Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,
Matthew 4:1-11
‘One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, 9 and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.’ ”
11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
My sermon from First Sunday in Lent (February 22, 2026) on Matthew 4:1-11.
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There’s a breakfast spot I go to with my family that has a little block of wood on each table labeled “The Original I.Q. Tester.” That wood is part of a game with a pyramid made out of triangles etched into it. At each corner of a triangle is a little round hole just big enough for a small white peg to sit in. On one side of the board area all the rules for the game. The first thing we do is put all the pegs into the holes while leaving one spot open. We then use a peg to jump over another peg, removing the jumped peg from the board. As you jump, jump, jump, we get to a point where no pegs can easily jump over the others. And then, based on how many pegs we leave on the board, we discover how smart we are. If three pegs are left, we’re only so-so. If we leave two, we’re pretty average. If we leave 1, we’re very smart. But if we leave the last peg in the exact hole we initially left empty, we’re brilliant. This is a fun game to play while waiting for your omelet and french toast to arrive. Yet it can get pretty competitive when you’re sitting at the table with siblings who have nothing else to do. It doesn’t take long before we’re demanding our turn to see how well we can do. And the wails, weeping, and gnashing of teeth that echoes from the table can get loud enough to interrupt the meals of those around us. Winning the game while waiting for breakfast can feel important. But what ends up mattering more is flaunting when we do it. Rubbing our win in other people’s faces isn’t good sportsmanship but displaying our strength, ability, skill, and power is what we do when playing with others. Doing all we can to win whatever game we’re a part of has a way of taking over our soul and in today’s reading from the gospel according to Matthew, the devil wonders if Jesus plays that way too.
So it’s our tradition on the first Sunday after Ash Wednesday to back track a bit and hang out with Jesus in the wilderness. Over the last few weeks, we began working through Jesus’ first sermon to his disciples but we’re now exploring what happened before any of his parables, teachings, or miracles were written down. At this point in Matthew’s version of his life, Jesus had just seen John the Baptist in the wilderness. Together, they entered the Jordan River, Jesus was baptized, and when he came out of the water, God’s Spirit in the form of a dove landed on him and a voice declared him to be exactly who he was meant to be. But rather than using that moment as a springboard into his public ministry, Jesus went deeper into the place where the only thing he could depend on was God. It’s important to remember the wilderness in the Bible is always something more than a beautiful scenic spot. The wilderness is where our control breaks down. Being in the wilderness is very hard since we’re isolated, lonely, and full of worries and fears. This wilderness is a place we don’t want to be in and yet it’s the first place Jesus went to. He went into the wilderness where Moses, the prophets, and others encountered the only thing they could trust. Yet who Jesus ran into first was the devil. This is the first time in Matthew where this character shows up and we’re given no introduction. For Matthew, the devil is a tester, tempter, a ruler of destructive demons, and who has his own human agents in the world. The devil can’t be reduced to morality – the opposite of what we imagine good to be. Rather, in the words of Professor Warren Carter, the devil in Matthew “personifies the vulnerability of human life and life in relation to God.” The devil doesn’t simply invite us to make poor choices. The devil also pushes us – and the Son of God – away from the source of who we’re supposed to be.
And that’s why I think remembering what happened immediately before this story is important. Jesus’ experience wasn’t a story telling us how to be strong when we’re tempted by something that doesn’t belong to us. What the devil is really trying to do is to see if Jesus will really be who the voice from heaven declared him to be. Will Jesus play as God’s anointed agent or will his life embody the games we play with ourselves and with others? The devil, then, presents three actions Jesus will end up doing later. Since Jesus will spend a lot of his ministry eating at people’s tables while feeding thousands with a few loaves of bread and fish, Jesus is tempted to turn non-food items into something anyone can eat. Jesus’ journey will take him throughout Galilee, Judah, Jordan, and into places where his work and his teachings will be very public. Since Jesus was currently in the wilderness where people expected God to be, the tempter invites Jesus to appear in the center of Jerusalem and show others how God is there too in a very protective and flamboyant way. And since Jesus will teach, heal, and offer compassion and mercy in a way that embodies his divine authority, the tempter pushes Jesus to just take power over everyone. Each act would be very public, very flashy, and with the kind of special effects that would show everyone how God really is right here. Yet the acts Jesus is invited to take also reveal how this devil was doing all it could to shrink Jesus’ story. When Jesus heard he was beloved, his mission wasn’t only to do amazing things. He wasn’t merely supposed to do what we expect the divine to do to flaunt how supernatural God really is. Jesus was also here to live; care; connect; weep; laugh; argue; teach; listen; mourn; and to experience everything life brings our way. Life wasn’t meant to be embraced as a kind of game where we use displays of power as a way to prove to others we’re more than so-so. We, with Jesus, are part of something new and we, together, don’t have to shrink our life into something smaller than it truly is.
And that, I believe, is what the season of Lent is about. While some of us are busy “fasting,” “giving up things,” and “not eating meat on Fridays,” we have to remember Lent isn’t about self-improvement. It isn’t where we’re making ourselves better by assuming we have the power to resist all the temptations that interfere with our ability to win at life and faith. Rather, Jesus is inviting us to remember the cross etched on our forehead, God’s declaration of our belovedness, and how big our story is with our God. God has, through Jesus, shown us that God isn’t here to wow us with displays of power. God, instead, is here to live your life with you so you can discover who your God is. You’re not only meant to be so-so, very smart, brilliant, or embarrassed to even try and participate in the games we ask you to play. You’re here to be who God has declared you to be. As we care and serve, listen and love, and push past our need to always be in control, we notice how our self-worth is not defined by what we achieve or by who sees us win. We are, instead, wrapped up in the fullness of our God and we get to show others how they are part of God too.
Amen.