Luke 4:1–13

¹And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness ²for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. ³The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." ⁴And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone.'" ⁵And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, ⁶and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. ⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." ⁸And Jesus answered him, "It is written, "'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'" ⁹And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰for it is written, "'He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,' ¹¹and "'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'" ¹²And Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" ¹³And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Lent has been well characterized as a journey. During Lent, we travel into the wilderness with Jesus, knowing his promise that a land of our own lies ahead. Like the Israelites who began their journey to the Promised Land through the wilderness by passing through the Red Sea, we began our journey when we pass through the waters of baptism. In the Ancient Church, catechumens prepared for their Baptism at the Easter Vigil during the time of Lent. And we continue this journey every day—in season and out—when we return to our Baptism in daily repentance.

But if that isn't a rigorous enough journey, we should remember that our Lenten journey will engage us in a life-and-death struggle against the forces of death itself. We are only the foot soldiers, trudging behind. Before us goes our great champion. Yet we make the journey too, and truly

Our Lenten Journey Is a Journey to War.

As we journey through life, from the baptismal font to the promised land of heaven, we are replaying Israel's journey from slavery in Egypt, through the Red Sea, into the wilderness and on to the land of promise. But for Israel it was a journey to war. First is was war against the Egyptians. (Exo 14:13-14 ESV) ¹³ And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. ¹⁴ The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent."

We see the mighty deeds of God in Israel's past. The plagues in Egypt, the death of Egypt's first-born sons, the parting of the Red Sea and the drowning of the Egyptian army. It was God's mighty act of salvation. Brining them out of slavery and death, into freedom and life.

Yet the battle was not over. For... " Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. ⁹So Moses said to Joshua, "Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand." ¹⁰So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed,..." Once again, the Lord fought for Israel. Once again, the Lord won the victory.

But in spite of the repeated victories of God fighting for Israel, their faith waned. Over and over they failed to trust God. On the shores of the Red Sea, they cried out to Moses, "when...they lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. ¹¹ They said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?" For their faith waned.

Then when Moses sent spies into the Promised Land to see if it was good, they "brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, "The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. ^... Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. ² And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! ... ⁴ And they said to one another, "Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt."

But the story of Israel is our story, our history. It is the story of people under attack from Satan, the world, and their own sinful flesh. It is the story of a people struggling to believe and trust in God amidst the daily and relentless attacks of the devil to destroy our faith. The trials, the struggles, the difficulties, the sickness, the problems with work, with our children, with violence, with poverty. It is a struggle against temptation, against sin, against lust, against greed, against selfishness, and against our lack of forgiveness. The story of Israel is our story, a story of those who have died in battle and risen with Christ.

We cannot escape the warfare of our journey. There is no avoiding the battle. Not even for Christ. There was no avoiding the battle. No one can short-circuit the suffering, not even Jesus, the Son of God. Yes, He was tempted to short-circuit the suffering, to doubt his identity and to bypass the road to the cross. That was his temptation in the wilderness. But Jesus did not take the easy way out. He fought the battle against Satan's temptation in the wilderness. He had come to fight the battle for us, just as He fought the battles for the Israelites. He came to face the enemy who attacks us. Our enemy who "roams around like a lion seeking whom he can devour," tempting us to fall into sin; tempting us to doubt what Christ has done for us on the cross. He tempts us to love ourselves instead of our neighbor, to get even when we are offended, to turn a cold shoulder to the poor, to close our heart to those in need. Our enemy tempts us to worry and despair in our economic troubles. He tempts us to be selfish and self-centered. Christ came to fight the enemy for us. To undo his works of evil. To liberate us from his power and the kingdom of darkness. Christ fights for us just as he fought for the Israelites. He came to be our champion.

Never did God promise to protect Christ from the cross. In fact, God promised the cross. In the Garden of Eden, God told Satan that he would bite the heal of the Christ, but that the Christ would crush his head. Jesus had to receive the bite. He had to suffer for our sins. He had to bleed on the cross and give his life as a ransom for us. For He was the Seed who had come to crush the head of Satan: ... (Heb 2:14 ESV) "¹ he himself likewise partook of our flesh and blood, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil." There could be no Easter without Good Friday.

So even as Jesus hung on the cross, he clung to the Word of God and trusted his Father in Heaven. Even as he was abandoned by his Father, he trusted him and cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me." And then he commended his spirit into his Father's hands.

Christ did not avoid the battle, and the Church must follow Christ to war. Here we have the great paradox of Christianity. Christ's greatest glory was in dying in battle on the cross. It is on the cross that God's love and salvation of mankind is revealed. Christ's death on the cross is God's greatest glory. Christ defeated Satan by allowing himself to be killed.

We too, as the body of Christ, with Christ living in us, share the paradox of Christianity. In Baptism we receive the sign of the cross from the hand of the Father. In baptism we take on a Christ-like life, which means we also take on the cross. Daily we confront the devil and his temptations. Daily we fight the battles against sin and death. Daily, as we confess our sins and seek the forgiveness of Christ, we drown the old Adam and rise as a new man. Daily we die and raise again.

But as we go into the battle, we sing the song of victory. Jesus' temptation in the wilderness foreshadows victory over Satan on the cross. The Introit we sang this morning is taken from Psalm 91, the soldier's psalm. It enlists us in the battle of Lent. The battle is raging, but we fear nothing. For in sending his angels, God assures his foot soldier and promises: "(Psa 91:15-16 ESV) ¹⁵ When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. ¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation."

We sing this song in trusting faith, for this is a song of Christian life under the cross. But it is also a love song. It is the song of God's uncompromising love for us. As we journey through Lent, indeed as we journey through life in Christ, we sing: "My song is love unknown, my Savior's love to me, Love to the loveless shown That they might lovely be. Oh, who am I That for my sake My Lord should take Frail flesh and die?" (LSB 430:1).

We know the goal of our Lenten journey: it is into battle, to the cross, but it is also to victory. The battle is our participation in Christ's death, struggling daily against Satan's assaults. But the victory is our share in Jesus' resurrection, won for us when he overcame Satan's temptation and suffered death. We have this victory in the new life of Holy Baptism. And we have the armor to fight on to this victory in our communion with Christ and all his saints in his Supper, the heaven on earth we live in the Divine Service, the new Jerusalem.

Amen.