Mark 1:12–15 12The Spirit immediately sent Jesus out into the wilderness. 13He was in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels were serving him. 14After John was put in prison, Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. 15“The time is fulfilled,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near! Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
“If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31) Amen.
You may have noticed that we received a little bit of snow this week. It probably took you a while to shovel 17 inches of snow out of your driveway and sidewalk. Or maybe you had a really nice neighbor who helped you with his snowblower. If he helps you, I’m guessing you’re going to be appreciative.
Not so with a reporter named Virginia. She wrote an op-ed for a major newspaper on how upset she was with her neighbor for snowblowing her driveway. Because Virginia and her neighbor support different political candidates, she wrote that she cannot accept her neighbor’s act of kindness. “So here’s my response to my plowed driveway, for now. Politely, but not profusely, I’ll acknowledge the Sassian move with a wave of thanks, a minimal start on building back trust. I’m not ready to knock on the door with a covered dish yet. … I also can’t give my neighbors absolution; it’s not mine to give. Free driveway work, as nice as it is, is just not the same currency as justice and truth.”
Imagine thinking this way.
This person is so filled with hate that she is unwilling to accept a neighborly gesture of friendship. I’m guessing that her neighbor didn’t even think twice about it. After all, if you give a guy enough time and gas, he will snowblow the entire block.
Maybe when saw our theme for our Lenten series on “Reasons to Hate Jesus” you thought your pastor had lost it. How could we ever hate Jesus?! Sure, we accept that Scripture says that the Jewish religious leaders hated Jesus. But do we also accept that our sinful nature hates Jesus, too?
As the divine Son of God and Mary’s human Son, Jesus naturally does good works. We should love and praise him for these works. However, we end up resenting him, despising him, even hating him.
That makes as much sense as hating your neighbor for snowblowing your driveway. This Lenten season we’ll examine six reasons why we hate Jesus. The first reason is because Jesus resisted temptation.
“The Spirit immediately sent Jesus out into the wilderness.” This is right after Jesus’ baptism. While Jesus was still dripping wet from the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit sent the King of kings to do battle with the Prince of this world. It was the Serpent-Crusher vs. the Ancient Serpent. It was the Light of the world vs. the Prince of darkness.
It was God’s will that Jesus face Satan alone. He went out to the desert where there were no distractions. There is no work to be done – except the work of redeeming the world. Jesus goes with out eating for forty days. Jesus merely “exists” there.
That’s part of what makes the temptations so hard. There’s nowhere to flee to. There’s nothing else to do. What do you do when there’s nothing to do? You pull out your phone. Scroll. Swipe. Play. Jesus prayed and meditated upon God’s Word. He relied on that Word to protect him from the old evil foe. He used the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, to ward off the head demon’s attack.
“He was in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels were serving him.” That’s all Mark has to say about it. Mark’s Gospel is one of action. He says that Jesus was tempted over forty days in the desert. He stood up to Satan. And he won. This wasn’t a battle over a golden fiddle. It was a battle for souls. Satan had been prepping and training for this desert duel for over six millennia. He had his game plan worked out. Jesus was ragged. Exhausted. Famished. Jesus was at his least and he still won.
Marks says that the angels ministered to Jesus, who was their Lord and Creator. Now we pray in Luther’s Morning and Evening Prayers for God to send his holy angel to be with us that the wicked foe may have no power over us.
Jesus resisted temptation. Of course, Jesus resisted temptation! He’s perfect! It’s no contest!
That’s like if you tried playing HORSE against Larry Bird or Steph Curry. It wouldn’t be much of a contest. You could try your best and you’d never measure up. Then you begin to resent Bird and Curry. You don’t want to step onto the court again. You don’t want to be embarrassed again. You would rather just give up and take the loss.
That’s often the way we feel with temptations. Pick a temptation. Alcohol. Hoarding. Coveting. Anger. Revenge. Lying. Discontent. Lust. Gossiping. Laziness. Overeating. You struggle with these temptations. You try so hard to overcome them. You pray about them. Resist them. Run away from them. But you still end up losing to them. Very soon, you don’t even try. You just give up and take the loss.
Then along comes Jesus. … And he just wins. He defeats everything that ever defeated you. He deftly and divinely avoided everything the devil threw at him.
Doesn’t that just get under your skin?
Then Jesus makes it worse. After he left the desert he began preaching the same message you heard me say to you when you came forward to place your ashes on the Ash Wednesday banner, “Repent and believe in the gospel.”
Have you ever had a friend like that? They can so easily do whatever it is you can’t. Draw a picture. Program the computer. Play a game. They tell you, “Oh, it’s simple. Just do it different.”
Do you enjoy people like that?
The reason our sinful nature hates Jesus is because we look at him as a mere example. We wrongly think that because Jesus used God’s Word and prayed for God’s will, we should be able to exactly the same. If Jesus stood up to the devil, we should be able to do that, too. If Jesus resisted temptations, then we should, too.
But that’s not why Jesus was sent into the desert. He didn’t resist temptation to be our example. He didn’t go out there to show us what to do. Jesus resisted temptation to be our Substitute. He went out there to show us what he did.
Jesus isn’t some snot-nosed punk rubbing our noses in something we can’t do but he can. The writer to the Hebrews summarizes the meaning of Jesus’ temptations. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
Jesus is facing what we face. He was hurting with us and for us.
While we were still dripping wet from our own baptism, the Holy Spirit cast us out to go against the old evil foe, who now means deadly woe. We have been sent to war.
Trials, temptations, and testing will come your way. You can expect them. You are baptized, after all. Look at all the trouble Jesus’ baptism caused him. At your baptism, you were ripped out of the claws of Satan and placed into the hands of the heavenly Father. The mark of the beast was washed off your forehead and replaced with the name of the Father (Revelation 13:16; 14:1). The cross has been placed on you from your head to your heart, marking you as a redeemed child of God. The devil hates all this! So does the unbelieving world! Together, the devil and his minions will come at you with everything they have.
Remember, a servant is not greater than his master (John 15:20). The devil tempted Jesus in the desert. The demons poured into people to torment the Son of God. Close friends from Nazareth tried to throw their childhood friend off a cliff. If that happened to the Savior, it is going to happen to you, too! Expect it. Meet it head-on.
The life of a baptized believer is not easy. Christians are not granted any kind of special immunities from disease; no exemptions from suffering; no special passes that allow us to go around the wilderness. You can’t go around it. You can only go through it. We are living in it.
Here’s the difference, though. Jesus was driven into the wilderness to do battle alone. We are driven into the wilderness, but Jesus is already there. He battles the devil and our temptations with us and for us, because he’s already won the war. Not as our example. But as our Substitute.
How did Jesus win the war? “They conquered [the dragon] because of the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:11). The blood of the Lamb conquered the dragon. The word of the Christ defeated the lies of Satan. The power of the Son of God was no match for a mere angel, no matter how demonic he may be.
For all the times we have been attracted by the devil’s lies, Jesus didn’t let the devil’s lies attract him or his threats distract him. Jesus fought the good fight. He is the Valiant One, whom God Himself elected.
For all the times we have become apathetic in this spiritual war, Jesus marched solemnly forward. The bruised descendant of Eve crushed the Ancient Serpent’s head as he stepped ever closer to Golgotha’s hill.
For all the times we have welcomed sin into our lives and given in to temptation, Jesus resolutely went to the cross. There, upon that old rugged cross, he paid for your sins. He bled for your temptations. He felt God’s wrath for your weaknesses.
Now, distanced from the desert, come down from the cross, and gone from the grave, Jesus grants you the victory over Satan. One little word can fell him. Satan can no longer condemn you. Christ Jesus has condemned Satan (Romans 8:33,34). The accuser now stands accused.
St. Paul assures us that we are not alone in this wilderness battle. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:28)?
Yet, we hate Jesus because he resisted temptations and our sinful nature wants to give in to temptations. Our sanctified spirit listens to Jesus and wants to repent for our failures in resistance. But our sinful nature hates that, too. We hate admitting we’re weak; we’re incapable; we’re wrong.
But our sinful nature is the one that’s wrong. Why would we hate someone who rescued us? Why would we hate someone who went out of his way to help us? Why would we hate someone who had the time and energy, the compassion and love to resist temptations as our Substitute? Only because we think we can do it for ourselves.
Jesus came to rescue those who didn’t fight temptation. He was perfect for those who are imperfect. He went to the cross for those who hated him. That includes us.
So repent and believe in this good news.
The good news isn’t how to fight temptation. The good news is that Jesus fought temptation. It’s not about what you do. It’s about accepting what Jesus did for you.
It’s silly to despise people who do nice things for you – like snowblowing your driveway. It’s easy to resent people who are so much better at things than you are. It’s likely to hate people who get it right when you so often get it wrong.
But Jesus always got it right … not to make you hate him … not to give you an example to live up to … but as your Substitute. Jesus has already battled in the wilderness for you. His victory is your victory. Amen.
Repent and believe in the gospel. Amen.