Luke 4:13-14
The torment is over. The devil moves on, waiting for another opportunity to test Jesus. The challenges we face are never eternal, though they seem that at the time. No wilderness is without end. The dark night of the soul may last for years, a lifetime even in some cases, but there will come that breakthrough on the other side.
I traveled with a friend one time across much of North Dakota and Montana on the way to my wedding in Seattle. Barry insisted we leave Rugby, North Dakota, at midnight. He knew the vast stretch of emptiness that lay ahead and understood well that darkness would somehow ease the monotony.
We basically didn’t stop until breakfast somewhere in Eastern Montana. The scenery had not changed for hours. I’d been in Montana, mostly the Western Mountains, but that day I gained a new appreciation for the vastness expanse of the northern plains. What a dramatic shift in scenery awaited us when we finally reached the Rockies.
When you’ve gone through a long spell and it seems that it is never going to end, one of two things happens when the end does come. It either surprises you with a stark contrast like those Rockies did that day, or it shifts so gradually you don’t even notice that change has come until you are well into it. Either way, sometimes that change is as hard to handle as the wilderness was.
I used to go to a Trappist monastery on prayer retreats when I was single. Ava was a couple hours outside of the small city of Springfield. Sometimes after only three or four days at Ava returning to the city was overwhelming with the traffic and noise. Like being blinded by daylight when walking out of a dark room.
We think that the end of a period of temptation will be bliss. But, like all transitions, it has its own challenges. Luke doesn’t record the information Matthew does about this particular transition period for Jesus, but there was a period of much needed rest and refreshment before entering the busy world of Galilee.
What Luke does record is that Jesus left that Wilderness experience in the power of the Spirit. It was in the power of the Spirit that he was led by the Spirit into the desert in the first place. Now that same power and presence is leading him on, even stronger for the testing.
Post-wilderness time provides us a whole new perspective on life. We are not a different person than before or after. We may even have the same knowledge and Spirit-empowerment. But something has happened in that desert crucible that gives us a whole new understanding of ourselves and our world – and especially of our God. I never wish for a wilderness, but I do look forward to coming out of those experiences with fresh perspective and an energy to move on.
We think we get energized and charged up by revival or mass meeting style atmospheres. We think the best thing that happens to us is when we are empowered by the Spirit down by the Jordan in John Baptiste’s Great Riverside Revival Meeting. Not to discount any of that, but when Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit he was much stronger even than when he’d come up out of the Jordan Valley and been led into the wilderness by the Spirit. Those forty days were all about gaining strength by walking through one of the weakest and most draining times of his life.
Don’t ask for it. Don’t wish for it. But if a wilderness comes your way, know that there will be an other side – and on that other side, you will be better for it.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Lost in the Wilderness – Part VII
Luke 4:9-12
Whatever else is happening in that wilderness with the devil, Jesus is letting himself down into the mother of all emotional pits so that he can be tested to the limits of the temptation testing machine. I have no idea what Jesus’ real limits as God in the flesh really are. I don’t always know my own.
They say that when they build a new aircraft they put it through the wind testing paces until the thing literally falls apart, just so they can build it stronger. Of course, planes are replaceable. I’m glad Scripture says I won’t be tested beyond my limits. For Jesus, that limit-breaking test apparently comes on the Cross some three years later, where Jesus is in effect tested to death. Only to come back much stronger, I might add.
Here in Luke 4, the third temptation feels anti-climactic after the second. But often subsequent temptations don’t have to be as intense. Earlier testings wear us down, exhaust us. We are much more susceptible to temptation when we are physically deprived and then emotionally wrung out. After forty days of fasting in the desert and then being put through the ringer already by the devil, Jesus was very much in a weakened condition by the time this third temptation is offered.
Those who deal with addictions often refer to an acronym, “HALT”, which means hungry, angry, lonely, and tired. That is when we mortals are most susceptible to giving in. I can’t vouch for the angry part, but Jesus was certainly hungry and tired and also most likely feeling very lonely at this point. Matthew mentions in his Gospel that when these temptations are over, angels come to minister to him. He may have won out on temptation, but he did not need to be alone any longer, lest temptation in even weaker forms give him torment.
In any case, this third temptation comes once again prefixed with the phrase, “If you are the Son of God”. Use that privileged status, Jesus. Sure you have come to earth as a human, but come on now, give yourself a break. After all, you are the Son of God. Cheat a little. What’s wrong with a little nepotism anyway? No one will notice. It is just you and me here on this temple pinnacle.
The devil, Luke writes, had taken Jesus up to that highest point for miles around. The NIV says the devil “had him stand”. I take that to mean that Jesus in his weakened condition might have been feeling a bit unstable. It would have been understandable if he had fallen off. No one will blame you if you just let go. And surely God will rescue you.
To add salt to the wound, the devil for the first time quotes Scripture. It is from what we know as Psalm 91. God has promised that he will protect you. He will not let harm come near you. Go ahead and see if God will come through.
Years ago at a low point in my life a dear friend said he would be there for me no matter what. But then he added a seemingly paradoxical condition. “But don’t test me.” He was saying, don’t cry wolf.
Yet, other Scriptures tell us to try God at His word. There are times when we are incredibly low. We’ve been put through the worst of it. But if we have one last ounce of strength, we are not to give in to temptation to give up – relying on God to give us more strength. If he can catch you when falling, He can also keep you from falling. As the character of Eric Liddell says in the movie, “Chariots of Fire”, "Where does the strength come from? It comes from within.”
Father is there for us no matter what. He will come through for us – He will come through IN us.
Whatever else is happening in that wilderness with the devil, Jesus is letting himself down into the mother of all emotional pits so that he can be tested to the limits of the temptation testing machine. I have no idea what Jesus’ real limits as God in the flesh really are. I don’t always know my own.
They say that when they build a new aircraft they put it through the wind testing paces until the thing literally falls apart, just so they can build it stronger. Of course, planes are replaceable. I’m glad Scripture says I won’t be tested beyond my limits. For Jesus, that limit-breaking test apparently comes on the Cross some three years later, where Jesus is in effect tested to death. Only to come back much stronger, I might add.
Here in Luke 4, the third temptation feels anti-climactic after the second. But often subsequent temptations don’t have to be as intense. Earlier testings wear us down, exhaust us. We are much more susceptible to temptation when we are physically deprived and then emotionally wrung out. After forty days of fasting in the desert and then being put through the ringer already by the devil, Jesus was very much in a weakened condition by the time this third temptation is offered.
