Victory March (Luke 4:1-13)
Rev. Peter Heckert
03/06/22

+ Grace to you, and peace, from God our heavenly Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. + Amen.

The text for our meditation for this first Sunday in Lent comes from our Gospel text, especially where Luke records, “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.” Here ends our text; my dear Christian friends …

What is it about the wilderness—that vast, bleak, vapid, seemingly dead region mentioned numerous times throughout the Scriptures—that seems to amplify and exemplify the weaknesses of us poor, miserable, mortal sinners? Is it the ostensible endlessness, as you survey the rocks and sand that stretch beyond the horizon? Is it the seeming emptiness, with nary a soul around and only the whistle of the wind for company? Is it the apparent lifelessness, with the only wildlife around being highly dangerous to human survival? 

It’s no wonder that people often view the wilderness as a place of punishment, a veritable hell on earth for those who are in the midst of it. I understand that … but will respectfully disagree. I think the wilderness is used less as a rod of God’s punishment, and more as a tool for discipline. Humiliation, purgation, … preparation. The people of Israel weren’t immediately ready to inherit the land promised to their fathers Abraham and Isaac and Jacob when they left Egypt, so they were disciplined in the wilderness for 40 years. Elijah was still reeling from Jezebel’s hostility toward him and endured over 40 days and nights in the wilderness, being prepared by God’s guidance for the tasks that yet lay before him. Here also, in our Gospel text, we see preparation – albeit of a different sort. 

Luke tells us that, in the wake of His baptism in the Jordan by John, Jesus is led by the Spirit in the wilderness forty days. During that time, as He’s fasting, completely abstaining from eating, He’s being tempted by the devil. What those temptations looked like we cannot say since Scripture doesn’t say, but at the end of those forty days, Luke tells us, “[Jesus] was hungry.” Satan’s no idiot; he sees the writing on the wall, and it’s at this point that he launches his final, desperate bid to derail God’s plan of salvation. 

“The devil said to [Jesus], ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.’ … And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and 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. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ … And 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, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,” and “On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”’”

There’s no question that these things could be done. Of course, if He wanted to, Jesus could command stones to become bread; the One who provided mana for the Israelites in the wilderness, who spoke all things into existence, could certainly do this. Of course, the prince of this world has the power to give what little authority he has over God’s creation, provided that his stipulation to God is met. Of course, with Jesus’s appointed time not yet met, the angelic host would protect this perfect sacrifice until His time came; after all, Jesus even told Peter as He was being betrayed into the hands of evil men, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” Oh, yes, these things could certainly have happened… but how does Jesus answer? 

Always, the incarnate Word of God responds with the Word of God. “And Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone.” … It is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” … It is said, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”’” These few words are all that is needed to shut the enemy up – as we just sang, “One little word can fell him.” At that moment in history, Jesus didn’t need to send Satan crawling back into the abyss with an awe-inducing display of His divinity; no, that would come later. At this point, Jesus simply and masterfully side-steps these crumbs … and keeps His eyes on the glorious feast, which lay at the end of His glorious victory march.

I don’t say it’s “glorious” because it looks that way. By all appearances, Jesus’s victory march looks like … anything but. After this temptation in the wilderness, the road that lay before Him was fraught with heartache and sorrow and rejection. It was marred by betrayal. It was marked with slaps and punches, with spittle and insults, whips and thorns. It led out of the city of Jerusalem, up a skullish hill, and onto a cross, fastened with cruel nails and hoisted up as a spectacle. His victory march … leads to Jesus final word, tetelestai, “It is finished,” to His final breath, and into the grave. That is the awe-inducing full display of His divinity, as the Son of God dies to save His people from their sins, and that’s why His bloody, sorrowful, miserable victory march is glorious. It led Him into the very wilderness of death and the grave … for our sake - for you, for me, to pay the price for our sin and the sin of the whole world.

Of course, that’s not where the story ends. Satan could not get hold of Jesus in the wilderness. In the same way, death could not hold Jesus for long. Three days after His death and burial, His grave was burst asunder, and He stepped out, triumphant, formerly dead and now very much alive, bearing the marks of His love for us! That is the path we will be following during this Lententide – following out Lord on His long and arduous victory march. We know how the story ends. We know what the trials and tribulations our Lord Jesus faced mean for us. We know … that everything He faced and did and endured … was all done to win for us the full pardon, full forgiveness of sins, and the promise and seal of life everlasting to all who trust in Him. As we follow behind our Lord, from this moment in the wilderness, on His march to Calvary’s cross and beyond, like Him, we know what awaits Him, and us: victory, salvation, and life eternal. 

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