I don’t know if you have noticed it yet, but in the one year liturgical readings, the pattern for lessons throughout the Lenten season share similar subject and thematic content. All the scenarios involve and/or include a reference to: The Devil or demon possession, bread/crumbs/food, and/or the Word of God versus another kind of Word. Truth vs. Lies. Are the physical and spiritual elements in opposition to one another or is it a demonic lie to try to set them up as opposed to one another? The things of the flesh and the things of the Spirit are not separate entities; they are, in fact, united.

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I spoke of demon possession? Not all demon possession manifests itself in wild, strange, and uncontrolled actions. But demon possession is the natural state of humanity without being delivered from its bondage to sin and Satan by the Word of God and by His Spirit.

That is what is at the heart of the matter in the discussion in this morning’s Gospel. That is why so many reject and act hostile towards the Word of God, toward morality, towards truth of any kind. But the truth matters. Only the Truth can save. Only the truth of God in Jesus Christ can satisfy and give peace and clarity for us body and soul.

In the Gospel lesson for the 2nd last Sunday in Lent, Jesus says it very clearly. There is truth and there are lies. There is no in between. Lies are the tool of the Father of lies: the Devil. What is the product and end result of lies? Death and murder. Jesus said, the devil was a manslaying murderer from the beginning. Why? Because the Devil himself did not abide in the Truth. Now, he only lies and twists the Truth so that all may become like him.

The result of NOT abiding in Truth is death. It is destruction. It is the way of selfish sin which is slavery. There is only one way to be set free. There is only one way to have life. Jesus said earlier in this same chapter of John chapter 8: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free… everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin… if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Then in today’s Gospel text: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” It is the Word of Jesus Christ alone where there is Truth, life, and hope.

Yet what do we see and hear today? An obscuring and hiding of this Word of Truth, life, and hope in Jesus Christ. The devil causing confusion through the words and whispers of the media and modern psychology and sociology which celebrates carnal desires and identity confusion. He uses politics to unsettle hearts and minds for worry and trouble. One media outlet says this, another says that.

We find ourselves asking again: What is truth? What are we to believe? These can’t all be true reports: they contradict each other. So, which are the lies? You cannot declare yourself to be something that disagrees with your biology, can you?

What is very tricky is that even if a report, a teaching, an opinion is 99 percent correct but contains 1 percent falsehood, the whole is tainted and is no longer objective Truth. The Devil often takes truth and adds lies to it claiming that it is still the truth. This is his nature since his fall. He cannot abide the truth. He also sees how easily he can twist the Truth to appeal to and enslave humans, to take their eyes and ears away from the source of Truth. When the devil convinces humans to define their own concept of truth for themselves according their needs or their whims, he has succeeded. This kind of “truth” is a combination of opinion and perceived fact: a mix of fact and fiction: truth and lie and is therefore a lie.

Lies lead to destruction because it leads us back to ourselves, to the world, to sin, and back to the captivity and possession of Satan. Our human nature is sinful and easily enslaved again to those lies of fear, hypocrisy, and pride while standing outside the Truth: nay, fleeing from the Truth of God.

If you do not abide in the Word and Truth of God, whose child are you, are we?

So, are we children of the heavenly Father, who confidently abide in His Word come what may? Who search out the Truth and measure all reports, thoughts, opinions, by the Word of God? Do we take all world events, political happenings, medical reports, or anything else that may happen, do we take it in stride, by commending them unto the Lord? Do we gladly hear the Word of God as often as possible, do we yearn to be fed that bread of life by His hand as often as we should?

No, none of us have been such good and faithful sons and daughters of God. Let us repent of how we have succumbed to the lies of Satan who uses our flesh to tear us from God our Father back again to the Father of lies. To fall by seeking our truth, to a controlling fear that God is not actually in control, that we must help ourselves and live only for ourselves or if we do a good work it ought to be to our glory along with or separate from the glory of God our redeemer.

So, you have two sides. Jesus said, either: You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires…” or “Whoever is of God hears the words of God.” 

The heritage of those who abide in lies, who do not abide in Truth, who can take God’s Word or leave it, who don’t care what is truth except their own selfish truth, which is but another lie, stand to inherit mortal death, eternal judgement, fear in this life, and sorrow and regret in the next.

Repent. Recognize the confusion of pride and unbelief caused by sin. In your weakness and need, with a contrite heart plead for forgiveness, and your Father in heaven answers in Jesus Christ for you. In Jesus Christ you receive His Word of forgiveness, His Word of Truth, His Word of life everlasting.

