“Walking the Lonesome Valley” Colchester Federated Church, February 22, 2026, First Sunday in Lent (Matthew 4:1-11)

On this First Sunday in Lent, we find ourselves in the wilderness with Jesus and the devil having a theological sparring match.  To put this Gospel passage into context, Matthew Chapter 3 ends with God declaring that Jesus is God’s own beloved Son and is well pleased with him right after Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist in the waters of the Jordan River.  We hear a voice from heaven declare, “This is my Son whom I dearly love; I find happiness in him.”[1]  Though in the very next verse Matthew writes, “Then the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him.”[2] 

In our Christian tradition we break up scripture each week in the Lectionary.  We can’t tackle everything all at once so it makes sense from a corporate worship perspective.  Though by doing so, we sometimes miss out on transitions and how the Gospel writers tell Jesus’ life not just story by story, but one story moving into another and being shaped by each other even across chapters of text. 

For instance, last Sunday I shared the seven mountain stories used throughout Matthew’s Gospel to portray pivotal moments of Jesus’ life and ministry.  These mountain stories help us understand Jesus’ fondness for mountains and how pivotal moments atop mountains helped shape his life and ministry.  In some ways we are continuing on with this mountain theme because this morning’s story ends with Jesus on top of a very high mountain.  The Temptation of Jesus is one of those seven mountain stories that helps us understand who Jesus is.  It ends up that Jesus has little time to settle into the knowledge that he is God’s Son, that God loves him, and that God is well pleased with him.  Instead, Jesus immediately gets led by the Spirit into the wilderness to face temptation by the devil and to fast for 40 days and 40 nights.  This is a make-or-break moment for Jesus. 

In the First Temptation, the devil goes for the jugular.  The tempter says, “Since you are God’s Son, command these stones to become bread.”[3]  The point of this temptation is to prey on Jesus’ weakened physical state and put doubt into Jesus’ mind.  Remember Jesus just heard (seemingly for the first time) that he is God’s Son.  And now the tempter calls that holy moment into question.  Lutheran Minister Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber has an excellent analysis of this story and relates that God’s first move is always to name us and claim us as God’s own beloved.  But soon other people try to tell us who we are and to whom we belong, “But only God can do that.  Everything else is temptation. . . So if God’s first move is to give us our identity, then the devil’s first move is to throw that identity into question.”[4]

Jesus responds in this moment of vulnerability, when the devil just called into question his very identity as God’s Beloved Son, by quoting scripture: “People won’t live only by bread, but by every word spoken by God.”[5]  Jesus overcame the first temptation by holding his head high and not doubting his value especially in the midst of his own insecurity and the devil trying to plant doubts in his heart.  Jesus tells the tempter that he may be starving and alone, but he has God beside him.  Truthfully, our identity has nothing to do with how others perceive us, but it sure is tempting to believe that sometimes. 

The devil learns quickly, so in the Second Temptation he gets craftier.  He again calls Jesus’ identity into question and quotes scripture right back at Jesus.  It’s frustrating when some Christians who seem to know the Bible backwards and forwards use scripture as a weapon to wound or harm others.  But let us not lose heart.  One of my mentors in ministry once said, “Lauren, even the devil can quote scripture.”  And I always remember that warning when I hear this story—scripture must never be used as a weapon.

Because we see this scenario today.  The tempter takes Jesus to Jerusalem and places him at the highest point of the Temple.  He tells Jesus to throw himself down for it is written in scripture: “I will command my angels concerning you, and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.”[6]  This is a test of heroism and what kind of Messiah Jesus will be.  Is he going to be the warrior king, the super hero who can leap from buildings in a single bound and be saved at the last instant because he is God’s Son?  Or is he going to be the kind of Messiah that people never imagined possible, the Suffering Servant who will die on a cross?  Jesus responds, “Don’t test the Lord your God.”[7]

Jesus passed the second temptation by seeing through the devil’s little game about testing God.  Jesus doesn’t teach or heal to make a spectacle or prove to anyone that he really is Emmanuel, God with Us.  Instead, he worked his wonders to meet people where they were.  Jesus works in those intimate, sacred places in our lives.  Perhaps Jesus began to realize early on that he wasn’t going to be the superhero Messiah many sought and that attempting to prove himself to his detractors would only weigh him down in the end.

