Window 5

The middle three-window group on the south side pictures three of the Gospel readings in the season of Lent.  The window at the right side illustrates the story, in Matthew 4:1-11, of Jesus’ forty-day temptation by the devil in the desert.  This was the beginning of the Lord’s battle with Satan, which came to a close with his final victory on the cross.  There he crushed the serpent’s head and, as Luther’s Easter hymn sings, took away Satan’s sting forever.  In the window, four pictures are shown.  They are a dove, a sword, a book behind the sword, and a serpent whose head is pierced by the sword.

The Gospel for this first Sunday in Lent tells that Jesus, after his baptism, was led by the Spirit (dove) into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  After forty days of fasting and conflict with the devil, Jesus, now very hungry, suffered the three temptations described in the text. One aimed at his hungering body, one at winning popularity, and one at gaining power.  Jesus countered each temptation with the weapon which St. Paul describes in Ephesians 6 as the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God (sword with Jesus’ monogram – IHS – and  resting on the open Bible).  With this sword Jesus defeated the old evil foe (sword piercing serpent).