I'm terrible at fasting. When the hunger pangs set in, I can always find a way to rationalize giving up: I'm not getting anything out of this ... I'd actually be able to pray and serve God better if my stomach weren't growling ... and besides, fasting isn't all that important, anyway. But Jesus fasts for 40 days in the wilderness before beginning his public ministry (4:1-13), and if fasting is good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for me. Indeed, it must be a very important spiritual discipline if Jesus does it at this crucial point in his earthly life, and if the devil is so eager to tempt him out of it.
Of course, I usually fall for the devil's first temptation, to forget that "Man shall not live by bread alone" (4:4) but rather, as the Gospel of Matthew adds, "by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Mt 4:4).
But luckily for us, Jesus does not succumb to the devil's temptation to abandon his path of suffering and self-sacrifice for one of earthly comfort, power, and glory (see 4:3, 4:5-7, and 4:9-11).
Returning to civilization "in the power of the Spirit" (4:14), Jesus proclaims that the words of the prophet Isaiah refer to him: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor" (4:18-19).
The church, the body of Christ, is called to carry on his mission of bringing good news to the materially and spiritually poor. And we can only do that if we are strengthened, through God's grace and spiritual discipline, to resist the temptations of the enemy.
(Image: Ary Scheffer, "The Temptation of Christ," 1854)
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Sorry for not having commented before, I've been enjoying following along. Keep it up, Kev! (And thanks for the motivation to read the NT!)
ReplyDeleteYou know what I just realized this time around? Luke says that the devil "had finished every temptation" before he left Jesus alone. Every temptation! Therefore, there were other stories not recounted by Luke!
ReplyDeleteAlthough Luke is the only evangelist to write this, Jesus did after all spend 40 days being tempted. I don't know why it didn't occur to me before that those 40 days could have been a non-stop barrage of temptations! Hebrews 4.15 says that our "high priest," Jesus, "was tempted in all ways as we are, yet was without sin." These three stories may be a representative sample, but they are not necessarily an exhaustive list.
-Chris-