LESSON: JAMES 4:5-10

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Matthew 4:8,9

The third temptation is concerned with temporal honor and power.

Those who fall away from the faith for the sake of honor and power are victims of this temptation. They want to enjoy nothing but good days here on earth and believe only as far as honor and glory will permit. To this class belong also the heretics, who cause sects and factions among Christians so that they may go their way before the world and float about in honor.

You can place this third temptation on the right-hand side and the first one on the left-hand side. The first temptation concerns misfortune, which stirs up anger, impatience, and unbelief in us; the third and last is a temptation of good fortune, in which one is urged to seek pleasure, honor, joy, and everything exalted.

The second, middle temptation is altogether spiritual and concerns itself with freakish pranks and error to mislead us in our understanding and to draw us away from faith.

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PRAYER: Lord, preserve us by the power of your Word against all the ragings and ravings of our old evil foe, Satan, and all his machinations, in the name of Jesus our Savior. Amen.

LESSON: EPHESIANS 6:10-17

Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Matthew 4:7

The devil’s second temptation is quite different from the first one but quite similar to it in its absurdity.

Here the devil teaches us to tempt God, just as he urged Christ to throw Himself from a pinnacle of the temple. This was quite unnecessary in any case, because there would probably have been a good set of stairs available on which He could have climbed down. That the devil here tried to induce Christ to a temptation of God is quite clear from Christ’s reply.

Wherever the devil comes upon a heart that trusts God in the hour of want and need, he quickly abandons concerns for bodily welfare and greed and makes his assault from quite a different angle. “If you want to be all spiritual and trusting,” he says, “I’ll give you some help.” He proceeds to come at you from another direction: he tries to get you to put your faith into something that God has not commanded you to believe and does not want you to believe.

It may be that God has supplied your house with bread, as He does annually throughout the whole world, and you refuse to make use of it, making want and need for yourself, declaring, “We are to put our faith in God. I will not eat the bread but wait till God sends me bread from heaven.” That would be tempting God. For He does not tell you that you must still hope for what you already have and keep on working for it. How can you hope for something you already have?

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PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, our old evil foe, the devil, was cunning enough and brazen enough to attack even your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. When he tempts us into unbelief and wrong beliefs, you have shown in our Son’s example how to overcome the devil’s temptations. Grant us your grace and strength to do this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

LESSON: MATTHEW 26:36-41

If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. Matthew 4:3

After approaching Christ, the devil assails Him by confronting Him with His bodily welfare and casting doubt on God’s goodness, saying, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

It is as though he meant to say: “Rely on God and don’t bake; wait until a roasted rooster flies into your mouth. Do you now claim that you still have a God who cares for you? Where now is your heavenly Father, who looks after you? I am telling you; He is leaving you in the lurch. Eat up now and drink in faith and let us see how satisfied you will be, especially if they are stones. What a fine Son of God you are! What a Father He is to you, when He does not even send you a crust of bread, and lets you be so poor and needy. Just keep on believing that you are His Son and He is your Father.”

With such thoughts the devil assails all the children of God. Christ certainly experienced all this. He was no stock or stone, although He was pure and without sin and remained so, as we cannot be.

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PRAYER: For our sakes, O Lord, you suffered yourself to be tempted by our enemy, the devil, and overcame him with the powerful testimony of your Father’s holy Word. Enable us, your disciples, to gain a similar victory over the devil whenever we are assailed by him, for your truth’s sake. Amen.

LESSON: LUKE 12:22-31

Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. Hebrews 5:8,9

The account of Christ’s temptation has been written both for our learning and admonition.

First, we should learn here how Christ, by His fasting, hunger, temptation, and victory, served us and helped us. Accordingly, he who believes in Christ shall suffer no want, and no temptation can harm him. He will have sufficient in the midst of need, and he will be safe in the midst of temptation. His Lord and head has conquered for him and for his benefit in all these respects. Of this he is quite sure, for his Lord has declared, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). If God could nourish Christ for forty days without food, He can also nourish His Christians.

Secondly, this example also admonishes us to endure want and temptation gladly in the service of God and for the good of our neighbor, as Christ did for us, as often as the need arises. It will certainly arise if we are to teach and confess God’s Word. Therefore, this Gospel is a wonderful consolation and strengthening against our unbelieving and shameless flesh. It establishes and strengthens our conscience that we do not plague ourselves with worry about our bodily welfare but are certain that He will and can nourish us.

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PRAYER: Thanks and praise be to you, O Lord our Savior, for all that you suffered in our stead and on our behalf. Bless us at all times with your gifts, that we gladly suffer in the service of God and for the benefit of our neighbor, for your mercy’s sake. Amen.

