Luke 4:5-13

     This is being posted a day early, due to commitments on Saturday.
      The first temptation Jesus faced was bread – or you could broaden and symbolize that to material advancement. This first temptation isn’t for something dreadful. Everyone needs food. Under normal conditions, Jesus would eat and drink. In fact, he’d be criticized for doing so by people who couldn’t be satisfied that John abstained and that Jesus enjoyed the pleasures of the earth.
     But Jesus knew there is a time and place for everything. He was tempted to use his unique identity for personal enrichment and declined the temptation.
     The second temptation is for power. Worship evil or simply worship power, neither one merits the devotion. Jesus understood that only God deserves that central place and service in our lives.
      Finally, Jesus is offered the temptation to throw himself from the temple for God to rescue. Wouldn’t that have created a stir? Hollywood producers would be panting at the opportunity to get that kind of notoriety.
      It would have been tempting to think of the good that could come of such an event. Surely people would really pay attention to someone who could pull off such a feat. Yet, Jesus declined, saying it was wrong to “test” God.
     Throughout his ministry, Jesus would try to minimize the spectacular. He asked people who were healed to refrain from sharing the news. And it’s undeniable that miracles didn’t seem to be producers of faith. If they had been, then the disciples would have been paragons in that arena and they certainly weren’t. The efforts of Jesus were bent toward changing hearts.
     This story would also seem to indicate that acts of faith are not the same as engaging in reckless behavior in order to prove either human faith or God’s power. The student who fails to study for a test and then asks God to take care of it could be one example. What about medical care? What of risk taking even for good causes? At what point is it faith or bravado? Only the individual can sort that out on his or her own faith journey.
     In summary, it could be said that the temptations Jesus faced were three that are common to many humans: material advancement, power and fame. Jesus didn’t say these were necessarily wrong in themselves. But he was clear that they could not be central priorities, nor could they be acceptable if pursued in the wrong manner or for the wrong reasons.
     The thirteenth verse says that Satan departed to wait for a more opportune time. In essence then, we hear that temptation was not over. Few temptations are dealt with and never faced again. While we hear little about the further temptation that Jesus faced, it is a reminder of his humanity.  He was like us and we can become more like him - humanity not distorted by wrong choices.  As Holy Week begins in a few days, it seems especially important to remember his humanity, that he suffered and died on our behalf.


Where in your life do you experience the types of temptations that Jesus faced?
Can you apply some of the wisdom of Jesus to those temptations?
How easy would it be to rationalize giving into temptation?
How do you recognize the rationalizations?

Luke 4:1-4

     Here we begin looking at the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.
     First of all we hear that he returned from the Jordan, full of the Holy Spirit.
     For most of us there is often a period of high feelings after a spiritual experience.  Of course, emotion and spirituality are not necesarilly the same thing.  There have been a few evangelists who mistakenly attempted to create an emotional high and thought of it as spirituality and there is sometimes even an implication that this euphoria is a necessary part of faith. The difficulty with this is that it is unrealistic. Human emotions vary for many reasons, some of them are biological. For the same reason, depression, though regarded by some as a failure of faith, is generally unrelated to the strength of our belief. Thus, although the mountain-top spiritual experiences are wonderful, it is rare for the euphoria that comes with it to last. If an individual equates that with faith, when he/she comes down off their “high,” they may assume that their faith has somehow failed. (Take a look at Elijah in the wilderness to see an example of someone whose faith was great, but whose emotions pitched from high to low.) 
     It is interesting that Jesus, coming from his spiritual experience at baptism was immediately led into a much more difficult time in the wilderness.  We don’t know exactly what the emotions of Jesus were after his baptism. The comment that he was full of the Holy Spirit seems to reflect what would have been a deeply moving mountain-top experience with all of the high emotions that can come with it. But then the spirit leads him immediately into the wilderness for a time of fasting. It is as if he was not allowed to bask in the joy of the experience, but had to face the realities of life and humanity.
      The scriptures make it clear that Jesus was as fully human as the rest of us, including the experience of temptation to be less than we should. Here, Jesus is hungry from a prolonged time of fasting, and he’s offered food. In effect, he’s told, if you’re really God’s beloved, if you’re really what you heard God say when you were baptized, then it must come with special powers. Use those powers to turn stones into bread.
     The temptation almost sounds innocuous. After all, there’s nothing wrong or sinful about food. As Luke relates the story, it was his own choice to fast, so eating wouldn’t be wrong. Yet Jesus, weak and hungry, his human body craving the physical sustenance of life, recognized something. The real temptation wasn’t simply to eat or not to eat. It was to use his power, his unique identity, for himself. It would be to choose the route of earthly kings who thought much of themselves and less of the needs of their people.
     In the years past, the Israelites had had no king, but they wanted one. They wanted a traditional king to rule their country just like all other kingdoms around them. The prophet warned them that they’d be sorry, but they insisted anyway. They received a king and were indeed sorry. Even David and Solomon, the kings of golden memory, taxed hard and impressed people into service, and much of it was to support their own pleasures and ambitions.
      Now, here is Jesus, who is reminded of his power and the ability to use it for his own benefit. His response? That it is written that we do not live by bread alone. His “no” was more subtle and thoughtful than some human rejections of temptation. His answer was grounded in the wisdom of tradition and the thoughts shared and written by others. This might be good advice for many of us in facing temptation—not to depend solely upon how we feel or what we want in the present moment, but to seek the wider wisdom available to us.
     Since this was a private experience, and yet is known to us, Jesus must have shared the story with his disciples.


