Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness where for 40 days he does not eat and is tempted by the devil. We probably do not get all of the temptations that confronted him in 40 days, but we get enough to take a lesson from our Lord in how to handle temptation.
Each time Jesus is tempted, he answers the devil with "It is written" and "It is said" as he quotes scripture in his defense. This works, Jesus overcomes this session but note that the devil leaves "until an opportune time." Luke 4:13b NRSV.
Jesus returns to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit and began to teach. In Nazareth on the Sabbath he takes the scroll and reads from the prophet Isaiah his mission statement. It read, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Luke 4:18&19 NRSV. If you or your church is looking for a vision or mission statement let me suggest you'd do a lot worse than borrowing Jesus' mission statement here.
The service seemed to be going quite well, but took a nasty turn when Jesus told the
crowd that their would be no great signs and wonders performed. They push him outside of the city to a place where they might stone him to death, but he miraculously walks right through them.
Chapter 4 ends with an account of Jesus' ministry in Capernaum of Galilee where Jesus confronts and dispatches demons and cures diseases. One of those healed is Simon Peter's mother-in-law. The people of Capernaum would have compelled Jesus to stay with them, but he left the comfort of their hospitality to pursue the mission and call of God.
About Me
- Pastor Bill
- I am a committed follower of Jesus Christ, a happy husband, father and grandfather!
6 comments:
It's pretty awesome that when Jesus is in the wilderness being tempted, he only responds in brief statements to the devil. You can see this clearly in the red letter bible, because there's only a little red in this section. However, since it's powerful scripture, it's all that's needed to be said. When we find temptation, we need to pull that scripture out and use it as our guidance. That is why it is so important to remain in His word.
I think it's incredible that Jesus pulls out more scripture for his sermon here. Imagine if PB went up to the pulpit and said two verses and sat back down. It'd be crazy. However, these verses depict clearly the prophesy he is fulfilling, but the people don't think ti's good enough. They want him to do "magic." Would we want the same? The prophesy is fulfilled fully through Jesus, yet we still doubt. Silly people...
"You must not be the right guy so let's stone you on a cliff or something." If they only knew they were gonna stone the Lord, maybe they'd think twice.
It's okay though, because "his time has not yet come," so he'll get out of this stoning thing. I love God.
Hey, I'm 21 now.
God bless, all!
Marshall Bailey
Happy Birthday Marshall!
I think you are on the right track with us wanting Jesus to do magic - I actually see that all of the time!
Maybe I'll spring a two vers sermon on you folks when I get back from the sunny south.
Bill
The section where Jesus preaches two sentences really facinates me. We talked about this at the Young Life leadership meeting one time. We talked about the fact that the two lines that Jesus chooses to say in (Luke 4: 18-19) are significant not only because he was there to fulfill them but also because of what he left out. He began and ended in very significant spots. First of all, if you go back to Isaiah 61:1-2 the whole section (in my Life Application Study Bible) is called Good News for the Oppressed. The people that Jesus was preaching to definately felt that they were oppressed due to the Romans(I think it was the Romans, correct me if I'm wrong). The first part of verse two reads "He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord's favor ahs come." But if you read the second half of verse two (where Jesus chose to stop reading in the middle of the verse!) it says "and with it, the day of God's anger against their enemies." Now, the people listening to Jesus would have known this scripture and probably noticed that he didn't say that part. They were even probably waiting for him to say it because they were looking for justice with the Romans (I think the Romans...) Maybe Jesus left it out because he wanted them to refocus their thoughts on why Jesus truely came to earth, not simply to free them from the Romans but to free them from their sin!
Furthermore it just seems that these people think that Jesus is talking solely about them and their problems with the Romans, when actually Jesus has come for every person all throughout time.
Then, it seems that the reason the people got mad at the story about Elijah was because Jesus used it as an example to say that this is not just about YOU...this is about you AND the Romans. Just like Elijah was sent to a foreigner rather than to one of the many widows in Israel, Jesus has been sent to the least of us.
I could picture you preaching this chapter for a month of Sundays, PB.
This is one of those chapters that give me the goose bumps.
I find it interesting once again that the demons recognized who Jesus was, yet the religious leaders, having their hearts hardened, failed to see who He really was.
I also find it interesting that some sicknesses, such as a fever were "rebuked" by Jesus.
As He was healing people, demons came out of some of them.
This is an area we don't hear or talk about very much, but I am eager to learn more.
In the book you lent me, PB, Derek Prince states that when he is ill, he first tries to rebuke any demons he may have causing the condition.
If there are no demons, he takes his medicine, thanking God in advance for the healing he has received, and simply waits for the healing to occur.
This part of the ministry used to scare me, but for some reason in this time of my life the Holy Spirit is making me hungry to learn more about it.
On a side note, I also love the amazing power some of the "short" statements or verses have over me.
My favorite remains "Jesus wept."
The love and compassion our Savior has for all of us makes me weep with gratitude and amazement.
Thank you Jesus!
(and Happy Birthday, MB)
Hey thanks MW. It was great!
Great to have you back!
Marsh
I love this chapter - I've struggled with the temptation - why are these things tempting to Jesus? He seems to barely consider them. But I think the devil tempts Jesus to believe he could reach the same end a different way than God's way - that sounds more tempting to me. A good and happy, satisfying life without the service - sold! I think that's the real temptation.
It's funny that the people were amazed to hear someone preach and teach with authority. Makes you wonder what kind of lessons they were getting up til this point!
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