The heritage for those who abide in the Truth is life. Jesus promises that “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

God is merciful, and has given His Son, Jesus Christ, to beat back the lies of Satan. In times of uncertainty of partial truths, of talking heads, and contradiction, behold the Truth which is always steadfast: Jesus Christ, crucified for your sins. Jesus Christ as True God and True Man, fulfilled the demands of the Law, becoming the obedient Son of Man that we could not be. He did not do this as an example of the piety and perfection that humans can accomplish. No. He did this so that He could be the sacrifice. To stand and abide in the place of punishment for all men and women. That is why He allowed Himself to be sacrificed, so that by His blood all the trespasses of the Old Covenant and Law could be covered over. Jesus poured for me and you His life blood and for our pardon died. Now in that blood and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, we see the grace of God and the truth of God’s Love. By the death of His body and His rising again to life, believers in Him will never truly see death.

God knows that our flesh is still weak and heavy laden. He knows the burden of the devil’s constant lies and the culture of death, that is constantly attacking you, me, and every believer trying to drown out God’s Word, attempting to distract, mislead, confuse, and frighten at every turn.

That is why Jesus has appointed a place for gathering and strength where He brings His in-the flesh reality: a place outside our hearts and minds with all its warring voices: a place to hear His Voice, to abide in His Word, and receive in the visible and sacramental substance His true body and blood in the bread and the wine.

Here our bodies and our souls are refreshed together in the temporal and eternal, the physical and spiritual in Jesus Christ.

Be gathered to Him and to each other, to confess our sins and receive the power of His crucified and raised body and blood. The churchly body of Jesus Christ is visible in the gathering of His saints as we are built up, abiding and drinking from the fountain of Truth in Christ Jesus.

We meet here in the flesh, to receive the benefits of our Saviour in His flesh, so that this frail flesh may no longer be afraid or confused, but freed to live in peace. Freed to give thanks for forgiveness of sin, newness of life, boldness to confess the faith that is given in Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and the life. And joined through Christ with countless other believers the world over, from times past, and yet to come. Put your burdens upon the Lord and be delivered, vindicated, and freed in His truth and teaching from any attempts of the deceitful devil, the world or the flesh.

Rejoice, and glorify the Lord. You are baptized into Jesus, called to abide and believe in the Truth of God’s love in His Word as His sons and daughters, called and appointed for life eternal for our souls and these bodies as He keeps and defends us from the harm of the evil one. Rejoice and be glad in the light and the truth of Jesus Christ your Savior, Amen.

Pastor Aaron Kangas

3 weeks ago for the first Sunday in Lent, the Devil proposed that in His hunger, Jesus should make bread for Himself; the next week, the Caananite woman whose daughter was oppressed by demons said that even a crumb from the bread of the master’s table is all she asked for in order to be satisfied. Today in both the Old and the New Testament reading we hear about bread yet again. Jesus feeds the crowds with bread and fish in the wilderness, and in the Old Testament God feeds the exodus pilgrims in the wilderness with bread from heaven.

“What is this?” This is the question the Israelites asked when they first encountered the bread that God had so graciously given them from heaven; bread that literally covered the ground in amounts large enough to satisfy every single person with the dew of the morning. Yet they asked, “What is this?” “Ma ana?” From which we get the word: Manna.

Set within the immediate context of this lesson, it’s very easy to hear a “snotty voice” accompanying these words. “What is this?” You call this bread?! Are you serious?! Is this a joke!” The text tells us very plainly that the Israelites had been grumbling and complaining about how bad they had it as freed children of God, and how much “better” they had it as slaves when they were living under Pharaoh. 

Keep in mind, this is only about forty-five days after leaving the bondage in Egypt. They had just witnessed ten plagues; they were being led by pillars of cloud by day and fire by night; they probably still had dirt from the bottom of the Red Sea in the treads of their sandals after that miraculous crossing just a few weeks earlier. As fresh as it all was, none of that was registering. “That’s all great, but where’s the food?”

But what if the Israelites were actually asking their question out of genuine ignorance? What if they were genuinely hungry? I’m trying to put the best construction on all this. What if as they beheld the flaky stuff on the ground, they really, truly didn’t know what they were looking at? After all, it’s not like manna had ever appeared before. This was an entirely new and strange gift from God.

Now, these are the same people who will go on to grumble that they “have no bread, and they hate the bread they have.” They quickly come to hate the manna God so graciously gave them. How can you not look on these people with pitiful, angry disgust? But this is precisely why I want you to give honest thought to the fact that maybe, just maybe, at this moment they were asking ‘what is this?’ out of genuine ignorance and lack of understanding. 

