Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder PCUSA
prepared for the Mine Hill Presbyterian Church, February 22, 2026
OK. Jesus fasted. That is where we are in the lectionary in the Gospel of Matthew. And that fits since this is the first Sunday in our Lenten season. But before we get into Jesus fasting and what the purpose of fasting was, let’s get a picture of what is going on overall.
Previous to Jesus going out into the desert to fast, Matthew tells us he went to John to be baptized. This was the first step in the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. But why did he begin it with his own baptism. Clearly, by what we believe of him, who we believe him to be, his being the holy, pure, the sinless Son, he didn’t need to be cleansed in Baptism.
But yet, Jesus submitted to a cleansing publicly. Why?
The people who were going to John to be baptized were going because they were in search of God. John was telling them to make straight the path of the Lord.
Making straight the path for a King was something the ancient people typically would do when they were altered that a King was coming to their village. They would go out on the roads and remove obstacles, smooth out and make the road straight and safe for the King to ride upon.
This is what John was telling the people to do. The King, the Messiah, was coming and John was telling the people to get their lives in order; remove the obstacles that lay between them and the coming King, the Lord, the Messiah. And the people who came to John wanted to purify themselves in the waters of the Jordan so that they could be ready for the coming of the Messiah.
Jesus came to be baptized by John so that he could join with and be one with the people – sharing in their desire to seek God. I guess what Jesus wanted them to see was that he had a heart that was humble and that his sole desire was to be pure and holy so that he could join with them in their desire to be ready for the coming of the King – even though he himself was the Messiah.
That is step one of Jesus’ public ministry.
Step two is where we are today. Step two is Jesus going to a place where he could be alone with God, to listen for and hear the voice of God and to understand just how he is expected to answer God’s call. What exactly is it that He, the Messiah, is supposed to do. And how is it that God wants him to do it.
The ancient Jews believed that fasting was a means by which they could get a sharpened spiritual vision from God. They believed that through fasting they were surrendering themselves to God. They believed that removing food from their daily concerns purified the body and made the heart sensitive and their spirit attentive. They believed that when the body’s cravings were silenced then the soul could better hear the voice of God. Fasting was an opportunity to align oneself with the will of God. It was more than seeking preparedness. It was seeking a transformation from what they were to what God was calling them to be.
We know the famous story of Elijah fleeing the wrath of Jezebel. He ran and hid in a cave on Mount Horeb. And while he hid there, the earth quaked and the skies thundered. Now you might think that quaking ground and thundering storms would seem like God was raging. But Elijah heard nothing from God in them. But while he fasted there came to him the still quiet voice of God and it spoke to him. It gave him courage and direction so that he could go out and complete his ministry as God’s prophet.
In today’s readings, Matthew tells us this where we find Jesus. Jesus is standing on the precipice of a momentous decision. He was called to be the Messiah. But how does he do that? How does he prepare for that? Is he being called to be a great and mighty military warrior? Is he being called to raise a great army and lead the Chosen People to freedom from Roman occupation? Or is he being called to free the people from the bondage of their sin and guide God’s lost and wandering sheep back into God’s fold.
Jesus is seeking to know God’s vision of who the Messiah is to be. Jesus is seeking to know how to make God’s vision a reality. Jesus was seeking the voice of God.
We are told Jesus fasts for 40 days as means of seeking God – to hear the voice of God. Jesus goes into the desert with a hunger for God that transcends physical hunger. He is seeking divine revelation that can only come when he quiets every other voices in his head. In Jeremiah 29:13, the prophet tells us that if we seek God, we will find God. That is what Jesus sets out to do.
Now, Matthew and we are not privy to the conversation that went on between Jesus and God. We can only guess at that and I won’t.
But we can rejoin Matthew in verse two when he tells us that Jesus completed his fasting and presumably his conversation with God and that he emerged hungry. I’ll bet – forty days without food! But what Matthew does explicitly say is that Jesus also emerged from his fast in the desert with a determination and a strength of will. He knows now what his role is to be in God’s plan. We hear that in the next verses when the devil comes to tempt him.
Now, let us think about this devil that comes to tempt Jesus. Of course, we have an image of the devil as evil. Yeah, that’s right on target. But in these verses that follow we will see that he is also a liar and a deceiver. The devil doesn’t just tempt Jesus to take advantage of his physical weakness. He uses lies. He offers promises to Jesus that he, Jesus and we know that he never intends to fulfill. The devil is a purposeful deceiver seeking to compromise Jesus and us. The devil is not seeking to pour gracious gifts upon us. He only seeks to lead us astray and to fall into sin. That is the sin of denying who we are and who we belong to. That is what devil is there for; to tempt Jesus to deny that he belongs to God.
Let’s examine how he goes about it.
The devil begins, “If you are God’s Son, tell these stones to turn into bread.”
Jesus responds, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy 8. It is part of the long discourse Moses gives to the Israelites who are about to enter the Promised Land. Moses is instructing the people on how they must keep their covenant with God. And he admonishes them to remember their forty years wandering in the desert and of when they cried out for bread to eat. But God gave them manna. God does not give them bread. Instead, God gives them manna. God does this in order to demonstrate that they and we do not live by bread but on every utterance from the mouth of God.
Jesus is hungry for something to eat. Yes. But he has transcended his physical hunger. He has focused his hunger on the word of God.
Continuing Matthew’s narrative, “Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the Temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
Here the devil displays his craftiness. Now it is the devil that is quoting scripture – Psalm 91: 11-12 to be precise. Here the devil is using the words of the Psalmist and twisting them into a temptation.
Jesus responds again by going to Deuteronomy 6:16 and Moses’ discourse to the People. “Do not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. You must diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees and his statutes that he has commanded you. Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, so that it may go well with you.”
Again, Jesus is laser focused and aligned with God’s vision. He will not be tempted to distrust God as the Israelites in the desert did. His faith and vision are aligned with God’s. Jesus knows the heart of God. So there is no need to put God to the test.
Matthew continues and one more time the devil tempts Jesus.
“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
Jesus responds again with Scripture – Deuteronomy 6:13.
“Away with you, Satan! for it is written, Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”
Jesus displays for us how powerful quiet time with God can be. One could only imagine where we might be today if Eve and Adam had fasted from eating to spend some quiet time with God.
Resisting these temptation is how Jesus shows us and the devil just how strong the bond between he and God is. Jesus has gone into the desert. The desert is where the Israelites wandered and struggled to hear the voice of God. They could never get the devil out of their heads. They could never clearly hear the voice of God. They were easy pickings for the devil. But not so Jesus.
Jesus has transcended the kinds of hunger that the devil could use to tempt him. Through his fasting Jesus had made his heart sensitive and his spirit attentive. He had reached a place where the only voice he heard was that wee small voice of God. And he and God were on the same wavelength.
What a wonderous place to be!
We are now in the Lenten season. Typically for Christians, it is when we enter a time of fasting of one kind or another. Some deny themselves their special favorite treat or food. Some give up food entirely. Honestly, I don’t know how anyone could do that. But I have made a conscience decision to try to give up some part of myself, my day, my life – so that I can quietly sit and listen to hear that wee small voice of God when God comes to speak to me. I look for God to show me how to be more Christ like. And I pray for you that you will find that quiet place in your hearts, in your day so that you can sit, listen and hear that wee small voice of God when God comes to speak to you.
