Temptations to Unbelief: Meditations on Matthew 4

Between the flu and my own jumbled thoughts, I took several runs at this iconic text this week.  The subject, which begins our walk into Lent, is the Temptation of Christ.  It is here that we observe the Spirit leading Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil; the various means of temptation the devil uses against Jesus; Jesus’ response to each temptation, and His victory over the devil.  While much can (and has) been said about each of these elements of this rather short story, what continues to come to my mind as I meditate upon Jesus’ encounter with the devil, is the relationship between Temptation and Unbelief.

Like all evil, temptation doesn’t exist as a thing in itself, but rather is a corruption of something good that already exists.  Temptation, by its very nature, is an attack upon something good and wholesome—a reflection upon something already created good and holy.  But since temptation is not directed at inanimate objects (i.e., rocks are not tempted to be something other than rocks, nor is water tempted to be something other than water,) it must have a more spiritual, rational object.  People are the objects of temptation, because people are the ones capable of choosing against their created order, and contorting themselves into something they were not intended to be.

Of course, tempting people is like shooting fish in a barrel—we’re already twisted and evil as a result of the Fall, and likely to succumb to any of the devil’s many propositions.  In our natural and fallen state, we’re easy prey to temptations of lust and pride, covetousness and idolatry, wrath and murder.  The sinful nature into which our First Parents plunged our race, leaves us always desiring the devil’s ways, and leads us inexorably toward the devil’s end.  That one great temptation the devil worked upon Adam and Eve, and their free choice to Fall away from God, was the devil’s successful strategy to bring sin and death into God’s good creation, and separate people from their Creator.

God was not pleased, however, to lose even one soul to the devil.  After the Fall, God continues to speak His Word to His people, that they might cling to Him by faith, and by faith receive His grace and redemption.  The Word that called Adam and Eve to believe in the Seed of the woman, who would crush the head of the devil and bring salvation to mankind, came in the flesh as Jesus Christ.  This Word made Flesh, the very promise of the Father, suffered and died for the sins of the world, and rose again on the third day to declare His victory over sin, death, and the devil forever.  The Word of God did what we could not do, breaking our chains of slavery to Satan, and calling us into a new and eternal life given to us by His Word.  Jesus sends His disciples to the ends of the earth, proclaiming His Good News of justification and salvation by grace through faith in Him.  The Word of Christ has been sent to pierce the darkness of every corner of the globe, and the despair of every human heart.  Where we find in ourselves only death and darkness, the Word of Christ breaks through with Life and Mercy.  And in every heart that will receive Him and His Word, there Christ reigns in all His grace and glory, holding that one close to Himself for all eternity.

This, I think, reveals the real object of temptation:  the corruption of faith into unbelief.  For the world at large, the devil whispers his poisonous lies, to keep the unregenerate masses from hearing or believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to keep them under his awful slavery.  To the Church, the devil continues to whisper his ancient corruptions, attempting to draw away the Saints from the grace and mercy of Jesus by encouraging them to abandon His Word.  It is the Word of God that breathed the universe (and every person) into existence, and it is the Word of God that breathes new life into every sinner who will hear Him, repent, and believe.  The devil’s target through temptation has always been to separate people from God, by attacking their faith in His Word.  He knows as much as we should, that the Word of the Lord endures forever, and that where His Word of Grace and Mercy are, there is life.  To the world, he tries to keep them from hearing the Everlasting Gospel; to the Church, he tries to get them to leave it.  The devil by himself is incapable of slaying anyone, and so he calls out to us to commit suicide by leaving the Author of Life.  He is a macabre and defeated foe, his head crushed by the heel of the Savior.

As we enter in Lent, I think it is a good time to bring to our remembrance, the link between Jesus and His Word.  As sinners saved by grace through faith in Him, we must always call to mind that we live by His Eternal Word… and apart from His Word, we perish.  In this light, we can hear blessed Luther echoing St. Paul, when he calls us to daily drown our old nature in the waters of our baptism, rising up each day in the power of the Holy Spirit to cling to Jesus and His Word.  This life in Christ, throughout our pilgrimage in this fallen world, will be one of faith and repentance, as we wage war against the devil and his many calls to leave Christ and His Word.  Where we examine ourselves, and find we have been unfaithful to His Word, we must repent—hearing His Word, we must receive Him, and live in Him by faith.  Only there do we find grace, and strength for the journey.  And only there, do we find the life and peace which never ends.

Amen.