Look in the mirror. Are you really any different in your entitled ingratitude and ignorance and forgetfulness of His gifts? Are we always contemplating the goodness of God? Sadly, I know that I’m not any different. I do not appreciate fully what it is that gives in all the plenteous ways He provides. I can confess this. Am I so snotty, bratty, entitled, and unbelieving so as to take such an arrogant stance against God and grumble and complain that I deserve so much better? Well, I wish I could say ‘no,’ but that’s not the truth. I have had my share of crosses that I was convinced I didn’t deserve, and just like the Israelites, I did grumble and complain to God about it…just like all of you have done too. It’s an ugly, sinful truth that nobody wants to admit to. 

How many times have you struggled and despaired and not recognized God’s gracious abundance in your midst? How many times have you missed or overlooked or just plain ignored the fingers of God at work in your midst, in your life, simply because you were looking for or expecting something very different; something more grand, more powerful, more showy? How many times does God show Himself in very real and tangible ways, and you just don’t get it? You don’t see it. You don’t recognize it. 

Sadly, if we’re honest, it happens. It happens to all of us, and there’s nothing snotty or bratty about it. Maybe we miss it because we’ve been blinded by grief or worry. It happens. Maybe it is because we are distracted by something else in our selfishness. In the end we don’t see what’s right in front of us. We don’t recognize Immanuel: God with us in all His bountiful goodness. 

What’s truly sad and regrettable is the fact that we do this with things that we’re already well-acquainted with. It’s one thing for the Israelites to ask ‘what is this?’ with the manna. As I said, it was an entirely new and strange gift from God. But what about us? God provides us with food and drink, house and home, family, friends, all that we need to satisfy us, but it’s not enough. We don’t see it as a gift. We want more. We all too often do not appreciate what we have been given. Then suddenly, things happen. Then, we struggle and despair; life gets tough; things get a bit sideways; things don’t shake out the way we want or expect, and we turn to God looking for some sort of miraculous sign or proof of His love or His presence as though it was never there. “God, where are you? Help! Why me? Why now? Don’t you care? Give me a sign and let me know that it’ll be alright.” You know, it’s easy to forget all the good that He has given us when things aren’t good or calm if we never had thought to appreciate it before. But even in the trouble, turmoil, pain, that may befall us in this sin plagued world, in those times when the devil is near to whisper doubts in our hearts, the Lord is still providing for our bodies and our souls.

God gives us proof of His love in the midst of our troubles by pointing us to the cross where the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, died on that cross reminding us of the weight of our sin and that by that sin we have never deserved anything but death and destruction… but we look at this gift, and we say, that’s great, but how does that help me now?
May God have mercy on us!

And the Lord does have mercy upon you and me even in our ingratitude even as He did to those wilderness pilgrims both in the Old Testament and New Testament lessons. Many of those people who followed Jesus did not understand who Jesus was but God had pity on them and fed them nonetheless.

But dear friends, we are not so ignorant. We are not called to remain in ignorance and unbelief. We are called, gathered, and enlightened to repent and receive from God His grace and forgiveness, to grow in wonder at His mercy and grow in appreciation, and not just for those things that keep our bodies living and breathing in its mortal frame. No, Jesus came, and Jesus died so that these bodies, our souls, may live forever. He gives us bread, meat, and life giving gifts to you and me far greater than the feeding of the Israelites at the time of Moses or in the feeding of the 5000.

Here and now God is raining down the dew of His gifts. The true manna from heaven is here in Jesus Christ. In the Word proclaimed in the liturgy, the hymns, the preaching, in the baptismal font as you entered the sanctuary reminding you when you entered into Christ’s Church. He is speaking to you the message of life. He is here, right where He tells you to look and listen; right where He has promised to be until the very end of the age. 

‘What is this?’ In the words of Moses, “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.” In the words of Jesus (words which He will speak just a few verses later in chapter 6), “I am the Bread of Life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” It doesn’t get any clearer than that. Here is Christ. Here is the Bread of Life in the bread and the wine, with His body and blood, the rich meat, bread and drink which help us in our body and blood. It is He who opens our eyes of faith so that we can be truly satisfied body and soul, mind and heart.