LESSON: ROMANS 8:12-17

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Matthew 4:1

There is a reason why the evangelist, with considerable care, states right at the beginning of this Gospel that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, that He fasted there, and was tempted. The reason for this is that no one should ever presume to follow Christ’s example by his own choice and make a selfish fast of it, decided by his own will alone. He should wait for the Spirit, who will send him quite enough fasting and temptation.

Anyone who deliberately courts the danger of hunger or any other temptation when, under the blessing of God, he can eat, drink, and enjoy the other comforts of life, is tempting God. We should never seek out shortages and temptation. They will doubtless come of themselves to give us ample opportunity to do our best in noble fashion.

We read that “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,” not “Jesus chose the wilderness for Himself.” Paul also says, “All who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14). God gives His blessings for us to use them with thanksgiving and not to despise them. He does not bless us so that we should tempt Him.

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PRAYER: Enlighten us and guide us by your Holy Spirit, heavenly Father, that we never presume to tempt you in disregard of your blessings but use them to your greater glory, in and through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

LESSON: MATTHEW 4:1-11

We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

It is customary to read the Gospel of Christ’s temptation by the devil at the beginning of the season of Lent to set Christ’s example before Christians and encourage them to fast as Christ fasted.

This is utter tomfoolery!

In the first place, no one can ever measure up to such an example and fast without any food at all for forty days and nights as Christ did. Christ, moreover, followed the example of Moses, who also fasted for forty days and nights when he received God’s law on Mount Sinai. Accordingly, Christ also wanted to fast when He was about to bring us the new law and to publish it.

In the second place, our fasting is a complete mistake instituted by men. Although Christ fasted for forty days, there is nothing at all in His Word in which He orders us to do likewise. He probably also did other things that He does not want us to do. But what He tells us to do and not to do, we should keep carefully in mind and act according to His Word.

Our worst mistake of all was to regard and practice our fasting as a good work. We did not fast to discipline our flesh but to acquire merit before God, to blot out our sins, and to obtain grace.

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PRAYER: You have bound us, O Lord, as your children to your Word as our rule of faith and life. In this Word, you assure us we shall know the truth, and the truth will set us free. This we also pray in your name. Amen.

LESSON: MATTHEW 26:57-58

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17

We have no hesitation at all in declaring that anyone who contemplates God’s sufferings for a day, an hour, a quarter of an hour, does better than fasting for a whole year, praying a psalm every day, and hearing a hundred masses. For such contemplation changes a man quite basically and is very close to the new birth of baptism. Here the sufferings of Christ perform their true and noble work. They choke the Old Adam and dispel all pleasure, joy, and confidence in creatures, even as Christ was forsaken by all and even by God.

Because this work is not under our control, it happens that at times we must pray for it. The result does not follow immediately. Nevertheless, we must not lose heart and desist from our efforts. Sometimes, it happens that we do not pray in accordance with God’s will. God acts in freedom and will not become our captive. And so, a man may become saddened in his conscience and very dissatisfied with his life without realizing that it is Christ’s sufferings, of which he thinks very little, that are influencing him in this way, just as others can ponder Christ’s sufferings almost continuously without ever coming to self-knowledge. With the former, the sufferings of Christ are a hidden but genuine factor; with the latter, they are merely apparent and deceptive. In this way, God often brings the unexpected to pass.

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PRAYER: Keep us ever mindful, heavenly Father, of the grim reality of the suffering and death of our Lord and grant us your grace fully to accept all that our Lord gave and suffered for us in our stead. Amen.

LESSON: MATTHEW 26:47-56

Rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 1 Peter 4:13

Anyone who remains so completely unmoved and hard-boiled that the sufferings of Christ do not horrify him and bring him to his senses has cause to be afraid. For it cannot be otherwise. You must become conformed to the image and suffering of Christ, either in this life or in hell. At the very least, you must be terrified in the face of death, tremble and quake, and feel everything that Christ suffered on the cross.

It is a gruesome experience to witness agony on a deathbed. Therefore, you should pray God to soften your heart and permit you to ponder the suffering of Christ fruitfully. It is impossible for us of ourselves to ponder the sufferings of Christ thoroughly unless God Himself implants the resolution in our hearts. Pray God that this contemplation of Christ’s sufferings may not result in any doctrine or teaching which you hurry to accomplish of yourself before you have earnestly sought God’s grace so that you accomplish it by His grace and not of yourself.

Here we see why so many have gone astray in regard to the sufferings of Christ. They do not pray to God for His grace to profit from Christ’s passion, but they try to attain their end in their own strength and by their own methods. They operate in a thoroughly human and unfruitful manner.

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PRAYER: Soften our hearts, O God, by your grace that we may fruitfully ponder the sufferings of Christ and see in them the stripes whereby we are healed, for the sake of Jesus our Savior. Amen.