Thrown Out and Patched Up

INVOCAVIT

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT

February 18, 2018

ST. MATTHEW 4:1,11 + ST. MARK 1:12–13

Our Savior Is Thrown Out and Patched Up

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

Would you rather watch the first ten minutes of a movie or the last ten minutes? You don't get to watch the middle. You can only choose the beginning or the end. Which one do you choose?

I don't know what the question is supposed to tell you about yourself, other than being a good discussion starter with your friends. My conditioned response is to choose the first ten minutes, conditioned because most films these days put a lot of action into the start to hook you in. The endings these day are hit or miss because most major motion pictures these days never end. To wit, the best part of any comic book is rarely the ending, but instead the little teaser scene that sets up the next movie that runs after the end credits.

A possible exception to this rule is when watching documentaries, films about real people and events. If the documentary has a done its job, the story presented builds to a conclusion that is worth the wait.

Happily the real events of Jesus' life have fascinating beginnings, middles, and ends. This is most certainly true of this incident in the wilderness. Let's focus on the beginning and the end.

St. Matthew and St. Luke tell us that Jesus was led out into the desert wilderness after He was baptized into the Jordan River. The Father had just said that this man Jesus is His eternal beloved Son. The Spirit had lighted upon Him as a dove, anointing Him as the promised One who would die for all stubbornness and greed and gluttony and every other sin and Sin itself. And right after this ringing endorsement, God drove Him out into the wilderness!

I say drove Him out because St. Mark says that right after the Baptism of Jesus:

ST. MARK 1:12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION 2016

This driving out and leading out into battle with the Devil demonstrates Christ's humanity. He's just like us, yet without sin.

So perhaps some of you have helped herd turkeys before Thanksgiving. They are heavy, fast, and determined birds, who go their own way. Getting them rounded up is hard work. After you've done it a couple of times, you know you can do the work, that you'll survive, but I doubt you're trotting out to Turkey Town on your way to work.

Jesus is God in the flesh. He knows what's coming, He knows that He'll survive, and indeed crush the devil and send him on his way. But Jesus was sane, and no one in their right mind would relish the prospect of almost six weeks with food, being tempted by the Devil the whole time. Therefore it is not surprising that the inspired writers of Jesus' life note that He was led on His way, even driven out into the wilderness. The willing Savior is emphatically urged on by the Spirit. Jesus doesn't go to play with the devil, but to do battle with him.¹

He wins the battle by speaking His own words back to the devil. The devil can use force when the Lord allows it,² but the devil's main weapon is words. He twists the Lord's own promises to try and lead Jesus into having other gods.

He utterly fails. Jesus sends the devil away with these His own words:

ST. MATTHEW 4:10 “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION 2016

And the devil had to obey and so he left Jesus.

For those who worry that Jesus could have failed in His battle with the devil or that it was too easy for Him (meaning that He wasn't really hungry or weak or exhausted and was playing with the devil like a cat with a mouse or better, a floating alligator with a mouse), do not worry. Jesus' temptation was real, though His victory was assured. The proof of this grueling duel comes at the end:

ST. MATTHEW 4:10 and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION 2016

He was so spent that His own good angels came to care for Him and restore His strength. The beginning and end of this incident shows that Jesus was not play-acting. He was willing and glad to do the Father's will, but as we hear as He prayed in Gethsemane's garden hours before He was hung on a cross, He was in His right mind. If there was another way, so much the better. But always God's will be done. The way of suffering and temptation and the cross is the way of our Lord and of His people.

Sometimes you may feel thrust out into the wilderness of this sinful world and of your own soul. A job isn't working out the way you'd hoped. A marriage isn't working out as well as the wedding. A child isn't listening as they should. And the devil comes and tells us all of this isn't our fault—go ahead and complain and become bitter. Better yet, just give up and despair. The devil delights in hot words or no words at all.

But Christ will speak to you. And His speaking to you is why you won't die. You will suffer, but you will survive. He won't let you starve; He feed you with Himself, the Bread of Life. He won't let you die; He'll bless and keep you safe, sending His angels to protect you as you go about serving Him only as only the living can.

You are alive. Jesus speaks and you're alive. This life came in the day of Baptism. At this beginning of your life, Jesus drove away the devil and demons. They are no longer your masters; now Christ is.

And so you've seen the first ten minutes of the movie of your life. It's a documentary, it's real. You're living in the middle of it, no matter how young or old you are. But I know the ending and so do you because Christ knows you.

In Jesus' Name. Amen.

God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Thanks be to God!

1Notes on Mark 1:12–13, Daniel Deutschlander.

2Matthew 17:15