Those who deal with addictions often refer to an acronym, “HALT”, which means hungry, angry, lonely, and tired. That is when we mortals are most susceptible to giving in. I can’t vouch for the angry part, but Jesus was certainly hungry and tired and also most likely feeling very lonely at this point. Matthew mentions in his Gospel that when these temptations are over, angels come to minister to him. He may have won out on temptation, but he did not need to be alone any longer, lest temptation in even weaker forms give him torment.
In any case, this third temptation comes once again prefixed with the phrase, “If you are the Son of God”. Use that privileged status, Jesus. Sure you have come to earth as a human, but come on now, give yourself a break. After all, you are the Son of God. Cheat a little. What’s wrong with a little nepotism anyway? No one will notice. It is just you and me here on this temple pinnacle.
The devil, Luke writes, had taken Jesus up to that highest point for miles around. The NIV says the devil “had him stand”. I take that to mean that Jesus in his weakened condition might have been feeling a bit unstable. It would have been understandable if he had fallen off. No one will blame you if you just let go. And surely God will rescue you.
To add salt to the wound, the devil for the first time quotes Scripture. It is from what we know as Psalm 91. God has promised that he will protect you. He will not let harm come near you. Go ahead and see if God will come through.
Years ago at a low point in my life a dear friend said he would be there for me no matter what. But then he added a seemingly paradoxical condition. “But don’t test me.” He was saying, don’t cry wolf.
Yet, other Scriptures tell us to try God at His word. There are times when we are incredibly low. We’ve been put through the worst of it. But if we have one last ounce of strength, we are not to give in to temptation to give up – relying on God to give us more strength. If he can catch you when falling, He can also keep you from falling. As the character of Eric Liddell says in the movie, “Chariots of Fire”, "Where does the strength come from? It comes from within.”
Father is there for us no matter what. He will come through for us – He will come through IN us.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Lost in the Wilderness – Part VI
Luke 4:5-8
Last time we looked at the second temptation of Jesus, where the devil offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. The condition is that Jesus has to worship the devil. What comes to mind as I read this is the stereotypical imagery I have of devil worship – where half-mad people are sacrificing animals, maybe even humans, and drinking the blood, all in a dark place with candles burning eerily, spotlighting the shimmering silhouettes of the worshippers on the wall.
That may be how some people worship the devil, but I think it tends to happen more frequently in far less macabre fashion. Nothing of the prefered worship format – hymns or worship choruses, sitting or standing or kneeling – is mentioned here. Worship at its essence is not about form; it just means giving worth or honor to someone else.
In that light, devil worship happens a lot more frequently than we realize. It does not necessarily happen when people choose to celebrate Halloween, for example, but it does happen when people fail to honor God by practicing justice with their neighbors.
At the end of this story, in verse 13, Luke writes that the devil leaves Jesus until a later opportunity. This very temptation comes back to Jesus three years later in a famous scene in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus says to his Father, “If there is any way, let this cup pass from me.” Of course, Jesus then, as in this case, resists the temptation. But it is a real temptation for Jesus nonetheless. The temptation is the desire to avoid the cost of the mission with a price anywhere short of the ultimate price.
No one else was present when Jesus was being tempted in the desert this first time, so we only know this story because Jesus must have shared it with someone. I cannot imagine the tension in the air at that moment when the devil waved this temptation before Jesus. Come here and see what I can do for you, he said. And Jesus allowed himself to walk into that snare. It is a gripping, nail-biting scene whose outcome cannot be predetermined if it is to be believable. But in the end and without hesitation (meaning without entertaining the temptation more than an instant), Jesus turns down the offer.
It is written, Jesus replies, “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” That settles it for Jesus and the devil lets go of the temptation altogether. The final time Jesus is tempted to abort the mission, we do not know what tactic the devil uses. All we hear is Jesus’ side of the conversation and it is actually a response to God the Father, not to the devil at all. That is when Jesus says, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, Father.”
He is not entertaining the temptation when in that Garden he says, “If there is any other way.” He is just checking with his Father to make sure there is no other way. Long ago, he had settled the matter – he would obey his Father no matter what. If Father provided another option, that would not be temptation, that would simply be obedience. If no other option is offered, no other option will be entertained.
That later temptation is all down the road at this earlier time in the desert with the devil. But Jesus seals his fate once and for all when he declares his absolute allegiance to God the Father. This is not the first time he made such an allegiance. It began long before, the first recorded time in the temple at the age of 12, when he said, “I must be doing what God wants me to do.” The fact that he declared that allegiance back then as a boy makes it all the more easier to declare it now as a man. The fact that he declares it now makes it that much easier to declare it the night before he is crucified. The fact that he was able to resist temptation makes it all that much easier for me to resist temptation two thousand years later.
Last time we looked at the second temptation of Jesus, where the devil offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. The condition is that Jesus has to worship the devil. What comes to mind as I read this is the stereotypical imagery I have of devil worship – where half-mad people are sacrificing animals, maybe even humans, and drinking the blood, all in a dark place with candles burning eerily, spotlighting the shimmering silhouettes of the worshippers on the wall.
That may be how some people worship the devil, but I think it tends to happen more frequently in far less macabre fashion. Nothing of the prefered worship format – hymns or worship choruses, sitting or standing or kneeling – is mentioned here. Worship at its essence is not about form; it just means giving worth or honor to someone else.
In that light, devil worship happens a lot more frequently than we realize. It does not necessarily happen when people choose to celebrate Halloween, for example, but it does happen when people fail to honor God by practicing justice with their neighbors.
At the end of this story, in verse 13, Luke writes that the devil leaves Jesus until a later opportunity. This very temptation comes back to Jesus three years later in a famous scene in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus says to his Father, “If there is any way, let this cup pass from me.” Of course, Jesus then, as in this case, resists the temptation. But it is a real temptation for Jesus nonetheless. The temptation is the desire to avoid the cost of the mission with a price anywhere short of the ultimate price.
No one else was present when Jesus was being tempted in the desert this first time, so we only know this story because Jesus must have shared it with someone. I cannot imagine the tension in the air at that moment when the devil waved this temptation before Jesus. Come here and see what I can do for you, he said. And Jesus allowed himself to walk into that snare. It is a gripping, nail-biting scene whose outcome cannot be predetermined if it is to be believable. But in the end and without hesitation (meaning without entertaining the temptation more than an instant), Jesus turns down the offer.
It is written, Jesus replies, “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” That settles it for Jesus and the devil lets go of the temptation altogether. The final time Jesus is tempted to abort the mission, we do not know what tactic the devil uses. All we hear is Jesus’ side of the conversation and it is actually a response to God the Father, not to the devil at all. That is when Jesus says, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, Father.”
He is not entertaining the temptation when in that Garden he says, “If there is any other way.” He is just checking with his Father to make sure there is no other way. Long ago, he had settled the matter – he would obey his Father no matter what. If Father provided another option, that would not be temptation, that would simply be obedience. If no other option is offered, no other option will be entertained.
