Advent Lutheran Church

"Heads Up"

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.   He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.  The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”  Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’”  Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.  And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.  If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”   Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”  Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Heads Up
What a stunning defeat for the devil!  He “tests” Jesus several times, only to be turned down convincingly as Jesus asserts his authority and appeals to Scripture.  Jesus, 1; Devil 0.  But the devil doesn’t simply hang his head and slink away, forever beaten.  He’s only lost one round; the match isn’t over.  He isn’t finished with Jesus, and he isn’t finished with me.

It’s that last sentence, about the devil leaving Jesus “until an opportune time,” that gives me pause.  What’s “an opportune time?”  What’s opportune for the devil, I’m sure, is a time that’s suitable to his purposes to draw people away from God.  The devil knows when to strike.  And I’m liable to not be ready, because for me an opportune time tends to be those occasions when I’ve accomplished something that makes me feel pretty good about myself.  Prideful, a little cocky, relying on my own resources.  And that leaves me wide open to the devil’s suggestion that I be full of myself rather than full of God, that I am all I need.

Part of my discipline this Lent will be simply to stay awake spiritually, to guard against those occasions when I feel strong but in fact am weak, open to being led away from God.  The devil’s “opportune time” can be my own opportune time to cling even more closely to our Creator.  I pray that I have the eyes to see those times when they come, to be truly “heads up” in my walk with God.