Truth and the Father
of Lies
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus was hungry,
and the devil offered bread. He was shamed, weak, and tired, and the devil
offered honor. It seemed as though His Father had abandoned Him in His hour of
need, and the devil offered to step in and help, to be His god for a little
while. Satan certainly would never ask Him to suffer or to die. The devil would
be glad to relieve Him of that duty. That Satan seems so nice.
But Satan is a
liar—indeed, he is the father of lies. You cannot have more than one god, no
matter how many times the devil says that he does not mind. You will either
worship the God of Abraham, or you will worship the devil. There are no other
choices. And it’s not just the witches and Satanists the devil gets. He gets
all the undecided, all the fence-riders, all the lukewarm pretenders, all those
who worship no gods, and all those who worship false gods. He wants Jesus to
have bread and honor and be spared His suffering so that men would go without
the Word of God.
You would choose
to eat. You would choose to jump. You would choose to kneel. Your spirit might
be willing, but your flesh is weak in sin. You might even fight it for a time;
eventually you would surrender. But Jesus resists. He is tempted, but—unlike
us—He is not overcome. He does not sin. He obeys, and He suffers for our
disobedience. He lives perfectly by His Word. The Father will provide; the Son
will wait. Led into the place of temptation by the Spirit, He submits to His
Father. Submitting to the Father, He knows hunger and shame. God provides…but
not by removing the burden. He offers up His only Son, who goes silently as a
Lamb to the slaughter: without bread, without honor, without a friend. The
Father sacrifices the Son to give the Spirit to those who could not resist.
Jesus goes alone
to pay for sins He did not commit. He allows them to force a crown of thorns
down upon His brow, to drive nails into His hands and feet. He lets Satan do
his worst. The price is paid, the sacrifice complete. Jesus has satisfied the
Law’s demand. And then He rises from the dead. He makes citizens for His
Kingdom by declaring former rebels to be His own dear children and washes them
in the bloodstained waters of Baptism. Satan’s fantasy of killing God came
true, but it became the source of his utter defeat. All those who saw their sin
and cried out to the Lord were set free from their shame; they were welcomed
back into God’s embrace!
The devil doesn’t
understand: this is who the Messiah is; this is how He desires to be known. Jesus
is anointed for a Sacrifice. He is the Lamb that God provides to make men His.
He is love in flesh; He desires to have you as His own. He does it all—He hungers
in the desert; He carries His cross to Golgotha;
He bears mockery; He dies on the cross—all for you. He bore all of this to make
you His. You are a Bride so beautiful, so precious, that the Bridegroom of
grace pays the dowry Himself to have you.
It is the not the
way of power and might. It is not at all like the gods designed in the
imaginations of the corrupt hearts of sinful men. It is the way of weakness—at
least, as men reckon weakness. It is the way of mercy. Jesus suffered for you.
He has forgiven all your sins, and they are not coming back. In the coming Day,
God will call you His child, well-pleasing in His sight. What you suffer now
for a time is not worthy of comparison to the glory that will be revealed in
you. Even now, you are surrounded by the heavenly host, ministered to by
angels. And by the name into which you were baptized, the evil foe has no power
over you. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God
which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus
always. Amen.
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