Jesus doesn't seem to be a very good Lutheran in our Gospel reading.  40 days of fasting, out in the wilderness... that seems a bit extreme... a bit too "Catholic."  After all Jesus was a Lutheran wasn't he?  Then to top things off Matthew records Jesus going on about fasting again two chapters later:

¹⁶ “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷ But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Maybe, just maybe, there's something to this fasting thing.  After all, we did learn in confirmation class that "Fasting... [is a] good external discipline."  And Scripture even goes so far as to say there is reward in fasting.  So let us look more closely at our Old Testament and Gospel readings so that we may see and in faith, receive this reward that fasting brings.

1.  Fasting in the Garden

At first it may seem that the only connection between our Old Testament and Gospel reading is that both involve temptation and food.  But if we back up to Genesis 2, you can start to see the connections to our Gospel reading.  It's the 6th day, God has created everything... and it was good, especially that creature called Adam, who was made in God's image, and so the Lord calls Adam "very good."  Maybe another way of saying this would be, "This is my beloved creation."

God loved Adam so much that he placed him in the Garden of Eden and told him:

You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die

It is as if the Lord is saying to Adam, "see all that I have given to you.  You will not be in need of anything.  But I am giving you a fast for your benefit, there is only one tree which you may not eat from."  With this Word, our Lord gives to Adam and Eve a fast in order that they may continue to have life, after all, the Lord by His Word created the garden and with His own breath He gave Adam life.

However, Satan comes to temp Adam and Eve and he does so by twisting God's Word and lying to them.  Satan's goal here is to lead Adam and Eve to break that fast and to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so that they will share in his separation from God.  Satan says to Eve: 

“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

Do you see what this liar is doing here?  Satan wants to make it sound as if God doesn't want to take care of Adam and Eve, that somehow in their fast, they will starve and die.  Remember, the exact opposite was true.  God provided for Adam and Eve in such abundance that they would not be in need of anything.  Eve at first catches on: "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, [she replies] but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die."

But then this lying serpent comes back and entices Eve and says to her:

“You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

You know the rest of the story, because of their sin, because they broke that fast, they were cut off from life.  The ground would be cursed and there would be pain in childbirth.  But the Lord did not leave them without hope and without salvation, He gave them a Word, a promise.  Through the woman's offspring would be born a savior.  He would do battle with this serpent, though He would be bruised, He would crush that liar, Satan.  Even though we are already into Lent, it wasn’t that long ago that we celebrated the birth of this promised Son, Jesus Christ, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

2.  Fasting in the Wilderness

So it should come as no surprise to us that it is the Holy Spirit who leads Christ out into the wilderness.  If you think about it, the wilderness was the complete opposite of the garden.  Instead of a lush life-filled garden filled with fruit bearing trees, the wilderness was a place a bunch of jagged barren rocks.  The wilderness was sort of like an anti-garden.  It was THE picture of the cursed ground.  Jesus is led out into the wilderness to fast in order that he might be tempted by the devil, that same liar who tempted Adam and Eve.  

After 40 days of fasting, Jesus was hungry, showing that he was indeed fully human in addition to being fully divine.   It is here in his hunger that Satan tempts Jesus to break his fast.  This liar has the audacity to say, "If you are the Son of God, command  these stones to become  loaves of bread."

Satan has the audacity to question what God the Father just publicly declared 40 days earlier when He said of Christ at His Baptism, "This is My Son, whom I love and delight in."  Satan would have Jesus think, "God the Father does not care for you, he has left you out here in the wilderness to rot and die, so save yourself, turn those rocks into bread."

But Jesus Christ is the new Adam, God's only begotten Son.  Rather than fall into temptation like Adam and Eve did, Christ does what Eve failed to do, He threw the Word of God back into Satan's face and says, "Man does not live on bread alone but on every Word that God speaks." 

The Word that sustained Christ was that promise, "You are My Son, whom I love and delight in."  In doing this Jesus undoes the garden temptation, He keeps the fast and clings to the Word of God.  It was the Father's will that Christ be hungry, but it was not yet His time to die, and so Christ perfectly kept the Father's will.

Christ continued to perfectly keep the Father's will throughout Satan's temptations, both on the Temple peak and on the mountain top.  Then the devil left him until another time... It was there in the Garden of Gethsemane where the Devil once again tried to keep Christ from perfectly fulfilling the Father's Will.  Yet even drawing Jesus's disciples to sleep, Satan was not able to tempt Christ to abandon His Father's will, as Jesus prayed, to the Father "Your will be done."  It was the Father's will that Jesus would be arrested, falsely accused, whipped, spat upon, and nailed to the cross for the sins of the world.  Even through the mouth of a thief Satan made one last attempt, "Save yourself."  And yet Jesus did not, He persevered, and died, just as the Father willed Him to do.  Even when it seemed like Jesus was the victim of defeat, there was victory, the grave could not hold Him and three days later He rose again.

3.  In between the Garden and the Wilderness

In your baptism, you were united with Christ's life, His death, and His resurrection.  In that font God said to you, "This is my Son, whom I love and delight in."  We too have been given this Word of God to sustain us in our fast, not just as we fast in Lent but throughout our whole lives.  Yes fasting is part of the Christian life.

And Satan comes and tries to lure us away from it.  He will tell you, "Christ didn't command you to fast, so you don't have to."  This lie is one that I'm sure many of us have bought into.  As if we have to earn brownie points to please God.  The reality is, however that even though it is not command, Jesus speaks of fasting as if it is a given.  Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 6:  "And when you fast..."  Did you catch that?  Jesus didn't say, if you fast, but when.  The distinction that Jesus makes is between false fasting which puts on a show and true fasting which clings to the Word of God and is done without telling the whole world. 

We have been given new life by this Word of God.  Hold fast to it!  The devil and this world want to rob that Word from You.  They will say, "well sure you have been baptized, but show me that you are really a Christian."  Sadly even many who call themselves Christian teach this.  The devil has convinced them to focus not on the Word which God has spoken to you throughout your life, in your Baptism, in Absolution, in the hearing of God's Word, in the Lord's Supper, they want you to focus on what you are doing, how you are living your life.

Instead you can throw the Word of God back in their face and say the words of the hymn we just sang:  "Satan hear this proclamation, I am baptized into Christ!  Drop your ugly accusation I am not so soon enticed.  Now that to the font I've traveled, all your might has come unraveled, and against your tyranny, God, my Lord, unites with me!"  But the Word of God stands sure, for it is written: 

“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

But the devil does not give up so easily.  He will twist this promise and say, "well then it doesn't matter how you live, prayer, fasting, service towards your neighbor, none of these matter."  Again, with the help of the Holy Spirit, hold fast to that Word which you have been given.  For it is written:

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

You see, that new life does look different.  It is one that includes the fast that clings to the Word in faith. 

And faith is the core of the fast.  It confesses, against all the world's accusations, even against the rumbling of the tummy, that God will sustain us.  He will not leave us in want of anything.  True fasting draws one to the Word, and in doing so, to Jesus Christ who said, "I have come that they may have life and have it beyond measure."  Just as Adam and Eve were provided for in the Garden, you have been given everything that will lead to eternal life in Christ.

So what does this fasting look like?  Well, Christ's own words give us a good picture.  It isn't one of bragging to the world what you are giving up.  It may be as simple as brown-bagging your lunch and eating a smaller breakfast and supper.  It may be skipping your lunch and spending that time in prayer and reading the Bible. 

Fasting can even extend into how you spend your time, as you spend more time with your family, especially in nightly devotions and even to your pocketbook as you help those who are in need and become the hand of God which feeds the hungry.  So I encourage you keep the fast, because in it you will be rewarded by the life giving Word of God.

Finally, as the fast gives life, it also gives way to the feast.  That is why traditionally Sundays are known as feast days.  But it is not just the feast with family and friends that makes Sunday such a feast day, it is that we often come together to get that foretaste of that life giving feast in the Lord's Supper.  So it is with the words of our opening hymn that we can pray this Fasting Time:

No bread of earth alone can fill our hungering hearts,

  Lord, help us seek Your living Word, the food Your grace imparts
O Christ, you walked the road our wandering feet must go. 

  Stay with us through temptation's hour to fight our ancient foe.

Amen