The Third Temptation shows the devil holding nothing back, taking Jesus to that very high mountain to unveil all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  This time the tempter doesn’t question Jesus’ identity and doesn’t quote scripture, he makes a power play.  “I’ll give you all these [all the kingdoms of the world] if you bow down and worship me.”[8]  We can consider how easily Jesus could have justified accepting this offer.  If Jesus ruled all the kingdoms of the world, he would have ruled justly and shown mercy.  He could have set things right and made things better.  But where would his power have come from?  Even though Jesus was good to his core, could he have ruled justly if he had to bow down to Satan in order to gain power? 

There are moments in epic stories that the hero is faced with a difficult choice of good vs. evil.  The hero sometimes faces the possibility of using something evil for good.  One of my favorite examples from popular culture comes from the movie Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.  In the story, Luke Skywalker is taunted and encouraged by the Emperor and his own father (Darth Vader) to use the Dark Side of the Force because there is power there.  Though the Dark Side uses fear, anger, jealousy, and hate and the Jedi use the Force for peace and to be compassionate and selfless.  In the end, Luke Skywalker refuses to turn to the Dark Side and ends up bringing his father back to his true self as he avoids the temptation to use evil for good.  In this fictional world, Luke Skywalker could have easily justified using immoral means to achieve a good and worthy purpose.  But Luke chose to stay in the light.  Once someone goes down that path, especially arguing that the ends justify the means—it can be hard to return from that path.   

So when we travel back to that lonesome valley in the wilderness with Jesus battling the devil and the tempter has this last temptation dangling in front of Jesus to rule over all the kingdoms of the world if only he were to fall down and worship him, we see Jesus resist.  Because Jesus realizes that he can’t go down the path the tempter is trying to lure him down even if he would rule with mercy.  Jesus sees through the ruse and has his strongest reaction, “Go away, Satan, because it’s written, You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”[9]  Finally the devil leaves Jesus and the angels come and take care of him. 

The Temptation of Jesus can be hard to fathom.  It can make us consider epic battles of good vs. evil we know from literature and film and maybe even from our own stories.  We can wonder if Jesus was actually physically out there in the wilderness having a theological sparring match with Satan.  Was Jesus actually literally overcoming the temptations of satisfying his bodily need for sustenance, proving himself to be the Son of God that God could save from death, and overcoming the test of ruling the kingdoms of the world by worshiping Satan and not God?  Or were these somehow internal psychological battles that Jesus was fighting before beginning his public ministry and setting out to embody God’s love?  Maybe we see the temptations as more literal or maybe we see them as more metaphorical.  Either way, this story is a true story.

Because just like Jesus in the wilderness, we can be tempted in our own lives.  We can be tempted to doubt that we have value and that God has already named us and claimed us as God’s own.  We can be tempted to have those soul-numbing doubts at the exact moment when we feel most vulnerable.  We can be tempted to use scripture as a weapon to wound other people.  We can be tempted to turn away from the comfort God provides because we feel insecure about our relationship with God and with one another.  We can be tempted to justify using evil to bring about good.  Just because we are not physically in a lonesome valley contenting with the devil it doesn’t mean that we do not face temptations in our lives. 

Lent begins out in the wilderness.  Lent begins with our turning to walk the inward way.  Out there and deep within we meet Christ our guide and our light.  We can live in hope until Easter Day.  And God goes with us.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

[1] Matthew 3:17, CEB.
[2] Matthew 4:1, CEB.
[3] Matthew 4:3, CEB.
[4] Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint, 139.
[5] Matthew 4:4, CEB.
[6] Matthew 4:6, CEB.
[7] Matthew 4:7, CEB.
[8] Matthew 4:9, CEB.
[9] Matthew 4:10, CEB.

Photo by Rev. Lauren Ostrout.