Matthew 4:23 - 25: Good News For Everyone
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intro me
We’re continuing our journey through the eyewitness story of Jesus’ life found in the gospel of Matthew in the Bible. Today we have a pretty extraordinary section following hot on the heels of Jesus’ baptism which Pat took us through last week. At his baptism, we saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Jesus, and we heard the voice from heaven declaring Jesus to be God’s son who he loves, with whom God is well pleased. Jesus is empowered and acclaimed by God.
What do you imagine might come next? The crowds rushing to see who this is that triggers something so epic, eager to listen to every word he says? Jesus climbing out of the waters and heading straight for Jerusalem, the religious epicentre, or Rome, the seat of world power at the time, to take over? Well, surprise! God’s plan is not one we would imagine. Listen with me to the remarkable story of what happens next.
We’re in Matthew and we’re starting at chapter 4. If you have one of these blue bibles, that’s page 967 and look for the big 4. Matthew chapter 4, page 967, and Cameron is reading for us today.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
This is a passage that raises lots of questions, right? Lots of things to wonder about here, where I’d like to know more - but I want to focus instead on the things that are clear rather than those which aren’t.
Our passage begins with Jesus being led by the Spirit into this. So it’s absolutely clear this is God’s plan, God’s path for Jesus, not an unfortunate accident or a nasty surprise. This is no wondering-monster encounter following an unlucky dice-roll, D&D fans. Right as Jesus begins the main part of his ministry, God’s plan is for him to be tested, to be tempted - the word means both things. And God is using the devil for this, allowing God’s enemy this opportunity to try and take Jesus out - or worse still, to “turn” him. We might picture something like a star-wars style conversion to the dark side.
Christians believe this devil is a real, personal, supernatural being. God’s enemy from the very beginning of the Bible’s story, one whom God, for his own reasons, gives significant power to within this world. Normally this enemy is working from behind the scenes, in stealth mode, but now and then he’s seen out in the open. In the garden of Eden, right at the start of the story. In the book of Job, trying to destroy a man. Here and there elsewhere, but mostly behind the scenes.
Jesus comes face to face with him. And even though Jesus is empowered and acclaimed right before this, so you could imagine he might be feeling ready for a fight, it’s no Marvel-style superhero battle, with two ridiculously overpowered foes smashing at one another, destroying everything around them in the process. Instead, after Jesus voluntarily weakens himself by fasting, the devil just shows up and makes a series of invitations for Jesus to act. It’s a battle of wills, for the soul.
When I first read this section, I read the temptations in my mind as the devil trying to get Jesus to question his identity - you know, “if you’re really the Son of God, you could do this, or that. Do you really think you are?” Like the temptation was to disbelieve what God had just said over Jesus, the battle was over whether Jesus would really hold on to that identity or not. But as I’ve looked closer, that’s not the case.
In English there are lots of different ways of putting words together which carry tone and expectations and the like. Think about these two:
if it was actually sunny then we’d like Scotland - true, but that doesn’t necessarily tell you anything about the weather here.
if it rains again today, we’re leaving - and yes, it probably will. bye now.
Greek, the original language of this part of the bible, has ways of doing exactly the same thing, making it clear what you think about your “if”.
This “if you are the Son of God” isn’t saying “if you were really the Son of God...”, doubtful tone. Instead it’s more like “so, if you’re actually the Son of God, then...”, an assuming tone. The devil isn’t questioning Jesus’ identity; he’s assuming it, almost agreeing it, and pushing at what Jesus’ identity means, at what he can do, what he should do as a result.
It’s not about whether he is the Son, it’s about what kind of Son he will be.
This first temptation, “tell the stones to become bread”. What’s the issue here? There’s no “conservation of bread” style problem where if he makes bread here, there’ll be less bread over there, nicked off someone’s plate. Jesus can and will make bread - we’ll see him feed 5000 in the wilderness as we stick with the story. As God the Son, he absolutely has that power. So why would it be wrong? Because it is not God’s path, God’s plan, for him to feed himself in the wilderness just now, but for him to humble himself, fasting and hungering, and to wait for God’s provision.