That later temptation is all down the road at this earlier time in the desert with the devil. But Jesus seals his fate once and for all when he declares his absolute allegiance to God the Father. This is not the first time he made such an allegiance. It began long before, the first recorded time in the temple at the age of 12, when he said, “I must be doing what God wants me to do.” The fact that he declared that allegiance back then as a boy makes it all the more easier to declare it now as a man. The fact that he declares it now makes it that much easier to declare it the night before he is crucified. The fact that he was able to resist temptation makes it all that much easier for me to resist temptation two thousand years later.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Lost in the Wilderness – Part V
Luke 4:5-8
It is the second of the three temptations as listed by Luke that troubles me the most. You cannot call these temptations unless they really were in some way attractive or enticing to Jesus. We lose sight of this truth about Jesus – that he was tempted – to our own peril. The reason he can save us is because he has come to be one of us and yet did not succumb to the death of sin as all the rest of us humans have. So if he is temptable, then what does this second temptation say about Jesus?
We each have our own temptations. I must admit that certain things some people struggle with leave me a bit blank. I just can’t feel the same craving. I don’t doubt that people are sincerely affected in those ways, but I just don’t feel it myself. If someone is tempted to, say, murder to make money, that may be a temptation for someone, but it is certainly not for me. It doesn’t even phase me; it is not, to me, a temptation. In the same way, I am sure others are not tempted as I can be.
The second temptation comes in this way: the devil shows Jesus in an instant all the kingdoms of the world and says to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.” All Jesus has to do to gain the whole world is worship the devil.
I am thinking as I read this that I wouldn’t buy a used car from the devil (though I think I might have once), so I surely am not going to believe everything he says here. If this is the only place in Scripture where it says the devil has control of all the kingdoms of this world, I’m not sure I am ready to build a theology on that, especially since the devil flunked Theology 101 and the only thing he seems to have mastered is desception.
And yet, Jesus, who knows the devil better than the devil knows himself is tempted by this offer. What is going on here? The devil, who doesn’t really fully understand the mission of Jesus (otherwise he wouldn’t have tempted those guys to crucify Jesus), does hit uncannily close to the actual truth. Jesus has come to redeem the world, to regain it back. In a very real sense, the devil does not have the authority to pass on something he doesn’t really own. But in another sense the devil is able to exercise some control over these various kingdoms as people give him license.
So if Jesus knows his mission is to redeem the world and he knows that mission will be extremely costly to him (it has to be costly, otherwise God is just playing games with us), then Jesus is tempted here to find a short-cut that avoids the cost. I don’t like thinking that Jesus wasn’t perfectly willing to die for me. Truth is, he was. But it is also true that Jesus was tempted to not die for me – or for anyone else. He never entertained it, he rejected it outright, but it did come as a temptation to him.
We often think that temptation is a sin. It is not. It is only a sin when we entertain it long enough for it to gain root or a footing in our psyche, something Jesus never allowed to happen. He resisted that temptation the same way you and I can resist ours – through the strength of the Spirit of God and the authority of the Word of God. And one more thing, by not giving in. The more you resist, the more you are able to resist.
It is the second of the three temptations as listed by Luke that troubles me the most. You cannot call these temptations unless they really were in some way attractive or enticing to Jesus. We lose sight of this truth about Jesus – that he was tempted – to our own peril. The reason he can save us is because he has come to be one of us and yet did not succumb to the death of sin as all the rest of us humans have. So if he is temptable, then what does this second temptation say about Jesus?
We each have our own temptations. I must admit that certain things some people struggle with leave me a bit blank. I just can’t feel the same craving. I don’t doubt that people are sincerely affected in those ways, but I just don’t feel it myself. If someone is tempted to, say, murder to make money, that may be a temptation for someone, but it is certainly not for me. It doesn’t even phase me; it is not, to me, a temptation. In the same way, I am sure others are not tempted as I can be.
The second temptation comes in this way: the devil shows Jesus in an instant all the kingdoms of the world and says to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.” All Jesus has to do to gain the whole world is worship the devil.
I am thinking as I read this that I wouldn’t buy a used car from the devil (though I think I might have once), so I surely am not going to believe everything he says here. If this is the only place in Scripture where it says the devil has control of all the kingdoms of this world, I’m not sure I am ready to build a theology on that, especially since the devil flunked Theology 101 and the only thing he seems to have mastered is desception.
And yet, Jesus, who knows the devil better than the devil knows himself is tempted by this offer. What is going on here? The devil, who doesn’t really fully understand the mission of Jesus (otherwise he wouldn’t have tempted those guys to crucify Jesus), does hit uncannily close to the actual truth. Jesus has come to redeem the world, to regain it back. In a very real sense, the devil does not have the authority to pass on something he doesn’t really own. But in another sense the devil is able to exercise some control over these various kingdoms as people give him license.
So if Jesus knows his mission is to redeem the world and he knows that mission will be extremely costly to him (it has to be costly, otherwise God is just playing games with us), then Jesus is tempted here to find a short-cut that avoids the cost. I don’t like thinking that Jesus wasn’t perfectly willing to die for me. Truth is, he was. But it is also true that Jesus was tempted to not die for me – or for anyone else. He never entertained it, he rejected it outright, but it did come as a temptation to him.
We often think that temptation is a sin. It is not. It is only a sin when we entertain it long enough for it to gain root or a footing in our psyche, something Jesus never allowed to happen. He resisted that temptation the same way you and I can resist ours – through the strength of the Spirit of God and the authority of the Word of God. And one more thing, by not giving in. The more you resist, the more you are able to resist.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Lost in the Wilderness – Part IV
Luke 2:3-12
Three times the Devil tempts Jesus and three times Jesus answers, “It is written…” Only in the third temptation does the Devil actually quote Scripture. In the first temptation, he hints at what God has said and in the second he doesn’t even try, only alluding to what might be the mission of Jesus, though the Devil ends up missing that by a long shot.
In each case, Jesus answers his Tempter with words taken directly from Scripture. Matter of fact, these texts are all from the same section of Deuteronomy, one of those books we mere mortals tend to stick our noses up at for the sheer laborious feeling we have when we read them with our modern literary sensitivities. It is not necessarily that these texts offend our modern sensibilities, though they might do that, too. Rather it is like the feeling we get when we read something that is written in a style that is dated. So, looking for an easy read, we pass up material rich in spiritual nourishment much like someone who forsakes a more complicated banquet for fast food.
