SPEAKER_00 0:00

In the name of Jesus. Who dares take the road that Jesus takes? We'd like to think we dare. Don't we say, I want to talk with Jesus? I want to walk with Jesus, as the old folk song would go. But who here knows how to walk with Jesus and not take the road that Jesus takes? It was once a rage amongst Christians in the 90s, WWJD. What would Jesus do? But that's not really what the kids are saying anymore. Maybe we figured out we can't really do what Jesus does. Does anyone here know how to change water into wine? Who here can make a blind man see? Anyone here love their neighbor as themselves, or better yet, love all their enemies? But today we hear people saying, Jesus, he gets us. What exactly does Jesus get? He gets that you don't love your enemy or your neighbor. He gets that there's no point to hold you accountable to his word. He gets that you're not perfect. What exactly does he get? We've become a fill-in-the-blank, choose your own adventure kind of generation. That way no one can tell us what to do. It's up for us to decide. Then we have those who say, Well, I just want to follow Jesus, or I just want to love Jesus. But that kind of language is really just about us. I just wanna give away the whole premise. We're the doer in that kind of phrase. It's not as much about Jesus as it is about me and what I wanna do. But that's the kind of society we live in today, isn't it? How can I get what I want? And when can I get it? Those are the questions of today's age, aren't they? Consumerism drives consumption. Once you've been told you can get something, anything, the way you want it, you will begin to believe that it's your right and your privilege to have it your way right away, as Burger King got it right. Once you can get things overnight, maybe even simultaneously, no thanks to ordering from Amazon, you believe it's your right to get it as soon as your heart desires it. But that's not the kind of talk that Jesus makes. That's not the road that he takes. Imagine Jesus saying as he's led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted, no thanks, Heavenly Father. That's not really what I want to do today. You get me. Or better yet, no thanks. That's not the trial and the tribulation I want to deal with in my life right now. I'd much rather wrestle with gout or chicken pox, or maybe even just have the flu for a week or two. That way I can get on with what I want to do. You know, heal the blind, catch some fishermen, maybe feed 5,000 gaping mouths. How bizarre would that sound coming from Jesus? Except that's how it sounds coming from us. No, thank you, Lord. I don't want to deal with this trial or this tribulation in my life. Really, I have a better idea. Please let me just have something a little bit more palatable to work with. How about working off some medical bills or school debt? That sounds easier to me. Maybe I could just get a flat tire or something. But that's not how temptations come. That's not how Jesus is tempted. That's not how we are tempted either. No one gets to pick their kind of testing. If we want to walk with Jesus, then we should expect to walk the road he walked. That's what living the baptized life looks like, after all. If we want to follow Jesus, then we will end up following the steps he did. Like Jesus, you too were baptized. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were all present with you in that moment. Like Jesus, immediately following your baptism, you were sent out with God's Holy Spirit into the wilderness of this world to be tempted by the devil, this world, and yes, even your own sinful flesh. You're tempted daily, whether you realize it or not, whether you want to acknowledge that or not. You're in the crosshairs of Satan the moment you were renamed with the name of God. Because right there in your baptism, the Father looked down at you as you were covered with Jesus and said, This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Just like St. Paul tells us in Galatians, you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. So if you're sons, then everything corrupt in this world, the devil, and even your own sinful flesh, is against you. It's against you because there isn't anything in this world that isn't tainted by sin. But Jesus isn't. Even when he was tempted to sin, tempted to fill his stomach when it was empty, tempted to force God's hand to send his angels after him in a single leap, tempted to take the easy way out by bowing down to Satan so he wouldn't have to pay for all the kingdoms of the world with his own blood. He didn't sin. Who can overcome Satan? Jesus can. Like you sang in the sermon hymn today, one little word can fell him. If you wondered why we sang a mighty fortress, here's the reminder. We have a Jesus who fells demons with a word. We have a Jesus who defeated Satan in our place, not using some great cataclysmic terrestrial event. No thunder, no lightning, just Jesus, armed with the word of God and his cross. His word, the creative word, the word that makes the world in six days kind of word. The word that is always performative. When the word made flesh speaks, it always accomplishes what it says. It always accomplishes what he says it does. Jesus defeated Satan not by miracles, but by quoting the word of God and standing in it. You have a Jesus who wins the battle over Satan in your place. You have a Jesus who went all the way to the cross of Calvary for you to take away your sin, to conquer sin and death and devil and win your salvation. That's the kind of Jesus you have. That's the kind of Jesus who gives himself to you in word and sacrament. He gives you his word. You say it back, just like children do to a father. The kind of Jesus who always shows up, not in power and glory, but under seemingly mundane, unexciting means, like water and a bit of bread. But as faith-filled Christians, you know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you have Jesus for you. That his body and blood is given for you, as St. Luke's gospel would say it. The words, for you, invoke faith. Jesus' word delivers what it says. It says, for you. For me too, yes, for you. That's the kind of Jesus you were covered with in your baptism. That's the kind of Jesus you're getting under inconspicuous means that doesn't look like much to the worldly eyes around you. But Jesus doesn't give you inert lack of substance kind of stuff. We don't have an impudent Jesus who just sits there. We have a Jesus who lives, who creates, who quiet the storm, who connects us to himself, who prays on our behalf, who gives himself in order to preserve us in the one true faith from sin, death, and double. He gives and he forgives. He lives and he enlivens you with his word and his spirit and his body and blood. And that's the same Jesus who suffers with you through testing and temptation in this sin-filled, broken life, as you wait for the eternal victory of life everlasting. That's what we reflect on this Lenten season. So as we follow the road of Jesus through this Lenten tide, as he makes his way to Golgotha and the cross, that's the road you walk with Jesus. And better yet, that's the road Jesus walks for you. Because you have a la you have a Lord who is with you every step of the way. And what what does he give you to sustain you in this life? Nothing other than himself. So that you can be faithful to the end. The faith-filled aren't a me culture, but a Jesus culture. Because that's who stood in the gap for you and took God's wrath for you. That's who gives you a new identity today. That's who strengthens you with his word of promise today. That's who causes you to live not by bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from his mouth. That's the same word that forgives you all your sin today, so that you can have eternal life through him. Amen. In the name of Jesus. Amen.