God opens your eyes and ears of faith to not only recognize, but to hunger and thirst for this righteousness; the righteousness of Christ that avails to everlasting life. Jesus Christ has been crucified and raised for the forgiveness of your sins, for your eternal life and salvation. This Christ-centered peace—this Bread of Life—will completely fill and satisfy your soul so that no matter what life may bring, richer/poorer, sickness/health, feast or famine, you will always be satisfied in the over-flowing abundance of God’s mercy, grace, peace, and love in Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

What is this Kingdom of God like? We see the Kingdom already in the ministry of Christ. He did not say, “The Kingdom will come eventually.” Instead, He said, “The Kingdom has come among you.”

The same Kingdom that Christ brought is ongoing. It is also here with us. It is the same kingdom that we pray would come to us in the Lord’s Prayer. So let us see what He revealed about the Kingdom.

First of all, the Kingdom is where God’s Word is preached and by that Word demons are cast out. Christ said, “If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” This is the same as to say that the Kingdom of God is where Satan and his power is broken. Where Satan’s power is broken, there is forgiveness and life. Because Satan’s power is in accusing, taunting, binding people in their sin, and increasing the bondage by pride and apathy, therefore, when sin is called out and repentance is worked by the Word of God, in hope for salvation in Jesus Christ, Satan’s power is undone. The chains are broken and remission of sins is granted by faith in Jesus Christ crucified and raised.

Therefore, all those who have not received the remission of sins purchased by the death of Christ are still under the devil’s power. Those who are still spiritually dead are still at the mercy of demons.

This is not to say that every unbeliever is possessed in the strict sense or in that wild possession that we read about in the Bible, though some are. But every unbeliever is a possession of Satan, that is, he owns them and holds sway over them.

You are either in the Light, or you are in the darkness. There is no in-between. You are either in God’s Kingdom, or the kingdom of beelzebub. There are only two sides to this coin. As Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

We could not get out of that kingdom of Satan that “Prince of this world”, by our power. No one was clever enough to trick Satan into releasing them. No one could beat him at a game to win their freedom. No one could play a musical instrument well enough that the prince of darkness would be forced to let them go. That is simply a fantasy.

The devil may very well let a person think that they have beaten him. Nothing makes him happier than convincing a person that they have successfully fought for their freedom by their own skill or will or good works. Then he will leave them alone for a time, allowing them the illusion that their life is free of the influence of evil for now. 

It may happen something like this: A person struggles with a horribly sinful lifestyle, perhaps a drug addiction. In a moment of clarity, they realize how low they have sunk. They fight and they battle against the chains that hold them. And indeed, they may by effort and self disciple defeat whatever harmful thing it was. Then they may think that they have won in their struggle against evil.

But without Christ, they never won anything. It is a short term victory. They may clean up their life a little, make it more presentable, so to speak. That just fattens up the prize, in Satan’s mind. Anyone who thinks that they can overcome evil by their strength is held even more firmly in the grip of the devil, whatever their experience may tell them.

Christ describes just such a situation. When a person has been released from demonic influence, they are like a house that has been swept clean and put in order. But as long as Christ is not in that house, or they have not actually kept and held onto God’s Word, it may sit empty but it still belongs to beelzebub, no matter how shiny the floors may appear. Then the demons may return whenever they want, and the person will end up worse than they were before.

We would be no better off, unless the stronger Man prevails. The stronger Man is Jesus Christ. He must overcome the prince of darkness for us. For all Satan’s strength, he is a weakling next to Christ. There is no contest there.

This is where the kingdom of God goes to work. And a contest took place in order to ransom the souls of men and women from the condemnation and misery that they rightly deserved by their sin. Jesus came to purchase, to overcome, to be victorious for us over Satan’s claim to torment us and chuckle and our doom.

The contest happened at the Cross, when Christ attacked the forces of darkness and won by His own body punctured and His blood shed as a Holy offering.

The contest happens whenever God’s name is laid upon a new baptized person in the waters of Holy Baptism. There God claims them as Beelzebub is cast out and replaced with the Holy Spirit.

The contest happens whenever God gathers His people from wherever they were to a local congregation to where the Word of God is preached, read, and sung rightly according to God’s promise.

The devil cannot win against the Word, for it is the Finger of God, mightier than earthly kingdoms, mightier than the forces of nature, mightier than the strongest demon from hell. The unclean spirits flee from that Word.

This Word in this place will keep you safe from the worst of Satan’s attacks. But if you decide that it is by your strength and your goodness that you are free of Beelzebub, then beware. If you think that you do not need this Word much, and you are just fine without it, then watch out. The return of evil to a person’s life causes a worse state than before, even if a person does not realize it. The devil numbs them to the destruction falling upon them. All the while they think that they are moving upwards in morality and enlightenment, from good to better to best. But they are actually sinking down under the claws of evil.