That’s the point of Jesus’ response. Jesus is quoting words from the old testament, from a moment in Israel’s history that’s like a flashback, an echo of his own time of testing. Here they are with a tiny bit more context so you can see the thought, the story, he has in mind with his quote - see if you can spot the parallels:
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
The test is whether Jesus will learn what Israel wouldn’t: life is in obedient submission to God. What kind of Son will Jesus be? One who rejects God and his plan? Or one who trust and obeys?
The second temptation is like it: “You’re the Son - Jump off - God will send his angels to catch you.” Think about this: Jesus’ life has already been saved by angels - think back to Dustin’s talk a few weeks ago, where an angel directs his nighttime escape. Jesus knows he can call angels to help him - he’ll tell Peter exactly that in the Garden of Gethsemane in Mt 26:53. It’s an angel that rolls the stone away from his tomb at the end of the book. Skydiving with angel backup sounds pretty cool - so what’s the problem?
Jesus responds by quoting words from the old testament again - and if we zoom out just a tiny bit there’s another link to a moment in Israel’s own wilderness testing. Deut 6:16
Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.
What happened at Massah? I had to look it up but you can read about it in Exodus chapter 17. Israel find themselves without water and doubt God will provide for them, doubt obeying God’s plan will work out. Instead they demand He act. That’s what Jesus’ jumping would be doing.
The test is whether Jesus will trust where Israel doubted. Life is in trusting obedience. What kind of Son will Jesus be? One who rejects God and his plan? Or one who trusts and obeys?
Third temptation? spoiler: it’s about obedience to God again - this time, openly. Satan offers Jesus the world, straight up. One teeny weeny catch not at all hidden in the small print: he must worship and obey the devil.
Thing is, God has promised the world to Jesus already - Psalm 2:7-8
I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
And it will all be his. Just not this way. The test is whether Jesus will obey where Israel rebelled. What kind of Son will Jesus be? One who rejects God and his plan? Or one who trusts and obeys? That’s the root, the common thread to all three temptations. And by the end of our passage, we have our answer: Jesus will be the Son who trusts and obeys. And as we follow his story, we’ll see he trusts and obeys God’s plan all the way to the bitter end of the cross.
That’s cool. But if you’ve been around Hope City a while, you know we love to ask the big question: so what? Why does this matter for you and me, here and now? What are we to take away?
There are lots of threads we could pull on here:
We could talk about the reality that we have an enemy, one who wanted to steal our salvation, turn our saviour away from it. one who wants to destroy us as individuals, as a church, as God’s people. One God gives a degree of freedom and power to. That’s all true so we could think about his methods and our defences.
We could reflect on the fact that Jesus faced temptation, real, actual temptation, not just a sham. That knowing it first-hand, he empathises with us when we face it. We could look at the bible’s wider teaching on temptation: it’s limits, our responses.
We could talk about the way Jesus uses scripture in responding and challenge ourselves to learn our bibles so we’re ready to fight. We could see how Jesus defends against a twisted interpretation of Scripture by showing it’s incompatible with the Bible’s wider teaching.
All good things, all true - but I don’t think any of those are the main reason this passage is here for us. I don’t think any of those are the main reason this chapter of Jesus’ story is told to us. This is not primarily a tutorial on demonology or on fighting temptation. So why is this here?
Pat spoke last week about how Jesus is sort of replaying Israel’s story, like a re-make or a reboot of a film franchise. It’s like our writer doubles down on that in today’s section. 40 days in the wilderness echoes Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness. All Jesus’ quotes link to Israel’s story. And Israel’s long story, ultimately, was one of failure. Israel’s story stumbles from failure to failure - but we’re meant to see the contrast: that Jesus’ story moves from victory to victory. Jesus begins here with victory - and as we’ll see by the end of the book, and as we’ll celebrate today with communion, Jesus ends with victory too.
Where Israel failed - didn’t trust or obey God’s plan - God’s Son doesn’t fail. He trusts. He obeys. And he is victorious.
