The Real Fight in Lent
Text: Gen. 3:1-21, Matt. 4:1-11
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the bliss of Eden, Adam had everything he could ever need. He had food in abundance, there for the picking from any tree (except the one in the middle of the Garden). He had the cooperation and service from every animal in God’s creation. He had Eve, created as his helpmeet, companion, and wife. All that Adam needed to overcome the assaults of the tempter was right there at his fingertips. And yet, he failed.
The serpent’s strategy was simple enough. He didn’t throw an unbelievable lie at Adam and Eve. He didn’t deny that there was a God at all. Adam was too close to his Creator to swallow that. Instead, the tempter tries to convince the man and the woman that in spite of all that the Lord had given them in Eden, that He was still holding out on them. He was still keeping them from what would really make them happy, whole, complete, even godlike.
“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” The deceiver recasts the generous God who created the heavens and earth as a withholder, a limiter, someone who gives with one hand and takes away or blocks with the other. Even when Eve is able to counter that first salvo with the truth, telling the serpent that God has given them every tree except for the one in the middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the deceiver won’t drop the suggestion that maybe God isn’t to be trusted. “You will not sure die when you eat of it,” he says, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” And there it was, the first doubt in the good, gracious, and generous God. Eve sees that the fruit looks good, it’s desirable to make a mortal wise, and she trusts the lie more than she trusts God. And Adam, who was right there with her, who was passive when he should have been protecting her, joins her in believing the lie.
And that lie cost them—and their descendants, including us—so very much. Adam learned the difference between good and evil instantly, realizing what he and Eve had done was evil, it was sin, it was rebellion and distrust. They learned shame. They learned to blame each other for their fall. They lost the trust, the original relationship of faith that humans were created for. They learned the curse of death, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” And because Adam was our first father, the representative head of all humanity, we all fell with him, inheriting the legacy of distrust, misplaced faith, sin, corruption, and death.
Fast forward to another scene. It’s about as far away from Eden as we can get. But there’s something familiar about it. There’s a Man, and there’s the old evil foe, the ancient deceiver and tempter. But the man here does not have food in abundance. He’s been fasting for forty days. He doesn’t have the help of the animals, but St. Mark tells us that He’s surrounded by wild beasts. He has no helpmeet, no companion; He’s fighting this battle alone. And yet, even without any of the help that Adam had, this Man still holds true. Where Adam failed, Jesus succeeds. It’s the same old contest, but this second Adam, Jesus, wins and defeats the father of lies.
The devil’s temptations are the same. He has a shallow bag of tricks—but then again, he hasn’t really needed much variety in his temptations. He defeated Adam, Eve, and every single one of their offspring—including you—with the same old lines. See if you can’t find where you’ve fallen for his deception. Any example will do. God didn’t really say that, did He? If He did say it, He didn’t really mean it. If He did really mean it, it doesn’t apply to you. If it does apply to you, it’s just because God isn’t as good as He’s pretending to be. You should be in charge of your own life. You should be like God.
And so the devil tries the same temptations that worked on Adam, that have worked on us. “If you are the Son of God…Yes, He did just say forty days ago, ‘This is my beloved Son’ at Your baptism. But if You were His Son, He wouldn’t let you go hungry. Command these stones to become bread.” After all, it was a temptation about eating that worked on Adam and Eve. Why wouldn’t it work on this Man?
But Jesus is not so easily deceived. He knows that He is the eternal Son of the Father. He knows that stones are created to be stones. Bread is made to be bread. And His life never came from those things anyway. So He answers with truth that goes back to the first moments of creation, then written by Moses during Israel’s time fasting in the wilderness: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
The battle isn’t over though. If Jesus wants to drag the Scriptures into this, the tempter can too. The devil starts quoting the Bible, “He will command His angels concerning You. You won’t strike your foot against a stone. Jump off this temple and prove the Bible right, if You’re really who You say You are.” But Jesus won’t negotiate with liars. He still knows the truth, even when the true words of Scripture are being twisted. “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” And Jesus takes round two.
By round three, the devil is desperate and swings for the fences. He offers every kingdom of the world and their glory, if only Jesus will fall down and worship him. But the devil has overplayed his hand and exposed his goal. He never wanted to prove that God is holding out. He wanted to be a god. He wanted to drag humanity into a tragic parody of life under a good God, replacing it with a petty overlord who promises things only to never deliver on them and cause despair. Jesus sees it all clearly. “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” Game, set, match. The second Adam, Jesus, defeats the old liar 3-0, winning where the first Adam failed.
St. Paul explains this for us. “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” One man—Adam’s—trespass led to condemnation for all. One man—Jesus’—life of righteousness led to salvation for all. And this victory is given to you by clinging to the One who got victory. You cling to Him through that very same thing that the devil sought to attack in Eden, the very same thing that Jesus came to create as He walked this world. You cling to Jesus by faith. Nothing more.
This is the heart of Lent. It’s not about ranking our own spiritual power or listing our own victories, as we see them. Because the truth is, we’re not any better at standing up to the devil’s lies, even when we have all these things that claim to help us. No, Lent is about looking at Jesus’ victory. It’s looking at what Jesus has won for us in all these places—in the wilderness, as He turned back sin and sickness and death with His miracles and preaching, on the cross. Lent is about seeing that Jesus has entered the war for us, as our representative. As we just sang, “For us fights the Valiant One, Whom God Himself elected…He holds the field forever.”
Lent is not about the victories you get. It’s not about you doing more of something or doing it better or stronger or smarter. Yes, we fight against temptation and the lies of the evil one. We’re particularly called to that reality this holy season. But look at how it is that we fight spiritually. It’s not in anything that we’re going to do or not do. The fight against sin and temptation is done by clinging to Jesus, looking to His victory. It’s about reminding the old evil foe that he’s already defeated. One little word can fell him. And what is that little word? It’s the Word. The Word made flesh can fell him. The Word made flesh, who is little in the manger. The Word made flesh that seems so weak as He fasts in the wilderness. The Word made flesh who hangs on the cross and dies. It’s the Word made flesh, the Son of God, Jesus, who fights for us and wins, the Word made flesh that fells Satan. We draw from that. So when the devil lies to you, turn to Jesus for truth. When the accuser levels accusations against you, flee to Jesus declaring you are forgiven. When you’re tempted, tell the tempter he’s already lost and his lies are exposed. Lent is about fixing your eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of your faith. Look to Him now as He comes to you, feeding you with the bread of heaven, preserving you, and giving you more than even all the kingdoms of the world ever could. In the name of Jesus, who gets the victory for us. Amen.