Jesus, steeped in the Scriptures just as with most of his peers, knew the Book of Deuteronomy well. He understood that these particular texts were taken out of the core of the law which speaks of our complete love and devotion to God. Jesus, tempted here to act in independent authority of God, is reminding himself with these texts that he is nothing apart from God the Father.
And here is another key in understanding Jesus’ use of Scriptures. He is not in a debate with the Devil. If anything he is in a debate with himself. The Devil in this story is a sorry sideshow. Jesus doesn’t even tell him to go away, as he does when facing Peter in a later temptation. No, the temptation, as all temptations really do, rages within. Jesus is not committing sin in being tempted or even in wrestling with the temptation. He only considers the temptation long enough to sort out the answer from his wealth of understanding of God’s Word.
So Jesus doesn’t make it an argument with the Devil. It looks like that, doesn’t it? First the Devil says something. Then Jesus counters from Scripture. And on it goes. What is really happening here, however, is that, as the temptations come, what rises up within Jesus is that sense that he will not give in to these temptations because he craves right over wrong. He has a well-trained sense of moral rightness. Jesus is not arguing with the Devil, he is wrestling with truth itself.
What makes temptation so complicated is not that it plays on our desires but that it challenges our core values. The temptation that came to Adam and Eve was not from out of “left field”, some obscure thing that didn’t really connect with life as they knew it. Rather, the temptation was connected with the very thing they had heard from God.
So, too, now temptation comes to Jesus. The last thing recorded of what Jesus heard from God is “You are my son”. The meaning of this message is what is at the heart of the debate now going on. If this statement is true, how does it affect my present situation, which happens to be marked by sheer hunger? The temptation we all face is to disconnect God’s truths, as much as we know of them, in our lives – to de-link them. Jesus, instead, keeps them together, for he knows they are of a unit.
There is a direct and real link between what God has just said to Jesus at the Jordan River and what God said to Moses in the very same desert some centuries before. Unlike the Devil who speaks disjointedly, God always speaks connectedly. While the Devil tempts us out of what we have heard from God only as disconnects, the power to resist temptation comes as we take in the whole counsel of God as we know it.
Three times the Devil tempts Jesus and three times Jesus answers, “It is written…” Only in the third temptation does the Devil actually quote Scripture. In the first temptation, he hints at what God has said and in the second he doesn’t even try, only alluding to what might be the mission of Jesus, though the Devil ends up missing that by a long shot.
In each case, Jesus answers his Tempter with words taken directly from Scripture. Matter of fact, these texts are all from the same section of Deuteronomy, one of those books we mere mortals tend to stick our noses up at for the sheer laborious feeling we have when we read them with our modern literary sensitivities. It is not necessarily that these texts offend our modern sensibilities, though they might do that, too. Rather it is like the feeling we get when we read something that is written in a style that is dated. So, looking for an easy read, we pass up material rich in spiritual nourishment much like someone who forsakes a more complicated banquet for fast food.
Jesus, steeped in the Scriptures just as with most of his peers, knew the Book of Deuteronomy well. He understood that these particular texts were taken out of the core of the law which speaks of our complete love and devotion to God. Jesus, tempted here to act in independent authority of God, is reminding himself with these texts that he is nothing apart from God the Father.
And here is another key in understanding Jesus’ use of Scriptures. He is not in a debate with the Devil. If anything he is in a debate with himself. The Devil in this story is a sorry sideshow. Jesus doesn’t even tell him to go away, as he does when facing Peter in a later temptation. No, the temptation, as all temptations really do, rages within. Jesus is not committing sin in being tempted or even in wrestling with the temptation. He only considers the temptation long enough to sort out the answer from his wealth of understanding of God’s Word.
So Jesus doesn’t make it an argument with the Devil. It looks like that, doesn’t it? First the Devil says something. Then Jesus counters from Scripture. And on it goes. What is really happening here, however, is that, as the temptations come, what rises up within Jesus is that sense that he will not give in to these temptations because he craves right over wrong. He has a well-trained sense of moral rightness. Jesus is not arguing with the Devil, he is wrestling with truth itself.
What makes temptation so complicated is not that it plays on our desires but that it challenges our core values. The temptation that came to Adam and Eve was not from out of “left field”, some obscure thing that didn’t really connect with life as they knew it. Rather, the temptation was connected with the very thing they had heard from God.
So, too, now temptation comes to Jesus. The last thing recorded of what Jesus heard from God is “You are my son”. The meaning of this message is what is at the heart of the debate now going on. If this statement is true, how does it affect my present situation, which happens to be marked by sheer hunger? The temptation we all face is to disconnect God’s truths, as much as we know of them, in our lives – to de-link them. Jesus, instead, keeps them together, for he knows they are of a unit.
There is a direct and real link between what God has just said to Jesus at the Jordan River and what God said to Moses in the very same desert some centuries before. Unlike the Devil who speaks disjointedly, God always speaks connectedly. While the Devil tempts us out of what we have heard from God only as disconnects, the power to resist temptation comes as we take in the whole counsel of God as we know it.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Lost in the Wilderness – Part III
Luke 4:3-12
What did it look like when Jesus was being tempted by the Devil? It is hard to picture. Every single human being knows what it is to be tempted, an experience as much a part of human life as breathing. Somehow with Jesus, though, we have a hard time picturing it, as if his temptations were a whole different category. Another New Testament writer has said he was tempted in every way, just as we are, though we have a hard time believing that, too.
Only Luke and Matthew record any specifics about the temptations Jesus faces on this occasion. For whatever reason, the two writers vary the order a bit. Otherwise, the stories are basically the same. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been tempted to jump off of the highest point on the temple or to worship the Devil so that I could gain control of the whole world. And I don’t ever remember even thinking I could turn stones into bread, no matter how hungry I was.
Yet basically, these temptations are the same as we encounter every day. The specifics may be unique – after all, each of us is one of a kind in our mix of personality and abilities and interests. But in our very core, we humans, Jesus included, all have very similar desires. Maslow, with his famous “hierarchy of needs,” has demonstrated how our most basic desires are universal, with the physiological (such as hunger) being the most fundamental.
There is the Devil suggesting to Jesus that he satisfy his craving for food – a natural reaction after not eating for so many days – by turning the readily available stones into bread. After all, the Devil says, “Aren’t you the Son of God?” He paints it as “if you are”. This is how the old Tempter talks. He never comes outright and says what God says or says what really is; he merely couches matters in intimation or suggestion or question. So it is with the very first recorded temptation, the one in the Garden of Eden, when the Serpent asked Eve, “Did God really say…?”
We often think of the Devil as some omniscient (all-knowing) creature. Whatever is to be said by theologians about the title “Son of God”, the Devil is only repeating what has just been verbalized within the past few weeks when a Voice calls out from heaven, “You are my son…” The Devil does not have a security clearance on information – he is only expressing what has already been broadcast.
