A Vicarious Victory
In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the May 2001 issue of National Geographic, and in the BBC television series Planet Earth, Cueva de Villa Luz (the Cave of the Lighted House) was featured.
As you make your way to the cave you walk through a veritable paradise of tropical birds and lush rain forest. Underwater the cave is fed by 20 underground springs, beautiful watercourses which teem with tiny fish. The cave itself is home to spectacular rock formations and beautiful ponds. Sounds inviting doesn’t it.
But there’s one small problem. If you were to accept the invitation, you’d soon be dead! You see, the Cueva de Villa Luz (Cave of the Lighted House) is filled with poisonous gases and sulfuric acid.
And that is just the way temptation is, isn’t. It presents itself to us as something inviting, attractive, life-giving. Yet in reality it’s poisonous and toxic.
Temptation is never, “Hey, would you like to go into this cave wherein you will die in a few short minutes due to the poisonous gases and acid?” No, it is “look at this beautiful paradise. lush greens, tropical birds, springs, … .look – those fish are doing just fine. Enter the cave. You surely won’t die!”
That’s the way it went with Adam and Eve in the story that tells of the beginnings of sin and it happens that way to this day. It’s not usually easy to simply dismiss. The devil comes dressed in angel’s clothing and presents his diabolical and deathly plans to us as if he were giving us something wholesome and life-giving. Evil, the devil, Satan, the evil one – whatever we might name him/ it – is deceptive and will do whatever it takes to get us to divert from the path of holiness – most especially if we don’t even realize it and think we are filling our lives with good and wholesome things.
That whole struggle of temptation... That is what Jesus experienced in the wilderness. It would be easy to resist the devil if he always showed up with horns, long tail, pitch fork - the whole nine yards. I think that’s the way many of us imagine the scene in the Gospel lesson for today. But no, that’s not it at all. The invisible force of evil presented itself to Jesus in the same way it presents itself to us. With all sorts of logical reasons why Jesus should yield to him. It is so easy for us to reason our way to sin – the same process that happens to us, tempting us to sin against God is what Jesus experienced as he shared FULLY in our human nature.
This is why we should not be so shameful in the presence of God. We act as if God doesn’t know what we are going through. Oh, if God knew my thoughts…if he knew my life behind closed doors…if he knew all my actions…
News flash. God does know. And Guess what? God is not surprised. God took upon himself our human nature because God knew we were fallen and incapable of helping ourselves. And as one who became fully human, he has experienced the exact process of temptation that we experience each and every day. The forces of evil are hard at work in this world. Our merciful and gracious God is more aware of this than any of us could ever be.
Some of the most comforting words in all of Scripture is found in Hebrews 4:15-16 where we are assured that God knows our plight:
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
“In every respect” has been tested as we are. God understands what we are going through, and God knows that we often yield to those temptations and sin.
But that’s not where this story ends. Sure, God knows our plight and has identified with us in the fullest. But the best news of all is that God, having taken our humanity on himself, when tempted in every way as we are --- did not sin.
I remember a few years ago, just before he died, I heard Bishop G.E. Patterson, preach an arousing sermon that he called “A Vicarious Victory.” Bishop Patterson said concerning the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ: “It was a vicarious act. It wasn’t for him. It was for me…I know what a vicarious victory is – it is when someone else fights and gives me the victory… Thanks be to God for giving us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
That’s the beautiful hope we have through the story of the temptation of Jesus. His victory wasn’t for himself but for us – a vicarious victory. Through his victory, we have victory. He has already won it for us and he has shown us the way.
Now when we are tempted to sin against God, we must lean on the victory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He has overcome and he is in us and we are in him. Don’t rely on yourself; your own strength – your own power. Tap into the power that runs through your veins as one of God’s precious daughters and sons.
My favorite scene in all of Harry Potter is when Harry asks Dumbledore why Quirrell or really Voldemort could not touch him. Dumbledore responded, ‘Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn’t realise that love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign... to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good.’
Like Harry, our savior’s victory has left an indelible mark on us, the baptized. In your baptism, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever. The love that overcame sin, death, and the grave lives in you. Therefore, by relying on the grace of God in Jesus Christ – his vicarious victory – we can overcome the temptations of Satan and live a life of holiness that pleases God. But when we do fall to sin, we need not be so weighed down with grief and shame that we give up or throw in the towel. Because as St. Paul said so beautifully in Romans 8, “If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
As we walk this Lenten journey, let us flee from sin and by virtue of the vicarious victory of our Savior say No to sin and yes to God. When we do fall, may we hear the gracious voice of God inviting us to confess our sins so that we might receive forgiveness and keep following Jesus faithfully until he comes again.
In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
