“THE DESERT RANGER: FOR YOU”
Saint Matthew 4: 1-11
Invocavit: 1 March Anno Domini 2020
Father Jay Watson SSP
Jesus was led up by God the Holy Ghost—You are not (in that way). You are led by God the Holy Ghost in your + Baptism and in the Word presented by The Spirit in Word and Supper
Jesus was tempted by Satan. Face to face. You are tempted by Satan, though in those assaults, the old evil foe uses intermediaries.
Jesus fasted for forty days and hungered. You only fast when the Doctor tells you no food after midnight until the blood is drawn in the AM.
Satan “questioned” (tried/tempted) Jesus by asking “If Thou be The Son of man” do a miracle of transformation/transubstantiation/re-creation. The devil was taunting: “if You’re all God-like, show me Your stuff—prove it—after all, You are famishing!” You, in your own hour of utmost need, sometimes ask God for the same thing: “If You’re here Lord, prove it!” There IS a way for ask for Godly intervention and healing, but it is based on trusting the Word more than looking for a miracle, and it always ends with Christ’s own words: “Thy will be done.”
Jesus could not sin. Jesus is God. Jesus is man and thus could suffer (The Cross/Crucifixion). He could be famished and parched. He could be cold and tired. He could be cut and He could both bleed and sweat. His temptations/trials affected not His Divinity or His Humanity—Christ is not divided, not schizo (split)—His desert trials impacted the whole Jesus—The Nazarene. Was he in danger of “caving in” and doing the devil’s bidding? NO, but He felt the pummeling…the door might be incapable of being breached but the hammer blows are heard and the door is smashed upon. Jesus suffered. Jesus obeyed ALL The Father’s commands under the devil’s attacks. Jesus did what Adam would not do in The Garden; what the whole “world” would not do in the days before the flood; what the “children of Israel” under Moses would not do in the wilderness for forty years. Jesus’ obedience is not for Himself, but only for them and for you—for you own failure to do what God says you must!
Bread is the basic “staff” of life. Wheat, grain, as in Eden, in the garden, is made into bread. Manna in those 40 years of Exodus, sustained the Hebrews. But that Manna, as Jesus reminds you in John 6, eventually ceased. It pointed to the true and real “bread from Heaven” Christ—Christ’s Body and Blood. You know of this by The Bread of The Word—Holy Scripture! The will of The Father (Trinity) given in the Person and Work of The Son becomes your “daily bread;” your only source of nourishment and comfort. This is what you live by. Only this.
Satan’s suggestion that Jesus jump off the Temple roof, because, He is God and can defy gravity (walking on water) and, after all, the Bible says (Ps. 91) “angels will protect Him.” The serpent herein acts much like a televangelist who not so much misquotes Scripture as, takes it completely out of context. While true that the Host of Sabaoth do serve The Son, that type of intervention was totally beside the point. Jesus is God. Jesus can do anything. He is awesome. How did that help Adam? Adam didn’t care…at first. How did it help the Hebrews? It didn’t, they didn’t care…at first. Knowing that Jesus is God, does that keep you from sinning? The awesomeness of His super-powers, does that keep you from sinning?
Where exactly does The Word tells you to do stupid show-off and dangerously daring stunts and tricks? The Word only demands you to LOVE God perfectly and your neighbor perfectly. How are you doing on that? Do you fear, love, and trust, in God above all things? Well, what do you do during the week that would give anyone, yourself included, even a hint of that? Yeah.
The final attack on Christ, Matthew tells you, is for God to stop being God and to worship disobedience, death, decay, and damnation. For what? For wealth, “mammon.” While absurd on its face, this is really what the other two temptations were/are for all Hebrews, Adams, and people; all of you. You can be “gods” have what “YOU” want if you just stop belonging to God and be bold enough to choose to belong to yourself….Satan.
This allure, these temptations, presents itself to you every day, every hour. Yes, it must be drowned + by Jesus. Remember: “You are Baptized.” Yes, this craving must be blunted, resisted, and in its place, your real nourishment and daily requirements must be filled by Jesus: His Word, His Scriptures, His Body & Blood.
To “old Adam,” to the “world,” and to Satan, only one reply is needed: The Jesus reply: “Get thee hence.”
You need to believe, teach, and confess that Word, The Word. And when you can’t, when you in your own individual wilderness are weak, weary, and wasting away…behold, The Spirit lifts up your head by The Word given you, and shows you your Desert Ranger, your Redeeming Oasis approaching. Christ and His Bloody Cross of total forgiveness and peace comes to you as The Saving Samaritan and fights the battle against the raging lion in your stead. His bloody heal leaves a trail of crimson on the scorching sands of sin—bleaching them clean, and His scarlet dripping fingers leave a Passover red cross upon your forehead and breast—SO RED—that its shining white. And then, and then, come forward to your Feast for then the angels will come to you and nourish you.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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