The text for the sermon is taken from the Lent I Collect:
“Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness.”
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The temptation of Jesus, which occurs at the beginning of Matthew four, is immediately preceded by the baptism of Jesus. Matthew writes at the end of chapter three: “[Mat 3:16-17 KJV] And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” It is important to note that once his sonship is announced, Jesus goes out to the desert, fasts for 40 days, and then is tempted by the devil.
This greater context helps the typological meaning in these passages. By typological, I mean how Jesus fulfills OT allusions. The OT scenes and characters are shadows or types of Jesus. Moses and Elijah both fasted for 40 days and are shadows of Jesus. Even more, the nation of Israel is a prefiguration of Jesus and yet also fulfilled in Jesus–as they wandered and failed in the desert, Jesus resists the temptations and fulfills the mission of Israel.
But even more, Jesus should be seen as the New Adam, the model of a re-created humanity, healed from the wounds of the fall. Adam was in the garden with every need provided and with the companionship of Eve. Jesus is now alone, hungry, and in a desert wilderness. As Adam had every advantage to not sin, now Jesus is tempted with everything in favor of the tempter himself–and yet Jesus prevails where Adam failed. Jesus is now answering the sins of Adam, reversing the destruction that Adam wrought.
Adam gave up his special relationship as a child of God in order to try to be a God. Satan tempts Jesus in the same way, attempting to make him deny his Sonship. In each of the temptations, Satan challenges the declaration of God at Jesus’ baptism. “If thou be the Son of God”! Satan is challenging Jesus’ sonship, but in each challenge, Jesus puts his Father’s will before his. Instead of instantly making food for himself, Jesus allows His Father to give it to him as He did for Israel in the wilderness. He refuses to expect, as a false prophet would, that God supports those who put Him to the test. Instead, he obeys as a perfect son. Finally, he denies the temptation for worldly power as the Pharisees and others (including Peter at some points) expected from him. Instead, he humbly serves in the kingdom of His Father. Jesus reverses Adam’s sins, faces the devil and conquers as the New Adam, the true Son of God.
The disobedience of Adam is matched by the radical and free obedience of Christ. We come to the paradoxical nature of the Christian life–that our freedom comes from obedience. I am reminded of the MP Collect for peace: “O GOD, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom.” This prayer is expanding upon the Apostle Paul’s continual emphasis that we are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness [Rom 6]. The yoke of Christ is easy and brings a unique freedom [Gal 5]. This is one of the great paradoxes of our Christian faith, and leads us to the Epistle for today where Paul brings out the irony in the life of the Christian–though we live in the world, we truly are new creations, adopted sons and daughters of God. The devil thinks he is tricky when he asks Jesus to throw himself down from the pinnacle, but look at what Paul says. Paul has already given his whole life in obedience to the Lord. Paul has stood at the door of death in shipwreck, torture, stonings, but he has gained eternal life. The devil tempts Jesus with all the kingdoms of the world, not realizing that though Christians are poor, they are rich and possess all things!
You see now how important these passages are for us as we enter the Lenten wilderness. We are given a model to follow and a reminder of how our lives as Christians are lived by a wisdom not of this world. Christians grow strong by fasting, we gain the world by giving away to the poor, and we live to God by dying to ourselves. As Jesus fasted to prepare himself for the temptations of the devil and his ministry, we too should fast as it strengthens and prepares us for coming temptations.
Again, this might seem strange that fasting helps, but the Orthodox bishop, Kallistos Ware describes fasting so well: “Ascetic self discipline, then, signifies a rejection of the world, only in so far as it is corrupted by the fall; of the body, only in so far as it is dominated by sinful passions. Lust excludes love: so long as we lust after other persons or other things, we cannot truly love them. By delivering us from lust, the fast renders us capable of genuine love. No longer ruled by the selfish desire to grasp and to exploit, we begin to see the world with the eyes of Adam in paradise. Our self-denial is the path that leads to our self affirmation; it is our means of entry into that cosmic liturgy whereby all things visible and invisible ascribe glory to their Creator” (Ware, Introduction to Triodion, 27-28).
Fasting actually helps us back into a right relationship with our bodies, other people, and God. In our own lives, obedience to God often requires force, and it requires force against ourselves, to work against ourselves so that we may give ourselves to God.
What stands in our way? How can we break those chains? The Lord told us himself: fasting and prayer! When we fast and pray we teach our bodies that we live on much more than bread alone, that our bodies need to be ruled.
During a fast we also join with Christ in a small way. When we give up our sensual desires for the sake of a higher desire, our self-denial is joined to Christ’s. As we begin to imitate him, we become like him, and we can join his true freedom.
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“Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness.”