When that Voice from heaven said, “You are my son,” those were words of confirmation and affirmation, stated to create a deep sense of assurance in the very human heart of Jesus as he began his active ministry and faced the wilderness temptations. Now those very words of warmth and strength are being flung back into the face of Jesus as words that will taunt and torment in their questioning. Two of the three temptations follow this pattern, “If you are the Son of God…”
The Devil is far from creative. He is, after all a creature, not the Creator. In tempting, he comes up with nothing new. He only takes what is good and beautiful and twists it. He turns the very words of God into a mockery. The Tempter is not even saying it is not true. He only raises the questions and then draws conclusions that sound plausible, but which miss the mark. So it is said that you are God’s son. If that is so, then take advantage of that reality to meet your most basic needs.
God’s words of assurance that He will provide become words of struggle that maybe, just maybe, God will provide as you treat your God-given abilities for self-preserving ends. What was said by God to make us secure now turn to make us increasingly insecure. Until we remind ourselves again what God has said.
What did it look like when Jesus was being tempted by the Devil? It is hard to picture. Every single human being knows what it is to be tempted, an experience as much a part of human life as breathing. Somehow with Jesus, though, we have a hard time picturing it, as if his temptations were a whole different category. Another New Testament writer has said he was tempted in every way, just as we are, though we have a hard time believing that, too.
Only Luke and Matthew record any specifics about the temptations Jesus faces on this occasion. For whatever reason, the two writers vary the order a bit. Otherwise, the stories are basically the same. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been tempted to jump off of the highest point on the temple or to worship the Devil so that I could gain control of the whole world. And I don’t ever remember even thinking I could turn stones into bread, no matter how hungry I was.
Yet basically, these temptations are the same as we encounter every day. The specifics may be unique – after all, each of us is one of a kind in our mix of personality and abilities and interests. But in our very core, we humans, Jesus included, all have very similar desires. Maslow, with his famous “hierarchy of needs,” has demonstrated how our most basic desires are universal, with the physiological (such as hunger) being the most fundamental.
There is the Devil suggesting to Jesus that he satisfy his craving for food – a natural reaction after not eating for so many days – by turning the readily available stones into bread. After all, the Devil says, “Aren’t you the Son of God?” He paints it as “if you are”. This is how the old Tempter talks. He never comes outright and says what God says or says what really is; he merely couches matters in intimation or suggestion or question. So it is with the very first recorded temptation, the one in the Garden of Eden, when the Serpent asked Eve, “Did God really say…?”
We often think of the Devil as some omniscient (all-knowing) creature. Whatever is to be said by theologians about the title “Son of God”, the Devil is only repeating what has just been verbalized within the past few weeks when a Voice calls out from heaven, “You are my son…” The Devil does not have a security clearance on information – he is only expressing what has already been broadcast.
When that Voice from heaven said, “You are my son,” those were words of confirmation and affirmation, stated to create a deep sense of assurance in the very human heart of Jesus as he began his active ministry and faced the wilderness temptations. Now those very words of warmth and strength are being flung back into the face of Jesus as words that will taunt and torment in their questioning. Two of the three temptations follow this pattern, “If you are the Son of God…”
The Devil is far from creative. He is, after all a creature, not the Creator. In tempting, he comes up with nothing new. He only takes what is good and beautiful and twists it. He turns the very words of God into a mockery. The Tempter is not even saying it is not true. He only raises the questions and then draws conclusions that sound plausible, but which miss the mark. So it is said that you are God’s son. If that is so, then take advantage of that reality to meet your most basic needs.
God’s words of assurance that He will provide become words of struggle that maybe, just maybe, God will provide as you treat your God-given abilities for self-preserving ends. What was said by God to make us secure now turn to make us increasingly insecure. Until we remind ourselves again what God has said.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Lost in the Wilderness – Part II
Luke 4:1-2
Jesus, full of the Spirit, is now led by the Spirit from that high point down in the river valley into the high desert. Recently I was in a discussion with friends. We were talking about intimacy with God, a concept that makes no sense to nonbelievers and is even hard for the faithful to get a grip on. Whatever intimacy with God is, it is not necessarily a warm fuzzy. If your goal in getting close to God is to avoid pain, think again. For Jesus, intimacy with God the Father meant unbelievable pain and suffering.
While I’ve never been in that particular desert mentioned by Luke, I have been in deserts, both in Asia and in North America. While a few boast sprawling cities, as in America’s Southwest or China’s Northwest, deserts are mostly rather windswept, vast stretches of vista comparatively void of moisture and creature comforts like food and water. A trained hand can make do in some places – cutting open the right kind of cactus to get water, for example – there are places where even cacti avoid.
One year my wife, kids and I were traveling across the USA in search of support to get back to our work in Asia. We’d played this game – looking for license plates – until we had just about every state in the Union’s 50 accounted for. All except for Hawaii. We were talking a few days off to explore Southern Utah’s National Parks and had driven down into a most remote ravine in one corner of a park. It was the end of the road if there ever was one. There, in the remotest of barren wilderness, was parked a car with the unlikely license plates from the water-bound state of Hawaii. Amazing what you find in a desert.
What Jesus isn’t going to find in this desert is anything near so funny. Here he is, being led by the Spirit of God into the desert for 40 days. To do what? To be tempted. Talk about boot camp. Jesus is flung at the devil’s mercy for over a month with nothing to eat. In what we Bible readers know as the Temptation of Jesus, what we are really thinking of is the tail end of that long ordeal. Whatever else went on during those 40 days, we know he was tempted and he went without food.
I’ve known people to fast for long periods of time. I go a day and my brain and stomach start cannibalizing each other along with everyone else’s within range. Fasting seems to bring out every craving known to mankind – and even some that aren’t. Veteran fasters talk about hitting their fasting speed like runners talk about getting a second wind. I don’t know; all I’ve ever experienced in running is getting winded.
But here is Jesus, going the distance. First off, he is amazingly obedient to the leading of the Spirit. He walks in complete trust of this unseen Guide. Second, he lets himself get weaker and weaker physically in the presence of his nemesis. One rule of combat is, don’t show your weak side to your opponent. Not so with Jesus. In this first recorded encounter between Jesus and the Devil, Jesus is at his most vulnerable.
We really don’t know in what ways Jesus was tempted or if there was more on this occasion than is mentioned here. We have the words of another New Testament writer that Jesus was tempted in every way, just as we are. Whatever happened in those 40 days, Jesus went through the ringer – and he did it guided by the Spirit. The Spirit didn’t tempt him. The Spirit guided him through the temptation, the same Spirit promised to us to guide us through our own wilderness experiences.
