February 26, 2012
Dear friends in Christ.
This summer the eyes of the world will turn to
London as champions from every nation on earth gather to compete in the games
of the 30th Olympiad. Each athlete will
come prepared and ready to give everything they have, to leave it all out on the
field, in the hopes that they might have the opportunity to stand on the
victor’s platform, have the gold medal placed around their necks, hear their
national anthem played, and receive the title of “Champion of the World.” Though I’m not certain that Champion of the
World is an official title for the winner of the gold medal, if you think about
it, the title is indeed fitting. For the
goal of each national champion who competes in the games is to come home with
the gold as the champion who beat all the other champions; the champion who has
become the champion of the world. Well,
in our lesson today, we see another champion step into the ring of competition,
for we see Jesus as he is about to go head to head with satan for the title of
“Champion of the World!”
Now, as we meet Jesus in our lesson this morning, he
is willingly stepping into the boxing ring of the wilderness as it were, to go
head to head with satan in a 40 day winner takes all battle. This is the battle royal that took place
immediately after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River and the Holy Spirit
led him out into the wilderness to be tempted, as Mark tells us in our lesson
today: 12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, 13 and he was in the
desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and
angels attended him. 14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee,
proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom
of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”" (Mark 1:12–15, NIV84)
In some ways the bout that was about to take place
could easily be described in the manner of two heavy weight champions
approaching the ring to do battle knowing that the winner would be declared
champion and take home the belt. We’ve
seen scenes like this countless time in movies, TV shows, and maybe some of you
have seen it in person in an actual boxing ring. We’ve all seen it, the procession of the
fighters to the ring. We’ve seen them in
their warm up robs, surrounded by their entourage as well as security. We’ve seen them walk into the ring, sometimes
strut to the ring, with all those people following, often times being led to
the ring by the coach. We are all very
familiar with how the announce will excite the crowd as he announces each
fighter, which corners they are in, and which is the defending the title. But today, as our Champion approached the
ring of the wilderness, there were no security guards; there was no
entourage. There was only Jesus being
led by the Holy Spirit. Even the
announcers were absent from the spectacular battle that was going to be waged
here. Though it is true that God the
Father had announced Jesus as his Son whom he loved just minutes before the
Holy Spirit led him out, none of the people who had witnessed Jesus’ baptism
moments earlier had any clue of what was coming.
Yet this was the way Jesus wanted it. For it was there, in the wilderness, that our
Champion stepped into the ring and went head to head with satan, not just for
15 rounds, but for 40 days; for 960 hours of temptation. But unlike boxing matches that start so
civilly with the ringing of a bell, this fight began as soon as Jesus stepped
into the ring. From that moment on,
satan began a barrage of temptations that did not let up or ease off until the
very end of the 40 days. Though we are
very familiar with the temptations of turning rocks into bread, throwing
oneself off the temple, and bowing down and worshiping satan, which the other
Gospel writers include, Mark, by not listing any of the temptations, makes the
point that satan continued with one temptation after another for the entire 40
days that Jesus was in the wilderness.
In the same way that a boxer who gains the advantage will continually
pummel his opponent until he is knocked out, the ref stops him, or the bell
rings, satan came at Jesus with everything he had hoping to knock Jesus out by
tempting him to sin. But our Champion
never once gave into any one of the temptations that satan offered, and he won
the battle for you and me.
As Jesus went head to head with our enemy the devil,
our champion thoroughly and completely defeated satan in the wilderness. Though Jesus had “weakened” himself, in
satan’s opinion by taking on human flesh and blood, our Champion held his ground
as a human being, perfectly following and keeping God’s holy law in our
place! Though Jesus had “weakened”
himself, in satan’s opinion, by not making use of his divine powers and was
tempted in every way, just as we are, he remained faithful to the Lord his God
and remained our sinless Savior. Though
Jesus had weakened himself physically by fasting during the 40 days that he was
out there, he proved that he was indeed the Champion of the World by sending
satan running when the 40 days were over.
Though satan continually popped up during the remaining days of Jesus’
earthly ministry, our Champion never once fell prey to those temptations. Our Champion won the victory!
Now, if there was ever a fighter who never let you
forget that he was the best, that fighter would have to be Muhammad Ali. For, from what I have come to know about him
from TV and the Internet, he was one of the most vocal fighters when it came to
the subject of his talent, his style, and his incredible record of wins. Well, in many ways, this is what Jesus, our
Champion, was all about after he defeated our enemy in the wilderness. For after that battle was over, Jesus came
out spreading the news of his victory.
Mark tells us in verse 14, “After John was put in prison, Jesus went
into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he
said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”"
(Mark 1:14–15, NIV84)
Though Mark skips over almost an entire year of
Jesus’ life with these verses, our Champion’s message of victory sums up what Jesus
was up to during that time. For before
John was put into prison, Jesus went throughout Jerusalem and Judea preaching
and teaching the same message. He
traveled from town to town and village preaching that same message of victory,
“Repent and believe the good news!” No
matter where Jesus traveled, he proclaimed his victory to the people wherever
he was so that they might put their faith in him and receive the blessings of
victory that their Champion had won.
It is this same beautiful message of victory that
Jesus, our Champion is proclaiming to us today.
For through these simple words, recorded by the Evangelist Mark, we are
assured that Jesus has indeed won the victory over satan for us. We are assured that though our enemy came at
Jesus again and again in the wilderness, Jesus never once fell for the
temptations. We are assured that he won
the victory by never sinning. Though it
would be about two more years until Jesus went to the cross, he could rightly
tell the people that he had won the victory.
For it was Jesus our Champion who threw satan out of heaven when he
rebelled. It was Jesus, our Champion,
who defeated satan in the wilderness. It
was Jesus, our Champion, who defeated satan’s every attempt to steer him off
course, and it was Jesus, our Champion who completely won the victory over our
enemy when he went to the cross.
For it was there on that cross that our Champion
stood his ground and died to win the full and final victory over satan,
forever. It was there on the cross that
Jesus, the Son of God, was rejected by God himself! It was there, on that cross, that Jesus
endured the pain and suffering of eternal damnation as he who is God was cast
out of God’s presence! It was there, on
that cross that our God who cannot die, gave his life for sinners, and died to
pay the price of our sins! It was there,
on that cross, that Jesus our Champion won the victory over satan forever! This entire message of victory, which we know
so well was wrapped up in the message of victory that our Champion brought to
the people of Israel, and this is the message of victory that we now take to
the world!
Now that we have been reminded of the victory our
Savior won for us, it is our mission to go out and spread that message of
victory to the world. It is our mission
to climb up to the highest heights and announce to all the world that Jesus is
truly the Champion of the World whose victory over the devil gives all people
the forgiveness of sins. It is our
mission to take that message to every single person who does not know Jesus or
the things he has done for them. So let
us do just that! Make the effort this
week to tell even just one person about Jesus Christ, the Savior and Champion
of the World. As you talk to your
friends and co-workers this week, invite them to come and worship with us next
week. As you sit down to dinner with
your families make sure you turn off the TV for even just one meal and talk to
each other about what Jesus did for you.
Only don’t do nothing, letting this opportunity pass you buy, rather
make it your personal goal that each time you talk to someone, that person will
learn about the victory that Christ our Champion won for him and all the world.
Though Jesus didn’t win that title by competing in
any type of Olympic games, we know that he is truly our Champion. For he is the one who went head to head with
our enemy the devil, he is the one who won the victory over satan, and he is
the who has assured us of that victory so that we, like him, can spread the
news to all the world.
Amen.
Pastor
David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
