Luke
continues his narrative following the baptism of Jesus and the interlude of the
genealogy. Today I will be using the
Wesley Study Bible the CEB translation.
Chapter 4 addresses three main themes.
One is the temptation of Jesus, his first sermon to his home synagogue,
and ending with healing stories. Luke
presents the Holy Spirit as an important aspect of his ministry and also of his
birth.
Following
the baptism, Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit to the wilderness. He has just been blessed with the Spirit
coming down to him from above. Actually
the idea of being led is misleading. He
was forcibly taken into the wilderness by the Spirit. Luke is presenting Jesus as
needing to spend time in that wilderness to face his temptations. He is there for 40 days fasting and
praying. The number 40 is probably not
meant to be taken literally but an indication of a long time. It does tie into the Hebrew Scriptures of the
flood, Moses on Mount Sinai, Elijah in the mountains, the 40 years of wandering
in the wilderness of Exodus. Jesus was
fasting which meant not eating anything from sunrise to sunset. Fasting was a
spiritual discipline popular among the Jewish people as a means of honoring
God. There was no doubt that Jesus was
not hungry and thirsty.
The
wilderness in scripture often is a time of contemplation, introspection, and
quietness before God. Luke speaks of
this as do the other gospels to help us remember that we too need to take time
to be with our Creator. This is
especially true today with the many distractions that we face. When we are so distracted it is easy to fall
into temptations rather than being aware of them. When we take time to use the spiritual disciplines
of attentiveness, prayer, and quietness, we can be more aware of where we are
tempted and be able to resist that temptation.
When
the devil appears to test Jesus, he appeals first to Jesus’ physical needs of
hunger, next to his psychological needs of approval and power, and finally to
his spiritual needs. Jesus is able to
counter each suggestion from the Torah and the prophets. What is interesting when tested about his
spiritual power, the devil is able to quote Psalm 91:11-12. One concern I have is to not use scripture in
such a way as to support my agenda rather than God’s. Too often I have seen Christian leaders’
proof text in order to justify their behavior.
They use snippets of scripture regardless of the original context. Luke is pointing even the devil is able to do
this.
Following
his temptations (note there is no comforting of angels and the foreshadowing of
the devil’s return), he goes to his home in Galilee and Nazareth. Note that he is observant and attends the
synagogue on the Sabbath. As people talk
about all that he can do and his teaching in other synagogues, I can imagine
the home folks can’t wait to hear him.
It is here that Luke presents in essence Jesus’ mission and vision
statement by quoting from Isaiah 61:1-2; 58:6.
In the time of Jesus the teacher in the synagogue would sit down to
teach. Initially the congregation were impressed but someone reminded them
about isn’t this Joseph’s son. How many
times a person from the local community who has a history there is not
respected or appreciated despite the expertise or the knowledge they have.
No
wonder Jesus “I assure you that no prophet is welcome in the prophet’s hometown
(24).” There have been many times in my
career especially as a therapist that when some crisis would occur rather than
using local resources, one would rather use someone who lived at least 50 miles
away. This is despite the awareness that
the local person would have about the community. This still happens today.
Then
Jesus continues to expand on the lack of trust in talking about Elijah with the
widow and Elisha with Naaman. It is then
that the congregation becomes irate. For
both the widow and Naaman were unbelievers and Gentiles. The people of the synagogue felt that the
only ones deserving of God’s grace were the Jews. From the Wesley Study Bible, “His hearers do not
want to share their privileges with outsiders, but Jesus’ message is
intentionally focused upon the marginal members of society, the poor,
prisoners, blind, and oppressed. Wesley began a deliberate program of visiting
prisons, the sick and the poor in 1730 at age 26.”[1] The crowd are so angry that they seek to not
just run him out of town but to kill him.
How often in history have Christians resorted to violence against those
who were unbelievers. Even today how
people judge and condemn those who are different in their beliefs or unbelief.
The
chapter ends with a variety of healing stories.
Luke if he was a physician would use these to illustrate the healing
ministry of Jesus. What is interesting
is the demons knew who Jesus was when those in his hometown or in the
synagogues had no clue. It continues to
emphasize that Jesus is the Son of God which we were aware in Chapter 1,
reinforced in Chapter2, declared in Chapter 3 at the baptism, and now by demons
in Chapter 4.
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