Today’s Scripture

Psalm 130       Genesis 2:2-9, 15-17; 3:1-7    Romans 5:12, 17-19    Matthew 4:1-11

 

            The comedian Flip Wilson is well known for the part he played on Laugh-In.  He would do something quite wrong and, when caught, would glibly pass his behavior off saying, “The Devil made me do it.”  In all of our readings today, we see evidence of the Devil doing his best to persuade different people to do things his way.  As we see him actively at work in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve and in the wilderness with none other than God’s own son, Jesus, Satan lives up to that description of him as “the deceiver.”  We can recall Adam’s response blaming God for giving him Eve who made him eat the fruit.  We know Eve’s response as Flip Wilson’s, “The Devil/Serpent made me do it.” 

 

            Let’s take a look at that serpent.  What comes to mind with a serpent?  It isn’t a very pleasant creature.  Just the word “serpent” sounds threatening enough.  A serpent sounds quite like a beast of some sort.  And in our day-to-day and minute-by-minute lives, we are certainly surrounded by beasts of all kinds in this world.  Some are the circumstances we live and work and travel around in.  Some beasts are those people near and dear to us.  Some beasts are the temptations, the angers, the alluring things that surround us and beckon us to fall into their traps.  And those beasts swallow us up.  Those beasts lure us into the bottomless pits of never ending grief in our lives.  Those beasts devour us as if we were wounded flesh unable to defend ourselves. 

 

            What did God do about all of this?  First of all, he took action against the serpent, that evil beast.  He condemned the devil and all of his accomplices and banished them from God’s heavenly realms.  He left them to gnash and gnarl amongst themselves and anyone and anything else that would enjoy such revelry forever.  Then God turned to man.  As he turned to Adam and Eve, he turned to you and me.  He pronounced an earthly sentence that no, things in this life aren’t all going to be rosy because sin destroys that perfect aura. 

 

            “But I still love you,” he said.  I love you with a passion that you do not quite understand today, but you will see in its fullness when the evils in this world are no more.  I love you so much that I am going to wash away your sins with the blood of my one and only son.  I love you so much that I will not let you live in the squander of sin and the influences of these evil beasts forever.  I know you hurt and you hurt deeply.  Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you.

 

            We heard last Sunday and a few weeks earlier what God said about his son, “I am well pleased.”  In today’s Gospel we see Jesus live up to that pronouncement God made at his baptism and again just before he entered Jerusalem to suffer and die for you.  As Jesus was in the wilderness, he fasted.  He gave up the earthly things that give us strength.  And when he was weakest, Satan did tempt him with earthly bread, with earthly power, and to test God’s promises.  Jesus subdues Satan with nothing other than simple words, simple truth, God’s word and God’s truth.  Satan cannot stand in God’s presence.  Satan cannot stand up to God’s truth.  Satan, the absence of all good cannot bear the presence of God who is holy, nothing but good and God’s perfect goodness.

 

            Jesus does something that you and I in our sinful nature cannot do.  He overcomes the temptations that plague you and me day in and day out.  He does not turn against God.  He does not put himself above his heavenly father but follows his commands and will perfectly I every thought, word and deed.  He gives up any right, any power, any authority he might have to serve under the right, power and authority of our heavenly Father.  There is no question in Jesus’ mind.  He is here to triumph over all evil and in all goodness for each one of you and for all people who believe and trust in him alone for doing this.

 

 

 

            Yes, there are good beasts in our stories.  But those beasts cannot always control themselves.  Think of Beauty and the Beast.  The Beast had a kind heart, but he could not always control himself.  In fact, his bad side was enough to cause a youngster to have nightmares about that beast.  Yes, we also felt empathy for that beast because there were bad things around him that caused him to react in a bad and destructive way.

 

            Jesus, on the other hand, controls all situations, good and bad.  Yes, God punishes evil and sin.  That is why there is death.  But God also restores life to those who were once dead.  In the waters of baptism you receive a new life.  It is a life of the spirit, wanting to live according to God’s commands and to forsake all that is opposed to him.  It is a new life in the resurrection given to all who trust in forgiveness of sins through Jesus alone.  In that baptism you received the tree of life lost in Eden and then restored on the cross and in the victory over the grave. 

 

            In that baptism you are surrounded by nothing less than God’s holy angels who have been sent to guard you in all of your ways.  They will lift you up and you will trample on the lion and the cobra.  You will trample the lion and the serpent as promised in Psalm 91.  You are surrounded and held up by heavenly beings that calm you, commanding you to not be afraid.  God has surrounded you with his beasts, angels who are holy and precious and faithful in their command as his messengers to protect you always and to bring you safely home to him.                                      Amen.