly arrive only after the devil has left Jesus, only after he’s completed his wilderness marathon.
The scene just before this one ends with Jesus’ baptism. When Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
And what happens in the very next breath? Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
The Spirit descends and alights on him and then that same Spirit leads him into the wilderness for the sole purpose of being tempted.
I can’t decide if it’s incredibly awful or incredibly comforting that the water of his baptism is still dripping into his eyes when Jesus is led into the wilderness. On the one hand, what in the world? Is this what life looks like for the ones God names Beloved?
And on the other hand, isn’t this exactly what we know to be true in our own lives? Times of trial keep coming. They’re relentless. And it’s not just 40 days in the wilderness of grief and sorrow and struggle; it starts to feel like a lifetime.
So it’s a comfort—a strange consolation—to know that Jesus began his baptized life in the place where we live so many of our days. He began his ministry confronting the devil, the embodiment of all that wishes to do us harm, all that strives to make us rely on something—anything—other than God.
And though that old spiritual tells us otherwise, I do not believe Jesus was alone during that time of trial. Remember, the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness. And I have to believe that the Spirit didn’t just abandon Jesus when the devil arrived on the scene. No, I have to believe that the Spirit remained. I have to believe it was the Spirit who gave Jesus the words and the will to respond to the tempter as he did. And I have to believe that that same Spirit, poured out on us when we were baptized, remains with us in the wilderness too.
Later, after Jesus has spent his ministry reaching out to beloved ones in the wilderness of disease and demons and self-righteousness and shame…he prepares his disciples for their own wilderness time. He assures them that though he is leaving, returning to the Father, another is coming to be their strength in the wilderness. Jesus says, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
The Spirit abides with you. When you are tempted by pride, by arrogance, by self-reliance, the Spirit abides with you.
When you are tempted to give in to despair and guilt and shame, the Spirit stands by you.
When you are overwhelmed by wilderness days—famished for lack of spiritual nourishment, faint for lack of hope, for lack of time to simply be—the Spirit refuses to abandon you. The Spirit is in you, speaking truth in the face of all that wishes to do you harm, all that strives to make you rely on something—anything—other than God.
And the angels? Well, just look around. They’re not waiting until you finish the race. They’re showing up with chocolate milk and bananas, hot dishes and hugs, listening ears and laughter even in the face of fear.
They’re showing up for you in the wilderness of life, where your Savior has already spoken for you and the Spirit refuses to leave your side.
Thanks be to God. Amen.