So stay close to the Word. You cannot get too much of the Word, as long as it is purely taught. As Christ said, “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” Do not think that the Word is a casual, light matter. It is a matter of grave concern. It is your life, the light that holds back the darkness.

Another thing about the Kingdom of God is this. There will always be some people who will speak against Christ and the Gospel. They will also speak against you. It does not matter how good you are. If you were even as good as Christ (which is obviously not possible), they would still say terrible things about you.

That is what happened in our Gospel today. They said that Christ was in league with Satan, and that is how He was casting out demons. This is a terrible insult and blasphemy against the pure and innocent Son of God.

But if they speak that way about Him, how much more will they speak against us! We are of ourselves, worthy of being put down. We were born in the kingdom of darkness, conceived in sin. So often in our lives, even after we have been rescued from beelzebub, we have acted as if we are in league with him. Our actions so often have followed his lead instead of the Commandments of God.

Yet we have been called out of the world. We are no longer citizens of the devil’s domain, but children of Light. We are the holy Church, and members of the Body of Christ.

That is why those who reject the Word will reject you, sooner or later. They must despise anything that has to do with the true Christ. I say “true Christ” because many of these people will claim to be Christians, but they have a false Christ that they worship. Many will think that they are the true believers, even though they trust in a religion of works and reject God’s grace as revealed in the Word of truth.

Because they despise Him, they must despise His Word, and they must despise you, who are His Body.

Do not be surprised when it happens. Do not be surprised, either, when the devil attacks you. He hates you more than you can imagine, because once he had you in his grasp, but now you are free. He wants to get you back.

But you are safe, because the Word keeps you safe. The prince of darkness may trick you into sin, but here in this house you have forgiveness. The devil may try to wear you out with the troubles of life and drive you to despair. But here you have the Food of God with His body and blood in the bread and wine to lift up your soul for the journey. The devil may trick you into following false paths of deceptive teaching. But here you have the pure teaching of God’s Word.

Do not exchange these things for a lie. Do not exchange these things for a feeling. Do not exchange these things for friendship, or signs from heaven, or an easy path. All these are lures from Satan. Instead, stay close to the Word, in which Christ keeps you as His own.

Here, you lift up your voice to the God of heaven, for He has opened your lips for praise. The devil tried to keep you mute and deaf, but Christ opened both ears and mouth. Now you are able to speak and sing forth the glories of the One who has brought you out of darkness into His wonderful light in Jesus Christ, Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

In His Sermon on the Mount, our Lord Jesus says, “Don’t give anything holy to the dogs or throw your pearls to the pigs, or they will trample them under their feet and then turn and tear you to pieces. (Matt 7:6)” It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. It isn’t right to turn God’s Word into a commodity to be marketed and sold to the world, as if you can make it more appealing. Those who hate God’s Word won’t appreciate it just because you spice it up and make it more exciting. Nor will they embrace His holy truth because you make it easier for them to swallow. Only those who are humbled and broken in their hearts over their sins will appreciate what God’s Word has to offer. Only those who thirst for His righteousness and mercy will find the Word of His Cross refreshing.

One way in which the dogs and pigs of the world trample down on God’s Word is when they accuse God of being unjust. They ask, “why would God destroy all the people of the earth in a flood? Why would he destroy all the Canaanites?” The answer is simple. They were evil. They were filled with violence. God told Israel why He was wiping out the Canaanites. He said that they committed every abomination, even burning their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their false gods (Deut 12:31). God also warned the people of Israel not to think that God was giving them this land because of they were so righteous. No, God was driving out the Canaanites because they were wicked (Deut 9:5). God destroyed almost all of mankind because they were wicked. They were dogs and pigs, trampling on His Holy Word, refusing to repent after many years of warning. Noah was building the ark and preaching repentance for a hundred years before God finally sent the flood. God gave the Canaanites four hundred years from the time of Abraham until He finally sent Joshua to conquer the land. God was patient, not wanting anyone to be condemned but that they would turn from their sin and live before Him in faith.

Those who accuse God of evil for wiping out godless nations will never be convinced by us softening God’s judgment. And we will not be convinced unless we see that we deserve the same sentence. Right before Jesus says not to give what is holy to the dogs, He tells you to take the plank out of your own eye before you point out the speck in your brother’s eye. Don’t think that you don’t also deserve God’s judgment. Otherwise, you will be blind to what God’s Word offers you.

