First Things First

Luke 4:42-44

After that very productive Sabbath in Capernaum where Jesus taught in the synagogue and healed all kinds of people, he likely spent the night at Simon’s house. Such were the hospitality rules of the day. But early the next morning (the NIV says “daybreak”), Jesus went out to a solitary place. He’d been around people a lot. In fact, staying overnight at Simon’s house likely meant sleeping in a room with other people. In any case, he’d had no time for himself.

Jesus had one custom he would not abandon. He would give himself to people until he was way past tired. But he would not forsake getting away by himself to be with his Father, and often it was early in the morning when life hadn’t gotten too busy yet.

Jesus was human. He needed rest just like everyone else. He also needed to reconnect with his Father in heaven, both because he was divine and because he was human.

In other settings, he would explain that he and his Father are one – theirs is a unity that can not and must not be broken. Jesus is nothing apart from his Father. Yes, he had to be about serving and blessing people. But unless he spent time with his Father, his serving and blessing were impossible. Even more so in that Jesus was fully human. He understood that without that connectedness, he was totally finished.

Back in Nazareth, there had come yet another temptation to Jesus from the Evil Tempter, that time in the voices of his home town people. They wanted Jesus to prove his authority by healing people. Jesus refused. It was the same form of temptation that had come in the desert when the devil had suggested that Jesus turn stones into bread to satisfy his own hunger – to use for selfish means that which God had given him to bless others. Father God alone was to satisfy Jesus needs – be it hunger or vindication.

Temptations come daily and in very subtle ways. There are always pressing needs around us – no end to them in fact, especially in the case of Jesus. But Jesus understood that if he gave in to the crowds, there would be no end. It was a principle he fought hard to keep all his earthly ministry, even at the expense of grave misunderstandings.

Now he is confronted with a dilemma. There are still people who need help in Capernaum. And when the people discover that Jesus has left Simon’s house already that morning, they go looking for him and, when they find him, they beg him to come back.

Two temptations are here. One is to neglect that time he must have with his Father. Temptations don’t look bad on the surface. There is so much to be done. Spending time alone with God or helping people who desperately need help – the choice is tough. The other is, Why should Jesus move on when he hasn’t finished taking care of all the needs in this village first? Jesus understands his marching orders and can resist the second temptation because, in resisting the first temptation, he has heard from his Father. The more temptations are resisted, the stronger our ability to resist becomes.

There is a method to Jesus’ decisions which doesn’t become readily apparent at this point. All Jesus says at this point is that he has been sent to preach good news among the Jews and until he has gotten to all the towns, he cannot settle down. Thus he must move on. Through the Spirit’s promptings, Jesus understands what needs are to be met and what needs are to be left for God to meet in some other way or some other time. Painful as it is to resist, we are not to give in to the tyranny of the urgent. The desire to do good can drive us to our grave – and to hell itself – unless we understand that we serve Father God and not the needs of the hour.