Saturday, July 22, 2017

Day 23

Day 23: Luke 4
Before Jesus began his earthly ministry, he was tempted by the devil to take shortcuts. Both of them knew that Jesus had a long and painful road ahead of him, and Satan offered him world domination without the suffering. This may have been a reasonable offer; elsewhere, Satan is called “the prince of this world” (John 12:31), “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4), and “the ruler of the kingdom of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). He tested Jesus, tempted him, and quoted Scripture to try to back up his claims.
But that suffering was precisely why Jesus came in the first place, and Jesus responded strongly by quoting Scripture right back, and more rightly. This temptation occurred after 40 days of fasting in the desert, and Jesus would have been in an incredibly weak state. However, he never lost sight of the mission that his Father had called him to, and he would not take shortcuts to get there, no matter how attractive they may have seemed in the moment. The author of Hebrews would later write that “we do not have a high priest [Jesus] who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). We can therefore call on him with confidence to receive mercy and grace, because we know that he has been there too.

The rest of the chapter describes the beginnings of Jesus’ activity during his ministry. He spoke in the synagogue to mixed results (compare v. 22 to vv. 28-30), yet he never stopped proclaiming the truth of who he was. He used the Old Testament Scriptures to point out to the people that he was, in fact, the promised Messiah (see reading for Day 19). He drove out evil spirits and healed the sick. He began to do for the people physically what his ultimate work would accomplish for us spiritually. His name and his work began to spread across the region, and wherever he went he repeated, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent” (v. 43). This good news - this gospel - began to work its way into the hearts and lives of all who heard it, with varying reactions from the people themselves.

Questions for reflection and discussion: How can we use Scripture to fight off temptation, as Jesus did? How does this passage set up Jesus’ role as high priest on our behalf? In what ways does Jesus fulfill the Scripture that he himself read?

Next Steps

Next Steps The past 40 days have taken you through 40 key passages in the Bible. You have experienced God’s overarching storyline of cre...