When we consider how evil the Canaanites were, this should warn us against the same kind of idol worship. When the Canaanites worshipped statues made with hands, they were in fact worshipping demons. This is obvious by the fact that they burned their children in fire. After all, demons hate children, because God told the devil that his head would be crushed by the Child descended from the Woman (Gen 3:15). There is no coincidence that Satanists are pro-abortion. Any woman who struggles over the temptation to terminate her pregnancy is struggling with an attack of a demon. She needs to know this.

We also should beware not to follow the other demons of our age. Resist mind-altering drugs. They are sorcery, which the devil uses to deceive you and turn your heart away from God. They make you self-absorbed and dishonest, unable to listen to God’s Word, treating it as a joke like stoners and drunkards at a trashy party. We are not any stronger to resist these things than they are on own. When we think we already know enough, then we begin to look at God’s Word as old news, irrelevant, or a joke. This causes us to imagine that we know better than God. This make us no better than the Canaanites, becoming dogs and pigs trampling on what is holy. Only when we see our continual need for God’s word of mercy do we begin to see how dark the ways of the devil truly are.

Not all the Canaanites were destroyed by God. When He sent Joshua into Canaan to wipe out the people of the land, some of the Canaanites escaped and settled in Tyre and Sidon on the coast of the Mediterranean. There they continued to worship their false demon gods. From that region of Tyre and Sidon, the infamously wicked queen Jezebel brought the worship of Baal into Israel by her marriage to Ahab. Their daughter Athaliah tried to wipe out David’s family from which God promised to send the Savior. But God didn’t allow these wicked Canaanites to have their way. He preserved the line of David. He kept His promise that the Messiah would come to crush the devil’s head. And when the Messiah finally came, born of the family line of David, the devil and his demons went nuts. First, they tried to get the baby Jesus killed through the wicked plots of king Herod. Then they started possessing people all over the land, furious that the Son of God had come in the flesh to bring salvation. These demons didn’t want anyone to listen to Jesus. They wanted to turn everyone into a dog and a pig, trampling the words of Christ under their feet.

This again was why Jesus warned His disciples not to throw what is holy to the dogs. Our Lord didn’t waste His time arguing with the devil and his demons. He simply rebuked them, telling them to be quiet, ordering them to go away. Then one day Jesus and His disciples were passing through that demonic region of Tyre and Sidon, and a Canaanite woman came to Him. She cried out to Him. “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David,” she said, “A demon is severely tormenting my daughter.”

Here is no ordinary Canaanite! She knows who Jesus is. Unlike Jezebel and Athaliah who tried to kill the house of David, this woman trusted in the promised Son of David. She didn’t burn her daughter in the fire like her demonic ancestors. She loved her daughter. She knew her daughter needed help, and she knew that Jesus, the Lord, the Son of David was the only one who could help her. She wasn’t like the wicked Canaanites who went before her. Instead, she was like righteous Rahab who protected the spies from Israel, asking them to have mercy on her and her house when the LORD destroyed Jericho. She was like the widow who trusted God’s Word spoken by Elijah that her flour wouldn’t run out and her oil wouldn’t run dry. She was a Christian, a believer, a faithful child of Abraham by faith.

And yet, Jesus initially ignored her cry. How can He do this? He seems to be proving the point of the dogs and swine who say that God is unjust and unmerciful. Here this woman calls out to Him for mercy, confessing Him to be the promised King, the Son of David. And He acts as if He didn’t hear her. His disciples tell Him to send her away, perhaps wanting Him to give her what she wants just so she will leave them alone. Then Jesus responds to them, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

But the woman doesn’t give up. She comes to Jesus, bows down to Him, and worships Him. She says, “Lord, help me!” He can’t pretend to ignore her anymore. Surely, he must say something to her. He does answer her, but He says what sounds even more cruel. “It isn’t good,” He said, “to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” These words bring to mind what He had said in His Sermon on Mount. Don’t give what is holy to the dogs. Anyone who heard His sermon might recognize what He was doing. But perhaps this Canaanite woman also heard His Sermon on the Mount. Perhaps she was there listening to Him, or someone else told her what Jesus had said. Because even this harsh word from her Lord didn’t stop her.

You see, immediately after Jesus said not to give what is holy to the dogs, He continued His Sermon on the Mount by saying the following:
Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. Anyone who continues to ask receives; anyone who keeps searching finds; and anyone who continues to knock, the door will be opened for him. (Matt 7:7-8)

The woman doesn’t stop asking. She doesn’t stop seeking mercy and pity from her Lord. She doesn’t stop knocking. She keeps at it, waiting for Him to open the door to her. This is what faith does. No human power, whether Israelite, Canaanite, or any noble gene pool, is capable of this. Only faith, created by the Holy Spirit, can keep asking and seeking and knocking the way this woman did. Only faith can pray like this.

