Day 278 (Matthew 4, Luke 4-5) - Year 8

Tara-Leigh Cobble (0:01)

Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara-Leigh Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.

Today we dig into the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, which Mark briefly mentioned yesterday. After his baptism, Jesus spends 40 days in the desert fasting in preparation for the start of his public ministry. As his fast is coming to a close, the devil shows up on the scene. The word used for devil here is an adjective, not a noun, and it describes someone who falsely accuses, which is exactly what's happening here. Remember the baptism of Jesus where God the Spirit descends on God the Son, and God the Father says, this is my beloved Son? The Father pronounced the Son's identity, and in the very next scene, the accuser comes to bring that identity into question. His whole aim is to derail God's plan for redemption. The enemy wants to get Jesus to give things up now instead of go to the cross. Satan is more afraid of the cross than Jesus is because he knows it means his eternal defeat.

But Jesus fights his lies with scripture, speaking truth to the accusations. Something interesting to note here is that scripture is also the enemy's weapon of choice, twisted scripture. He pulls verses out of context, making them mean what he wants them to mean, making promises he has no power to fulfill. The enemy knows scripture and knows how to use it to his advantage.

That's another reason why what we're doing here is so important, taking in all of the word of God, seeing how it all fits together. So we'll be less likely to believe the lies the enemy tries to craft out of scripture to tempt us.

The beginning of this text says the spirit led Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted. James 1 promises us that God himself never tempts us. And this is consistent with that promise. The spirit didn't tempt Jesus, but he did lead Jesus into the wilderness where the enemy tempted him. But ultimately the enemy's temptation was used for good.

How so?

Two ways. First, this represents a reversal of the three major temptations the Israelites faced when they were in the wilderness for 40 years. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. We'll link to a short article with more info on this in the show notes. Second, not only does Jesus overcome all Israel faced, but now we know that Jesus can relate to our temptations. He faced greater temptations than we ever will and overcame them.

Before we move on, I have to say it's possible there was some teleportation happening in this passage, but we don't really know for sure. There will be more on this later though, so stay tuned. As for now, suffice it to say, spiritual dimensions are apparently a whole other level.

After Jesus finishes his six-week trip to the desert, he gets word that JTB has been arrested and he goes back to the Galilee region where he grew up. In his hometown of Nazareth, he preaches his first sermon during his public ministry. It's the one we read about in Luke 4, 16-30.

When rabbis would teach in the synagogue, they would often read a text, then explain it. But when Jesus gets up, he reads the text from Isaiah 61 about how God is sending someone to proclaim good news to the poor and liberty to the captives. And instead of explaining it, Jesus says, I am it. I am the fulfillment of this prophecy. The people are thrilled about it. Verse 22 says, They all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. They're like, Whoa, seriously? Our local guy is the Messiah. I know his dad, Joseph. But then things take a turn because Jesus starts recounting stories to them about God's love for outsiders. He talks about First King 17, where God sends Elijah to feed a foreign widow while all the Israelites were starving in a famine. He talks about Second Kings 5, where the Syrian leper was the only one who was cleansed. And suddenly they don't like the idea of proclaiming good news and freedom and favor because they only want it to apply to them, not the people of other nations, not their enemies. So the guy they were praising moments earlier, they're now trying to kill. They try to throw Jesus off a cliff, but scripture says he passes from their midst. Again, this sounds like teleportation. I can't explain it. Around this time, Jesus moves to Capernaum, which is about a two-day walk from Nazareth. I'd want to get out of there too if I were him. Plus, Capernaum is gorgeous. It's on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and it's one of the most important cities in the area at that time. And it's important to note that this is one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse areas of Israel in this day, which seems intentional given the mission Jesus is on. We'll talk more about that in the days ahead. Jesus already knows some people from Capernaum, like Simon Peter. In fact, today we recount the story of when he first called Simon Peter and some of the other guys to follow him as disciples. It happens while they're fishing by the Lake of Gennesaret, which is another name for the Sea of Galilee. This is one of the confusing things about Scripture. There are so many names for the same thing. So I'll try to clarify when I think it might be helpful. By the way, this is the same instance we read about yesterday, where Jesus officially calls Peter, Andrew, James and John to be his disciples. I love how it all goes down. These professional fishermen are failing miserably at their job. Then Jesus walks up like tech support and says, have you tried unplugging it, then plugging it back in again? And they're like, okay, sure. But it works. They catch so many fish, the nets are breaking and the boats are sinking. And at that point, when he invites them to follow him, they jump at the opportunity. They know there's something special about this man.