What does this mean for you and me? The biggest thing to take away here is that Jesus didn’t fail so there is hope and life when we do
We all know what it is to be tempted and to FALL; to be tested and to fail. Telling me you’ve never failed? Sorry - I just don’t believe you. May of us, I expect, have blown it even this week. maybe it was something small-seeming: looked when you know you shouldn’t. angry when you know you should be self-controlled. spoken when you know you should be silent. Maybe it was something huge. Maybe this week is a total disaster. Like you set out on a driving test + didn’t just forget to indicate, but ran over a granny then wrecked the car + left it burning on its roof with the instructor inside?
Take a moment just now and think back to on one of your own failures - pick one that sticks with you - and examine it. I want you to turn it over in your mind. Ask yourself how you feel about it, what it does to you, what it makes you think inside? .. I’ll give you a moment to do that.
Here’s what I find when I pick one and look back on it:
it makes me angry: how could I be so stupid? how did i fall for that? what was I thinking?
it makes me ashamed: if people knew, what would they think? I have to hide this. how can I keep this secret?
it makes me hopeless: I failed again. I’ll always fail. I’ll never manage.
it makes me feel unlovable: what good am I? what use am I? who could want a failure like me?
Failures want to define us. crush us. isolate us. separate us from God. But failures can only do that to us if our identity, our hope, our value rests on our own victory.
Do your failures define you? are you letting them? Christians, it is not our failures, but Jesus’ victory that defines us. See here the first of Christ’s hard-won victories! These victories are what define us - what free us from all our failures.
Last week Pat showed us because of what Jesus has done for us, what is true for Him has become true for us too; as the Father says to Jesus, so he also says to us: “this is my daughter, this is my son, whom I love. with them I am well pleased.” This declaration rests on Jesus’ victory. That means this declaration cannot be shaken by my failure, or by your failure. It never rested on our victory in the first place.
And thank God Jesus didn’t fail - instead, “it is finished,” he said. And it is. our hope rests in Jesus’ victories not our own failures
If I can invite the band to come up please?
I was thinking about how to respond to this big truth, how to help us all try and take it in, take it on board, take it home with us. As it happens, this is 5th Sunday in the month and so this morning, like every 5th Sunday, we’re going to share what Christians call “communion” - bread and wine as symbols of Jesus’ body given for us, his blood shed for us.
As I thought about that, I realised it’s so fitting - such a wonderful, tangible picture of the very heart of what we’re talking about. Communion draws our eyes and hearts once again to the cross, to Jesus’ last and final victory, to his death and resurrection. This morning, as God invites us to His table, His meal, His feast - as His children, I’m going to invite you to bring your failures to Him and leave them there. Swap them for bread and wine, symbols of Jesus’ victory. Because Jesus didn’t fail.
We’re going to quickly hand out postits and pens then we’ll have a song in which to reflect. During it, can I encourage you to take the failures that are in danger of defining you, that still have a hold on you, that weigh you down, and to privately write them down. Maybe they are recent. Maybe they are long past. Maybe there’s just one thing. Maybe there’s a whole list. Just a word or two for each is plenty - you’ll know what you mean. Then fold that post-it up tight so no-one can see. Maybe nothing will come to mind - that’s fine, don’t make stuff up - this is just if it’s helpful to you, if there’s something for you just now.
When we’re done singing, we’ll share communion together. If this is your faith, God invites you to his table not because you’re victorious but because you’re not. When it’s your turn to come forward - you don’t need to bring a post-it - but if you want to, bring your failures with you, to his table - to drop them in the bin and leave them here - these things don’t define you. Then take the bread and wine, symbols of Jesus’ victory back to your seat. See, consider, what truly defines you - then eat and drink.
We’ll see a true picture of the Gospel, of what is really going on at the cross: Christians, Jesus takes our failure and swaps it for his victory. We are defined by Jesus’ victory and not our failures.
Listen to this next song, reflect on what we’ve been thinking about together, and perhaps you’ll have something to write...