This teaches us that prayer is the greatest skill God gives to Christians. It’s truly amazing. She’s focused on her Lord. She repeats her petition. But this is no vain repetition, thinking that she will be heard for her many words. No, she is exact in her requests. She says, “Lord.” She says, “Son of David.” She says, “Have mercy on me.” She repeats and repeats and repeats, hanging onto every word Jesus says. Her prayer is like a net pulling in whatever words her Lord has to say to her until she finally catches Him in His words. “You’re right, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

This is the great skill of prayer. It’s a litany resting on God’s Word, repeatedly asking, seeking, and knocking, clinging to the Lord’s promise. She holds onto Jesus’ words for what they are. I’m a dog? Good! If that’s the position you are giving me, then I’ll take it! It’s better than sitting at the highest spot at Jezebel’s table, who ended up getting eaten by dogs. No, I’ll take the status you give me, Lord! Because even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from your table. And if I have only a crumb of your mercy, then I have everything. She caught Jesus in His words, because faith clings to the words of Jesus. Yet you are not the dogs and swine of the world, but children of the King, the very Son of David and David’s Lord and Savior.

In this life, Jesus tests your faith to prove what your faith is in and to strengthen you and as a witness for others. Your faith is in His cries from the cross, which seemed at the time as if they went unheard. But He kept on speaking and praying to His Father, obeying and trusting that He would answer. By this, He destroyed the power of the devil by taking away the sin of the world. When the Lord declared that this woman’s faith was great, He was declaring His great victory over Satan and his demons. Therefore, when He puts you through trials, when He makes you ask, seek, and knock, then remember this. He is simply teaching you to look to His cross and passion by faith. There He remembers His mercy and He will give you faith for what you need for now and eternal life in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

In today’s Gospel text for the first Sunday in Lent we have an epic showdown. A match between God’s hero, “His chosen One” and the Lord of Lies. One is perfect and innocent, the other is evil personified. In many ways it is a rematch of the contest between the serpent and Adam in the garden. Except this new Adam was God even as He had real human flesh. But this human flesh of Jesus was continually assaulted by the devil for 40 days in the wilderness during which time, He ate nothing to nourish His flesh. The first Adam had a full belly and yet was tempted to eat that which was forbidden. In eating the forbidden fruit he discarded God’s Word and discarded His responsibility to His bride and He fell, thinking only of Himself. This New Adam, Jesus, survived for the 40 days of temptation with an empty belly but physically and spiritually sustained by the power of the Word of God as He thought not of Himself, but of His bride, the Church whom He had come to redeem.

For this reason, Jesus had been led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. In these three temptations which Satan tried on Jesus, we see the methods that the devil uses in dealing with all people, even today. He uses variations of lies: causing doubt, twisting truth, and claiming power and authority which is not his. We also see in this text how the Devil’s lies are to be countered.

The devil first appeals to the easiest target, that of the human flesh and its biological and fleshly desires. Our bodies need food and drink to live, and that necessity and hunger is not in itself a sin. But Satan made hunger into a challenge to Jesus in the weakness of His hungry human flesh to abuse His Divine power and thus fall into sin. The devil said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread”. He challenged the reality of Jesus’ identity and purpose. He was really asking Jesus, “Are you really the Christ, the Son of God? Prove it. While you are at it, do something for yourself, just this once. It will be ok. and then reap the benefits of making your own bread.” The temptation to sin was that the devil didn’t just tempt Jesus to eat, but he tempted Him to take the easy way out, to stop trusting His Father and to abuse His power by using that Divine power not in service of others but in service of Himself. Had He turned the stone into bread, the very first miracle Jesus performed would have been for Himself. This was contrary to the purpose of His incarnation as He said to His disciples later: “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28

Jesus answered by quoting the Scriptural truth which is at the very heart of living by faith, even in the midst of difficulty. “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”

The next two temptations are in some ways variations on the first temptation. The devil next tempts Jesus again to question the care of His Father by saying “test Him, test Him Jesus. See if He really will come through.” Since Jesus answered with Scripture to the first temptation, the Devil (also an expert in Scripture) misuses Scripture. He quotes Psalm 91, a psalm of comfort and assurance of God’s care and love. Just as He did in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, He twists the Words of God forcing His own evil interpretation upon it in an attempt to make God’s Holy Word profane, to create doubt, to challenge God as though we should challenge and test God. To this Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16 that we are not to put God to the test. To put God to the test is the same as unbelief.