Jesus, full of the Spirit, is now led by the Spirit from that high point down in the river valley into the high desert. Recently I was in a discussion with friends. We were talking about intimacy with God, a concept that makes no sense to nonbelievers and is even hard for the faithful to get a grip on. Whatever intimacy with God is, it is not necessarily a warm fuzzy. If your goal in getting close to God is to avoid pain, think again. For Jesus, intimacy with God the Father meant unbelievable pain and suffering.
While I’ve never been in that particular desert mentioned by Luke, I have been in deserts, both in Asia and in North America. While a few boast sprawling cities, as in America’s Southwest or China’s Northwest, deserts are mostly rather windswept, vast stretches of vista comparatively void of moisture and creature comforts like food and water. A trained hand can make do in some places – cutting open the right kind of cactus to get water, for example – there are places where even cacti avoid.
One year my wife, kids and I were traveling across the USA in search of support to get back to our work in Asia. We’d played this game – looking for license plates – until we had just about every state in the Union’s 50 accounted for. All except for Hawaii. We were talking a few days off to explore Southern Utah’s National Parks and had driven down into a most remote ravine in one corner of a park. It was the end of the road if there ever was one. There, in the remotest of barren wilderness, was parked a car with the unlikely license plates from the water-bound state of Hawaii. Amazing what you find in a desert.
What Jesus isn’t going to find in this desert is anything near so funny. Here he is, being led by the Spirit of God into the desert for 40 days. To do what? To be tempted. Talk about boot camp. Jesus is flung at the devil’s mercy for over a month with nothing to eat. In what we Bible readers know as the Temptation of Jesus, what we are really thinking of is the tail end of that long ordeal. Whatever else went on during those 40 days, we know he was tempted and he went without food.
I’ve known people to fast for long periods of time. I go a day and my brain and stomach start cannibalizing each other along with everyone else’s within range. Fasting seems to bring out every craving known to mankind – and even some that aren’t. Veteran fasters talk about hitting their fasting speed like runners talk about getting a second wind. I don’t know; all I’ve ever experienced in running is getting winded.
But here is Jesus, going the distance. First off, he is amazingly obedient to the leading of the Spirit. He walks in complete trust of this unseen Guide. Second, he lets himself get weaker and weaker physically in the presence of his nemesis. One rule of combat is, don’t show your weak side to your opponent. Not so with Jesus. In this first recorded encounter between Jesus and the Devil, Jesus is at his most vulnerable.
We really don’t know in what ways Jesus was tempted or if there was more on this occasion than is mentioned here. We have the words of another New Testament writer that Jesus was tempted in every way, just as we are. Whatever happened in those 40 days, Jesus went through the ringer – and he did it guided by the Spirit. The Spirit didn’t tempt him. The Spirit guided him through the temptation, the same Spirit promised to us to guide us through our own wilderness experiences.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Lost in the Wilderness – Part I
Luke 4:1-2
I’m back to blogging after a week of fighting the flu. Wasn’t much of a fight. I lost fair and square. I feel like I lost some days somewhere too. At least it wasn’t 40 days in the Wilderness. That’s what it was for Jesus. Maybe he wasn’t lost, but Luke doesn’t paint it like it was some lark in the park either.
Notice carefully the words Luke uses in these couple of verses. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit…” OK, stop the presses right there. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,” “led by the Spirit” – remember what happened down there at the river? Jesus had been baptized along with everyone else in those muddy waters. As he came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit came upon him. Now that same Spirit is both filling and leading him into the wilderness.
First off, you get this sense that something is very different about Jesus coming away from the Jordan than when he headed down to see his cousin, John. He’s as much loved by his Father in heaven as he ever was, but he’s had verbal confirmation. He’s the same God-man person he ever was, but now he is full of God’s Spirit.
It is at this stage that we humans get into theological seizures, fomenting Pauline-length sentences and German-length words. I speak of any mortal attempt to sort out the God-man mix we know as Jesus Christ. Such attempts sent the Church into high council conniptions for generations. Doesn’t mean none of that was important, for it very much was – all of it – and still is. Just means that even though it is so important, and maybe in part because it is, the concept is not easy to decipher.
The incarnation itself is complicated enough. That sweet Christmas story about God becoming a human baby? Human brains start to twist and contort at the mere thought of the instructions: “Process incarnation.” Somehow for 30 years the universe manages just fine as this God-man child grows up into a God-man man, the God part kind of not revealing itself too much for the comfort of the neighbors.
And then comes that baptism. However, though John may have struggled with doing it, the water baptism is not the theological challenge. Jesus’ baptism in the Spirit – meaning that the Spirit comes over him filling him full – is what gets dicey. At this very moment there is this wild Trinity scene defying all the laws of Physics where we see God the Son standing there dripping wet, God the Father speaking in an audible (translate, human-like) voice out of heaven (translate, from out of the sky somehow), and God the Spirit descending from heaven (above?) onto God the Son in the form of a dove.
Unfortunately, Luke doesn’t pause. He just rambles into Jesus’ family tree and when he reappears a few verses later blithely mentions that Jesus was “full of the Spirit” and “led by the Spirit.” Whatever else these phrases mean, Jesus is now into something new. He is about to embark on what earthlings call his “earthly ministry.” (I have a feeling the angels use that term to refer to when God the Son left heaven for the Bethlehem manger thirty years prior.)
Whatever else, Luke means that Jesus now has what it takes to start his activist work. When Luke uses these “Spirit” phrases, it’s his way of saying that people who are human are now exercising gifts, power, divine anointing, authority, all beyond their natural levels to accomplish a God-directed mission.
Such action is significant any time you see Luke use those words. Here, with Jesus, it is even more so. For Luke means that, whatever can be said about Jesus being God, he is also very much man who is nothing without being full of the Spirit. If that can be said of Jesus, how much more so we who have even less of the divine spark to begin with?
Whatever Jesus accomplished while on earth, he did with the aid of the Holy Spirit in the same way that you and I do it. As long as we do in the same Spirit.
I’m back to blogging after a week of fighting the flu. Wasn’t much of a fight. I lost fair and square. I feel like I lost some days somewhere too. At least it wasn’t 40 days in the Wilderness. That’s what it was for Jesus. Maybe he wasn’t lost, but Luke doesn’t paint it like it was some lark in the park either.
Notice carefully the words Luke uses in these couple of verses. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit…” OK, stop the presses right there. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,” “led by the Spirit” – remember what happened down there at the river? Jesus had been baptized along with everyone else in those muddy waters. As he came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit came upon him. Now that same Spirit is both filling and leading him into the wilderness.
First off, you get this sense that something is very different about Jesus coming away from the Jordan than when he headed down to see his cousin, John. He’s as much loved by his Father in heaven as he ever was, but he’s had verbal confirmation. He’s the same God-man person he ever was, but now he is full of God’s Spirit.
It is at this stage that we humans get into theological seizures, fomenting Pauline-length sentences and German-length words. I speak of any mortal attempt to sort out the God-man mix we know as Jesus Christ. Such attempts sent the Church into high council conniptions for generations. Doesn’t mean none of that was important, for it very much was – all of it – and still is. Just means that even though it is so important, and maybe in part because it is, the concept is not easy to decipher.
The incarnation itself is complicated enough. That sweet Christmas story about God becoming a human baby? Human brains start to twist and contort at the mere thought of the instructions: “Process incarnation.” Somehow for 30 years the universe manages just fine as this God-man child grows up into a God-man man, the God part kind of not revealing itself too much for the comfort of the neighbors.
And then comes that baptism. However, though John may have struggled with doing it, the water baptism is not the theological challenge. Jesus’ baptism in the Spirit – meaning that the Spirit comes over him filling him full – is what gets dicey. At this very moment there is this wild Trinity scene defying all the laws of Physics where we see God the Son standing there dripping wet, God the Father speaking in an audible (translate, human-like) voice out of heaven (translate, from out of the sky somehow), and God the Spirit descending from heaven (above?) onto God the Son in the form of a dove.
Unfortunately, Luke doesn’t pause. He just rambles into Jesus’ family tree and when he reappears a few verses later blithely mentions that Jesus was “full of the Spirit” and “led by the Spirit.” Whatever else these phrases mean, Jesus is now into something new. He is about to embark on what earthlings call his “earthly ministry.” (I have a feeling the angels use that term to refer to when God the Son left heaven for the Bethlehem manger thirty years prior.)
Whatever else, Luke means that Jesus now has what it takes to start his activist work. When Luke uses these “Spirit” phrases, it’s his way of saying that people who are human are now exercising gifts, power, divine anointing, authority, all beyond their natural levels to accomplish a God-directed mission.
Such action is significant any time you see Luke use those words. Here, with Jesus, it is even more so. For Luke means that, whatever can be said about Jesus being God, he is also very much man who is nothing without being full of the Spirit. If that can be said of Jesus, how much more so we who have even less of the divine spark to begin with?
Whatever Jesus accomplished while on earth, he did with the aid of the Holy Spirit in the same way that you and I do it. As long as we do in the same Spirit.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
What it Really Means to be Special – Part II
Luke 3:23-37
The other day my car was in an accident. OK, so was I. When the tow truck showed up, a brown-skinned man got out of the cab and introduced himself with a toothy smile as Mohamed, a native of Pakistan. He’d been in the USA for over 20 years, about the same time span as I lived in Asia.
We got to talking about ourselves and before long we discovered that we hadn’t lived that far from each other. In fact, I’d been as close as a couple hundred miles from his home town, give or take a hairpin turn or two in the road.
From then on, he treated me like a long lost cousin. We had established connectivity.
The old saying is “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” Travel anywhere in the world to even the most remote village and you will find that people size you up before relating to you. They want to know where you’ve come from, who you are related to, what connections you have in life. We form our opinions of people based on what we know about these connections.
One time I tried to impress this guy as an insider to his area only to hear him say with more than a hint of suspicion, “You’re not from around here, are you?” I knew I was doomed.
Connectivity makes us special in the eyes of others. Thus, we spend a lot of time polishing our credentials.
As Luke writes about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he takes pains to note Jesus’ connectivity. In proper Jewish custom, he lists the genealogy of Jesus’ family. Such a listing established tribal identity. He was a child of Abraham, thus a Semite. He was a child of Jacob, thus a Jew. Even more specifically he was of the tribe of Judah and a descendent of David. All this was very important.
For some people, anyway. But it wasn’t all that important to Luke, who was, after all, not Jewish. But you can sense Luke doing the customary thing with tongue firmly implanted in his cheek. Jesus, he wrote, was the son, “or so it was thought” of Joseph.
Years ago I had this fascination with researching my family history. There was one vague connection I could never establish beyond a shadow of a doubt, but if it were true, I could then trace my lineage straight back through the kings and queens of England to some obscure mythical figure in the British Isles around 500 A.D.
I pointed this out to my kids who were struck by the potential relationship with royalty – at least for five minutes. When I tried to explain that I wasn’t at all confident in the connection, one of them answered. “Doesn’t matter, Dad, we’re still related to royalty.”
That’s what I hear Luke saying. It doesn’t matter whether Jesus was actually the genetic son of Joseph. He has the human DNA (through his mother Mary at least) and is therefore a son of Adam. But that is not where Luke completes the genealogical search. For he ends his litany with these words “the son of Adam, the son of God.”
In the end all that matters is that Jesus is firmly established as a child of God. This is what is most significant about Jesus’ connectivity. And so the declaration that Jesus is God’s son appears like bookends around Jesus’ family history. Doesn’t matter who you are related to or where you are from. As long as you are related to God, you have all the significance in life you need.
The other day my car was in an accident. OK, so was I. When the tow truck showed up, a brown-skinned man got out of the cab and introduced himself with a toothy smile as Mohamed, a native of Pakistan. He’d been in the USA for over 20 years, about the same time span as I lived in Asia.
We got to talking about ourselves and before long we discovered that we hadn’t lived that far from each other. In fact, I’d been as close as a couple hundred miles from his home town, give or take a hairpin turn or two in the road.
From then on, he treated me like a long lost cousin. We had established connectivity.
The old saying is “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” Travel anywhere in the world to even the most remote village and you will find that people size you up before relating to you. They want to know where you’ve come from, who you are related to, what connections you have in life. We form our opinions of people based on what we know about these connections.
One time I tried to impress this guy as an insider to his area only to hear him say with more than a hint of suspicion, “You’re not from around here, are you?” I knew I was doomed.
Connectivity makes us special in the eyes of others. Thus, we spend a lot of time polishing our credentials.
As Luke writes about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he takes pains to note Jesus’ connectivity. In proper Jewish custom, he lists the genealogy of Jesus’ family. Such a listing established tribal identity. He was a child of Abraham, thus a Semite. He was a child of Jacob, thus a Jew. Even more specifically he was of the tribe of Judah and a descendent of David. All this was very important.
For some people, anyway. But it wasn’t all that important to Luke, who was, after all, not Jewish. But you can sense Luke doing the customary thing with tongue firmly implanted in his cheek. Jesus, he wrote, was the son, “or so it was thought” of Joseph.
Years ago I had this fascination with researching my family history. There was one vague connection I could never establish beyond a shadow of a doubt, but if it were true, I could then trace my lineage straight back through the kings and queens of England to some obscure mythical figure in the British Isles around 500 A.D.
I pointed this out to my kids who were struck by the potential relationship with royalty – at least for five minutes. When I tried to explain that I wasn’t at all confident in the connection, one of them answered. “Doesn’t matter, Dad, we’re still related to royalty.”
That’s what I hear Luke saying. It doesn’t matter whether Jesus was actually the genetic son of Joseph. He has the human DNA (through his mother Mary at least) and is therefore a son of Adam. But that is not where Luke completes the genealogical search. For he ends his litany with these words “the son of Adam, the son of God.”
In the end all that matters is that Jesus is firmly established as a child of God. This is what is most significant about Jesus’ connectivity. And so the declaration that Jesus is God’s son appears like bookends around Jesus’ family history. Doesn’t matter who you are related to or where you are from. As long as you are related to God, you have all the significance in life you need.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
What it Really Means to be Special – Part I
Luke 3:21-22
Everything written in the Gospels about Jesus is purposeful. What is this in that story for? Why did the writer say that? What relationship does that play to this? These are the questions we can ask because all of it has meaning. Luke is writing to do more than entertain, he wants to persuade and challenge us with truth.
Considering how much Luke writes about happenings leading up to Jesus’ baptism, he doesn’t spend much time on the actual event of the baptism. In fact, he is more interested in what occurs immediately after the actual water baptism itself. As Jesus was praying – the context is at the Jordan River right after he was baptized – three things happen: heaven was opened, the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus in the form of a dove, and a voice spoke from heaven.
Luke has already mentioned that Jesus is baptized along with a lot of other people. He is one of the crowd. He has grown up an average Joe, more precisely an average Joshua, as that is his name. Either way, there were lots of Josephs and Joshuas in his day and there is nothing in his life up to that time that has set him apart other than being a good man.
This Gospel doesn’t even mention any conversation between Jesus and John, as is recorded elsewhere. What are most significant for Luke are the descending dove and the voice from heaven. This is typical of Luke, who is keen to note any time the Holy Spirit plays a revealed role.
He doesn’t elaborate on what it means that heaven opens, except to say that a dove comes down from heaven and a voice is heard out of heaven. This dove is the visible form the Holy Spirit, who ordinarily cannot be seen by mortal eyes. Here is Jesus, God come in the flesh, now receiving the Holy Spirit. He the Promised Messiah is so ordinarily human he also needs the Spirit to come upon him so that he can do the work the Father has sent him to do.
At the same time, there is that voice. “You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” These are the exact words a voice from heaven declares at another event – the one where Jesus takes three of his disciples up on a mountain and is transformed before their eyes. In that context, the voice is speaking to the disciples – “You listen to Jesus for he is my son.”
But in this case, the words are to Jesus himself. Father in heaven is speaking directly to His son. Although we get to listen in, the Father has something specific He wants Jesus to hear. Luke doesn’t record anyone else hearing voices that day as they were being baptized. One could draw the conclusion that Jesus was extra special.
Having grown up all my life knowing that Jesus is special, that is not what I take from this passage. I am struck by the reality that Jesus, as special as he was, son of God and all, is baptized like we are, has need of the Spirit to descend on him, and has to hear the voice of God for himself. Only then does his ministry start – when he has passed through the waters of commitment, when he has received the Spirit and when he has first-hand assurance of Father’s love and affirmation.
Father’s words affirm relationship (“you are my son”), commitment (“whom I love”) and acceptance (“with you I am well pleased”). Put on all that for armor and a guy can take on the whole world, which Jesus proceeds to do.
How much of this is model for us? I believe every bit of it. In a world full of voices, what we need most to hear is God’s affirmation of our relationship with Him, His commitment to us, and His acceptance of us. Then see if anything can stop us.
Everything written in the Gospels about Jesus is purposeful. What is this in that story for? Why did the writer say that? What relationship does that play to this? These are the questions we can ask because all of it has meaning. Luke is writing to do more than entertain, he wants to persuade and challenge us with truth.
Considering how much Luke writes about happenings leading up to Jesus’ baptism, he doesn’t spend much time on the actual event of the baptism. In fact, he is more interested in what occurs immediately after the actual water baptism itself. As Jesus was praying – the context is at the Jordan River right after he was baptized – three things happen: heaven was opened, the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus in the form of a dove, and a voice spoke from heaven.
Luke has already mentioned that Jesus is baptized along with a lot of other people. He is one of the crowd. He has grown up an average Joe, more precisely an average Joshua, as that is his name. Either way, there were lots of Josephs and Joshuas in his day and there is nothing in his life up to that time that has set him apart other than being a good man.
This Gospel doesn’t even mention any conversation between Jesus and John, as is recorded elsewhere. What are most significant for Luke are the descending dove and the voice from heaven. This is typical of Luke, who is keen to note any time the Holy Spirit plays a revealed role.
He doesn’t elaborate on what it means that heaven opens, except to say that a dove comes down from heaven and a voice is heard out of heaven. This dove is the visible form the Holy Spirit, who ordinarily cannot be seen by mortal eyes. Here is Jesus, God come in the flesh, now receiving the Holy Spirit. He the Promised Messiah is so ordinarily human he also needs the Spirit to come upon him so that he can do the work the Father has sent him to do.
At the same time, there is that voice. “You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” These are the exact words a voice from heaven declares at another event – the one where Jesus takes three of his disciples up on a mountain and is transformed before their eyes. In that context, the voice is speaking to the disciples – “You listen to Jesus for he is my son.”
But in this case, the words are to Jesus himself. Father in heaven is speaking directly to His son. Although we get to listen in, the Father has something specific He wants Jesus to hear. Luke doesn’t record anyone else hearing voices that day as they were being baptized. One could draw the conclusion that Jesus was extra special.
Having grown up all my life knowing that Jesus is special, that is not what I take from this passage. I am struck by the reality that Jesus, as special as he was, son of God and all, is baptized like we are, has need of the Spirit to descend on him, and has to hear the voice of God for himself. Only then does his ministry start – when he has passed through the waters of commitment, when he has received the Spirit and when he has first-hand assurance of Father’s love and affirmation.
Father’s words affirm relationship (“you are my son”), commitment (“whom I love”) and acceptance (“with you I am well pleased”). Put on all that for armor and a guy can take on the whole world, which Jesus proceeds to do.
How much of this is model for us? I believe every bit of it. In a world full of voices, what we need most to hear is God’s affirmation of our relationship with Him, His commitment to us, and His acceptance of us. Then see if anything can stop us.
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