A sermon and short story
based on Luke 4:1-13
Pastor Jacob T. Mueller
The First Sunday in Lent,
March 10, 2019
Holy Cross Lutheran
Church, Emma, MO
You can also listen to this sermon here.
In the name of Jesus, who has resisted temptation for you, dear fellow redeemed,
Jesus’ temptation is a wonderful
event for us because it makes it very clear that Jesus wins and the devil
loses. This was a great victory not only for Him, but also for all of humanity.
But what would this mean for the devil?
What
follows is mostly speculation, my speculation about how this event went down among
the powers of evil. How would the powers of darkness respond to such a resounding
defeat?
It
was a quiet day in the demon’s lair. Wormtongue, an experienced demon well
suited for his middle management position was going over temptation reports, when
Belgrin, a junior demon, burst into the office. “Boss, you won’t believe what just
happened!” He blurted out. Wormtongue looked up at him, annoyed that he had
been interrupted.
“It’s
bad news boss, just as we expected. It looks like we were right about that carpenter
from Nazareth.” At this, Wormtongue perked up. For years now, they had been
going over this peculiar case. As hard as they had tried, this one hadn’t
fallen. Wormtongue had just recently put Belgrin on the case and told him to
report anything strange directly to him before he filled the report.
“What
happened?” Asked the senior demon. “He went to see that crazy Baptist in the
Jordan River,” Belgrin spurted out. “I wondered why He would do that, get
baptized and all, He didn’t have any sins to be washed away. But when He came up
out of the water, the sky was torn apart, and the Spirit came down in the form
of a dove. But the He spoke.”[1]
“Who
spoke?” Asked Wormtongue, now completely intrigued by what Belgrin had to say. “It
was Him, the Almighty.” Both demons shuddered at the thought of God, as if a
cold draft suddenly filled the room.[2] “He said, ‘This is my beloved
Son, with whom I am well pleased.’ Who could that be?”
“I
think it’s fairly obvious who that is.” Wormtongue scolded. “This is out of
your league, boy. I’m pulling you off the case. We need the big boss.” He
grabbed Belgrin by the arm and dragged him down the hall to the corner office.
Wormtongue pounded on the door and was granted entrance immediately.
Satan
was laid back in his chair, his feet up on the desk, sipping on something red
from a glass. Wormtongue relayed Belgrin’s account of what had happened to their
master.
“So,
the Messiah’s finally showed His face on earth.” Satan replied, slowly putting
down his feet and getting up from the chair. “Well, since you imbeciles can’t deal
with things on your own, I guess I’ll have to take care of this one myself.”
He
downed the rest of his drink and with that, the devil was off. For forty days,
all the demons held their breath. They knew that if the big boss could pull this
one off, then they were in the clear forever. Humanity would their plaything. But
defeat would mean the beginning of the end they so dreaded.
It
happened one day as Belgrin was in Wormtongue’s office again, going over his
latest temptation reports when Satan barged in and let loose a string of profanity,
so vulgar it would make entire navies blush. When he had finished, he sank down
in a chair across the desk from Wormtongue and poured himself a glass.
“What
happened?” Wormtongue asked hesitantly. “It was Him. I couldn’t do it.” Satan
said as he stared at the liquid in the glass.
“Surely
you tried,” said Belgrin. “Of course, I tried,” the devil spurted back. “I
tried all my best, but He never gave in.”
“Would
you like to talk about it?” Wormtongue asked. “I mean, you need to fill out the
report on the temptation anyway. How did you begin?”
“I
began the way we always begin, with something that will make those miserable
creatures happy. He had been alone in the wilderness for forty days and hadn’t
had anything to eat. Most of those gluttonous slobs can’t go more than a few
hours without desiring something to eat. So, I say to him, ‘If you are the Son
of God, command this stone to become bread.’”[3] Said the devil.
“Pay
attention Belgrin,” Wormtongue said, “there’s two very important things the boss
did by opening that way.”
“I
think I know what they are,” Belgrin answered, “He made the subject question
His relationship to the Almighty.” All three shuddered again. “Then he used something
that they think they need. That’s good work boss! It reminds me of your first
temptation to Adam and Eve. You made them question God’s goodness and presented
them with good looking food. That went so well with them. How did it turn out
for you?”
“Awful!” Replied the boss who
was now pouring himself a second drink. “He replied with a scripture verse, ‘Man
shall not live by bread alone.’[4] What does that even mean?”
“Well, I think they need protein
and vegetables to keep those bodies running,” suggested Belgrin. “Of course I
know what that means!” Yelled the boss. “It means that the Almighty” (All three
shuddered once again) “wants them to trust His Word. It gives them faith and
they can’t live without it. I mean usually with those two temptations alone you
can get someone to fall into sin. Especially since humans are so quick to doubt
the promises He makes to them.”
Wormtongue was frantically scribbling
down information down for the report. Suddenly he stopped, erased something,
and started writing again. “What was that,” said Satan, “what did you erase?”
“Force of habit,” replied
Wormtongue, “You know that question at the bottom of the form ‘Did the subject
fall into temptation: yes or no?’”
“Of course,” Said Satan, “It’s
the most important question on the form. That’s what we’re going to use to
build our case against the Almighty’s people.” All three shuddered.
“We almost always check ‘yes’
but never with this guy.” Said Wormtongue, “It’s always a ‘no’. He’s been
tempted in every way, yet He remains without sin.[5] Go on, what happened next?”
Satan continued, “I took him to a
high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. I
told him, ‘To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has
been given to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me,
it will all be yours.’”[6]
“Oh,
that’s a good one.” Replied Belgrin, “You don’t even have all that power! You
can’t do anything more than the Almighty allows.”[7] All three shuddered.
“That’s
right,” Wormtongue said, “all we need to do is make people think they can get
power, fame, glory, and honor and they will do almost anything. I mean you wouldn’t
believe how many families we can tear apart, marriages we can ruin, or friendships
we can destroy by hinting that one person might just a smidge more power. Why
we can even cause all the horrors of war just by convincing one ruler or people
that they will be better off afterwards. This big guy,” He said proudly
slapping Satan on the back and spilling his drink, “told Adam and Eve they
would get wisdom and that would give them power. Obviously, it did not. Lying
about power is one of our best weapons. Did He fall for it?”
“Absolutely
not! We wouldn’t be having this conversation if He had!” By this time Satan was
getting steamed, never mind that his drink had been spilled. “He quoted another
scripture passage, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you
serve.[8]’ With all that, I only had
one last weapon. We went to Jerusalem, to the top of the temple and I told him
to jump.”
“Why
would anyone do a senseless thing like that?” Asked Belgrin.
“It’ll
be a cold day in hell before I let a junior demon question the boss.” Snapped
Satan. Belgrin hissed back. “I followed it up with a scripture passage. I figured
He might appreciate it since He had been quoting them at me all day. Psalm
91:11-12 says ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you…. on their
hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”[9]
“Now
you see Belgrin,” replied Wormtongue, “Twisting scripture has always been one
of our best weapons. Take His Word or creation and twist it to fit your needs
and even the most devout of His followers may fall for it. It worked for Adam
and Eve. All the boss had to say was, ‘did God really say’[10] and he was in! But you
must be careful not to quote too much. For example, the verse after the verses
our boss quoted says, ‘You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion
and the serpent you will trample underfoot.’” [11]
“That
wouldn’t be good at all,” Belgrin said with worry in his voice. “Satan appeared
as a serpent and prowls around like a roaring lion.[12] This scripture prophesied
our downfall!”
“And
of course, He answered with another scripture verse, ‘You shall not put the
Lord your God to the test.’”[13] Replied Satan.
“So,”
Wormtongue replied, “What do we do about this Jesus of Nazareth who has resisted
every temptation?”
“This
has got to be an all-out war.” Satan proclaimed. “Send every demon, power, and
ruler we’ve got.[14]
Wreck people’s lives. Possess them and their children. Destroy their families.
Inflict them with diseases.”
After
seeing Jesus, Belgrin wasn’t sure about that. “What’ll happen when we meet him?”
He said almost pleading. “Our power is already falling apart now that He’s
here. He’ll just throw us out. On behalf of all the demons on the front line,
don’t make us confront Him! Don’t send me back there! We’ll have to confess who
He is. We’ll have to confess ‘You are the Son of God’ What do you think of
that?”[15]
“Then
kill him.” Satan shouted, pounding his fist on the desk so that even Belgrin
and Wormtongue jumped. “The Almighty” (all three shuddered) “has weakened
himself. He has taken on human flesh[16] to be with those miserable
wretched human beings. Why does He care for them so much? Why does He want them?
All they do is fall into every trap we have set for them. We have warehouses full of paperwork fully documenting
their every failure. He knows it! I can’t wait to show it to Him on Judgment Day![17] At least if we’re going
to be judged, we’re going to take down as many as we can.”
“But
boss,” objected Belgrin, “will killing Him accomplish anything? He is the
author of life.[18]
Killing Him isn’t going to work. He’ll rise from the dead and that will be the
end of us. All we have is fear and lies—fear and lies about death especially.[19] When He comes back to
life, He’ll break death.[20] Fear of death is all we’ve
got.”
But
Satan wasn’t listening. “It won’t even be that hard to kill him with that fleshy
body. We tried that once with King Herod when He was a baby,[21] but this time we won’t
fail! We’ll stir up the religious leaders. They’re so caught up in works righteousness,
anything He says to challenge their system, it’ll just make them hate Him more.
It won’t be hard to get the Romans to kill one more person.”
By
now Satan was pacing back and forth across the office and not listening to any
more objections from the others. “We’ll sift His followers like wheat.[22] Surely I’ll be able to
enter one long enough to work some betrayal.[23] The death He dies should
be painful and public, stoning, no, hanging, no—but He should be hung on a tree![24] Ah, now that the Romans
are in charge let Him be crucified![25] Ha, ha, ha, ha.” Satan
let out and evil laugh.
“But
sir,” It was Wormtongue with an objection this time. “This has all been
foretold in the scriptures. In fact, His death will clearly forgive sins.[26] Do you know what will
happen to all this paperwork I’ve been carefully keeping since the beginning of
time? It will be useless if this Jesus dies and rises again! It will all be
canceled out with His blood.[27] Every record of these
miserable humans falling into temptation will be erased![28] You will have no evidence
to bring before the Judge.[29] He will have to declare all
His people not guilty because of this Jesus.[30] You may strike his heal,
but he will crush your head.[31]”
“A
house divided against itself cannot stand.” Satan said sternly to Wormtongue
and Belgrin. “You two had better fall in line. If Satan is divided against Satan,
how will we stand? We’re already coming to an end.[32] Wormtongue and Belgrin,
time is short.[33]
There’s going to be more paperwork.”
So
that was a little abstract for a sermon. Let me conclude by telling you exactly
what I hope you get out of this.
First:
the devil tempts us with the same things he used on Adam and Eve and Jesus. He
will tempt us to go after things that we think we need, power, and he will even
twist God’s Word. We usually fall into these temptations.
Second:
Jesus used God’s Word and the Holy Spirit—given in baptism—to face off against
the devil. We have these same tools.
Third:
Although Satan had a small hand in Jesus’ suffering—entering Judas—God planned
it even from the beginning. Could it be that Satan is so hell bent on destroying
everything good that God has made, that he would even go as far as to be involved
with something that would bring about his own downfall?
Forth: Jesus’ death for us has
taken away all our sins. There’s nothing left for the devil to use to accuse
us. When we fall into temptation, we know we have forgiveness because Jesus
died and rose again. The devil and his demons are already losers. That’s good
news. Amen.
[1] Matthew
3:13-17 (The account of Jesus’ baptism)
[2] James
2:19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and
shudder!
[3] Luke 4:3
[4] Luke
4:5, Deuteronomy 8:3
[5] Hebrews
4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet
without sin.
[6] Luke
4:5-7
[7] Job 1:12
And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only
against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence
of the LORD.
Job 2:6
And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his
life.”
[8] Luke
4:8, Deuteronomy 6:13
[9] Luke
4:9-10
[10] Genesis
3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the
LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not
eat of any tree in the garden’?”
[11] Psalm
91:13
[12] Revelation
20:2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and
Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.
1 Peter
5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a
roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith,
knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your
brotherhood throughout the world.
[13] Luke
4:12 Deuteronomy 6:16
[14]
Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the
rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present
darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
[15] Luke 4:
(31-37), 41 And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!”
But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that
he was the Christ.
See
also Luke 8:26-39
[16] John
1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory,
glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
[17]
Revelation 12:20 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation
and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have
come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them
day and night before our God.”
[18] Acts
3:15 “You killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we
are witnesses.”
[19] Hebrews
2:14-15 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself
likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the
one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who
through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
[20] 1
Corinthians 15:54-55 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the
mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death,
where is your sting?”
[21] Matthew
2:13-18 (The account of Herod killing the baby boys in Bethlehem)
[22] Luke
22:31-32 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift
you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And
when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
[23] Luke
22:3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of
the twelve.
[24]
Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse
for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”
[25] Mark
15:13 And they cried out again, “Crucify him.”
[26] Isaiah
53:3-6
[27] Colossians
2:13-15 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of
your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our
trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its
legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the
rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in
him.
[28] Jeremiah
31:34 For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no
more.”
[29] Romans
8:33-34 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who
justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that,
who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for
us.
[30] Romans
3:22b-25a For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation
by his blood, to be received by faith.
[31] Genesis
3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring
and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his
heel.”
[32] Mark
3:23-26 And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan
cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot
stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to
stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot
stand, but is coming to an end.
[33]
Revelation 12:12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But
woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath,
because he knows that his time is short!”
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