Finally, The devil showed in a moment of time all the glories of the kingdoms of this world, and just straight up lied, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, worship me and it will be yours.”

This authority had not been given to the devil to give to anyone else, but the devil once again was challenging Jesus to take the easy way out. See how the devil emphasizes and confuses how one receives authority and glory. The Devil assumes authority by trickery and assertion as though by declaring something to be true, that it becomes true. Thus, the Devil promises to give Jesus authority by submitting to the Devil, this would have made Jesus a slave to escape His current and future suffering. The devil was really pointing ahead to the suffering of the cross and saying, “Jesus you don’t have to go through all that rejection and pain and anguish to redeem the world and become king through death and resurrection. I can give it to you now.” Jesus in answer rightfully pointed to the fact that authority and glory belongs only to God.

The devil, the world, and our flesh use these same methods in tempting and seducing us to evil. When we are suffering poverty, anxiety, or any hardship or we witness it in the world, they whisper “Why would a loving God do this? Are you sure you belong to God? Does God still love you? What good is the message of Christ in all this suffering? Why don’t you just let yourself go and do what you want for a change? You feel an urge, go ahead and act on it, feed yourself, look out for yourself, because God won’t. Seize power, grab authority, test God”.

In this way, the devil continues to lead people away from the truth of God’s love and salvation in Jesus Christ to his false gospel of self service and unbelief. He isn’t as worried about those who already are in unbelief and have rejected God. He confirms them in their unbelief and sinful practice to be more resistant to God’s Word: to be effective apostles of his lies that lead to damnation. His main joy is to debase that which has been redeemed, to cause Christians to lose face in the court of the world’s opinion, and lose faith, and cause disunity within the Church.

We so often willingly and willfully fall into his snares and seductions. When temptation comes how often do we just give in? How often does the devil tempt us to doubt God and His Word and we do? “Did God really say?” Satan asks and our itching ears respond to his voice. We end up not believing that God’s Word is powerful and effective to do what God says it will. We think the church cannot grow unless we alter God’s Word to dress it up, dumb it down, to make exceptions so as to not offend the world or our own flesh. We test God and His Word in unbelief and skepticism.

Opportunities for doing the right thing come and go with our inaction or our muddling the situation because we think only of ourselves. When we don’t use God’s Word to stand up to Satan and His lies it is because we don’t believe God’s Word and His promises. This unbelief and rebellion is sin. We deserve all the penalty for our sin. Truly we are pathetic, we are sinners who deserve nothing but wrath.

Dear Friends, this is why Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted. He was not tempted in order to understand our weakness, but He was tempted so that Satan’s power could be met and bested. He was tempted in the wilderness for us so we might know that we have a Savior who understands what we are up against. He met temptation without falling into sin, but He does not reject us because we are filled with sin. Instead it is for that reason that He came to earth, to place Himself under the Law, to endure all our temptations to sin which we could not, but without failure. He came so that His perfect flesh would be made a curse for us, to suffer His father’s wrath on the cross to pay for our sins and to redeem His bride, the Church.

Man and woman do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. God calls us today by His Word even as He did at our baptisms, calling us to be comforted in the redemption and forgiveness won for us at His cross and empty tomb in His name. He speaks to us His absolution through the mouth that He has appointed. He gives us faith to hear and believe the words “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins” to receive the blessings of His sacrament of the altar, where in the wilderness of our sinful lives He feeds us the bread of life, His own sacrificed and glorified flesh so that we may be filled and not hunger for the things of the world.

God knows that the devil flees at the Word of God, His lies are no match for His truth. The devil will return and try to tempt us again, but we can rebuke him by the power of the Holy Spirit and the name of Jesus and the Triune God. We have a mighty fortress in our God, and when the devil comes attacking us, we can rebuke him because God’s Word is powerful. Because Jesus Christ has saved you and You are His own. He has called you by name, you have His sign of the cross of victory upon you. You can tell Satan to go back to Hell, He has no more power over you by the power of God’s Word. This is why it is so good, right, and proper to be studying God’s Word, to be here receiving God’s Word, to be steeped in the living breathing doctrine of Scripture so that we may not be left powerless. This time of Lent is a good time to pray, study, and allow God to strengthen you in the faith and confession of His name so that you may stand up and refute Satan and His lies: by the good news of Jesus Christ God’s chosen one who has conquered Satan, death, and sin for you and for your salvation. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas