Matthew 4:1-11
February 22, 2026
Two weeks ago the Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots to win the Super Bowl. The head coach of the Seahawks, Mike McDonald, spent so much time studying film of the Patriots games from throughout the season that the coach apparently knew exactly what play the Patriots were going to run based on where or how the players were lined up. As a result, the Seahawks easily beat Patriots in the big game. However, studying film of the other team in preparation for a game was nothing new to Coach McDonald. In fact, at one point in the season he said he was spending so much time scouting his opponents by watching film and meeting with assistant coaches in order to identify the other teams strengths, weaknesses, and patterns of play, that he said he only saw his son for about one hour each week.
Mike Sullivan is the head coach of the United States men’s Olympic hockey team. The team is playing right now for a gold medal in the Olympics against Canada. Coach Sullivan has been described by players and assistant coaches as putting in an “unbelievable” amount of work regarding film study of opposing players in preparation for the Olympic games. Watching film of your opponents, along with your own team’s games and practices, really helps to prepare you for a game. It has even enabled teams with lesser talent to beat teams with more talent, because they knew what their opponent would do in certain situations. And this was definitely the case in 1980 when the United States men’s Olympic hockey team beat a much more powerful and talented Russian hockey team.
We face a powerful, crafty opponent every day in Satan, whose goal is to turn us away from God. Fortunately, the Bible does more than just warn us about Satan’s intent and attacks. Our Gospel lesson for today gives us the opportunity to watch Satan in action, to scout him, in order to see how he can be defeated. We can prepare to battle Satan by watching how Jesus handled Satan’s temptations in the Gospel of Matthew.
After Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness where Jesus stayed by himself for 40 days. During this time Jesus did not have anything to eat, and being human Jesus was definitely hungry. So Satan comes to Jesus and tempts Him by basically saying, “Jesus, if you are the Son of God, why don’t you turn these stones into bread. After all, if you don’t take care of yourself, you will not be able to take care of anyone else. On top of that, just think how many people will follow you if they hear that you turned stones into bread.” And who would have blamed Jesus if He had done something like that?
But Jesus responded with the Word of God by saying, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God,” meaning it is not food that sustains us but God’s Word. The only reason bread fills us and energizes us is because God tells it to; without God’s Word, bread and every other kind of food would be useless to us. In other words, there is power in the Word of God and we see this power right here in Baptism. It is not the water that washes away a person’s sins, but the Word of God used in and with the water that gives Baptism its power to forgive sins and grant eternal life. Even though Jesus did not have any food for 40 days, God the Father miraculously sustained Him. Therefore, had Jesus satisfied his physical hunger by turning the stones into bread through His own power instead of relying on His Heavenly Father to provide, Jesus would have committed the sin of distrust. Satan still uses this temptation on us today. Anytime we think there is a better way to provide for ourselves, through stealing or cheating, than to trust in God’s continuing care, we fall for this temptation of Satan’s.
But Satan doesn’t give up, as his second temptation of Jesus seems to be equally enticing. Satan took Jesus to the high point of the temple in Jerusalem and told Him to jump off, saying, “If you really want people to know that you are the Messiah, why don’t you jump off the highest point of the temple and let God’s angels catch you before you hit the ground. Wouldn’t that be amazing? People will definitely listen to you then, once the word gets out.” Satan even quoted Scripture to show how God had promised to send His angels to protect His people. While Jesus would have gotten all kinds of attention if He had jumped off of the temple, instead He responded with another passage of Scripture to show how Satan had twisted God’s promises by saying, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Deuteronomy 6:16)
God has certainly promised to care for us, but that doesn’t mean He wants us to take foolish chances. It is sinful to think, “I’m going to drive recklessly to work or school and expect God to protect me from being hurt.” While God has promised to watch over us, we are supposed to live our lives in a responsible way. Perhaps what is most important for us to learn from this second temptation is how Satan knows God’s Word well and isn’t afraid to twist it for his own purposes.
The third temptation was enormous. Satan took Jesus up a very high mountain and showed Him all the nations of the world. He told Jesus everything He saw could be His just by bowing down to him. He didn’t necessarily have to stop worshiping God, He just needed to worship him as well. But Jesus responded a third time with the Word of God saying, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve” (Deuteronomy 6:13). Jesus knew that the so called “small” price Satan asks his intended victims to pay always leads to dead ends. If Jesus had bowed down to Satan, He would have had to die for His own sin of worshipping someone other than God, thus breaking the 1st Commandment. And that would have been disastrous for us, because Jesus could no longer have become our Savior. He would have needed a Savior had He fallen for Satan’s temptation.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could handle temptation the way Jesus did? The fact is, we can. Each time Jesus was tempted, He simply responded with the Word of God – indicating there is great power in the Word of God. And we have that same Word of God available to us, and we are to use it when Satan wants us to trust or worship anything other than God. But before we can use the Word of God, we need to know the Word of God. Just imagine if we were to study the Bible with the same passion and intensity of a professional athletic coach studying film of an opposing team. Had Jesus not known the Word of God He wouldn’t have known how to respond when Satan quoted Scripture and told Jesus to jump from the temple because God would send His angels to protect Him. In the same way, if we do not know God’s Word we won’t be able to use it. I’m not saying that we should only spend one hour each week with our children, because we need to spend every other moment we have studying the Bible. Instead, what I’m trying to say is the Bible is not something that will bring us blessings just because we have it prominently displayed on a shelf or table at our house. We need to take the time to learn God’s Word and then use it, because it is not just useful, it is essential for our daily lives.
But the fact is we will still fall for Satan’s temptations. Even when we know the Bible, we’re not always good at using it, but Jesus was. He defeated Satan in every way and He passes on that victory to all of us. Like a soldier who is awarded a medal for bravery in combat, but then gives it to one of his fellow soldiers, even though that soldier ran from the battle and hid; Jesus gives us credit for His victories over Satan, so that we can live with Him forever in heaven.
While Satan is still a powerful enemy, we do not need to be afraid of him. After all, we have just scouted him today in our Gospel lesson, so we know how he operates. He will come after us when we’re weak and vulnerable. He will promise blessings he never delivers. He will twist God’s Word to say that it doesn’t. And he will offer shortcuts to happiness that always lead to dead ends. We will fall for Satan’s temptations, but Jesus will always be there to pick us up and dust off our sins so that we are ready to fight another day. And since Jesus has already won the war for us, we will keep battling Satan until Jesus calls us home to live with Him in heaven.