In what way was the temptation of Jesus symbolic of other kinds of human temptations?
What forms of wisdom and support can you seek in the face of temptation?
Why do you think Jesus shared the story of his wilderness experience with his disciples?
How does knowing that Jesus was tempted also help you?

Luke 3:22-37

     We hear that when all the other people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized also. Luke slips the comment in as though it was a subject of no great matter, yet follows with this wonderful story of the Holy Spirit descending like a dove and a voice from heaven commending Jesus as God’s son. Was it something everyone heard? Was it a personal vision Jesus later shared with his friends and family? It is often assumed it must have been witnessed by many, but it is also questioned whether, if many had experienced it, there would have been more “buzz” about it.
     Spiritual experiences are hard to explain, to quantify or objectify. Many people never try to describe theirs, because no matter how genuine and life-changing it might be, it sounds strange when described with limited human words. We are familiar with the story of Jesus and it is described so simply it makes sense to us, whether or not it was experienced by Jesus or by many.
     Especially notable in the story of the baptism is the comment that he was praying. Prayer seems to have been natural and meaningful to Jesus, and so obviously helpful to him, that his disciples would note it and ask him to teach them to pray also.
     Luke goes on to tell us that Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his work. John tells of an occasion when people challenge Jesus saying, “you are not yet fifty years old…” Jesus’ age was approximate. What is clear that he began his work as a mature adult, not as a youth.What was he doing until then? Jesus may have been taking care of his younger siblings. Because Joseph isn’t mentioned, it can be presumed that he had passed away by this time. If there were younger children in the home, Jesus as the eldest son, would have taken on that responsibility for their livelihood. We note that some traditions hold that the siblings of Jesus mentioned in the bible were step-brothers and sisters, from an earlier marriage of Joseph. This is never explained, only that there was a family life and his siblings wanted him back home with them, which seems to indicate they had lived together in strong family relationship.       
     The details of the immediate family of Jesus are probably of greater interest to us than to the writers of the gospels, who were concerned primarily with telling the good news. Luke and Matthew both give genealogies of Jesus. Both trace through Joseph, although giving different lists. Some people assume that Matthew as tracing Joseph’s ancestry, as the legal father of Jesus, and that Luke was actually tracing Mary’s. It matters little whether the lists agree or whether anyone believes that genealogy can actually be traced to Adam. Matthew’s emphasis was apparently to show Jesus’ identity as an Israelite, although it is often noted that he included non-Israelites such as Rehab and Ruth in the list (notable also that they were women). Luke, by tracing it back to Adam seems to be stressing the humanity of Jesus in common with all other humans.

Have you experienced a spiritual moment?
Have you ever tried to describe it?

Luke 3:21

     Luke reports little about the baptism of Jesus. He doesn’t say specifically that John was the one who baptized him, but simply indicates that when the others were being baptized, Jesus was also. Mark and Matthew tell the story more fully, although Matthew, in particular, may have been especially uncomfortable with the fact that Jesus was baptized by John (instead of the other way around).
     Since there was some rivalry between the followers of John and those following Jesus, the fact that Jesus went to John for baptism would be puzzling. It would also be difficult to explain. Matthew adds the detail that John felt himself unworthy to do the baptism, but the response Jesus made seems somewhat cryptic. He told John to do it because it was proper to fulfill all righteousness. Neither Luke nor John report this part of the story (and the Gospel of John doesn’t tell anything about the baptism).
     It is important to note that the story of the baptism was told by all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke.) Aside from the content of the story, the reporting of it may tell us certain things. One is the fact that they were honest. Although the story may have been hard for them to understand, they still recorded it. This might indicate that it was known to others and the followers of John may have been telling it as part of the rivalry referred to in last week’s study. If so, it would have been tempting to the Gospel writers to leave it out, but they didn’t. It seems possible that Jesus himself might have spoken of the baptism and his followers knew it had been important to him.
     If Jesus did speak of his baptism, the gospel writers didn’t tell us what he thought about it. The story of God speaking of Jesus as beloved Son has given rise to various theologies. One suggests that Jesus became aware of his special calling at that time. Another is the ‘adoption’ theology, which says Jesus became God’s chosen one at that time. Luke, however, sees Jesus’ identity from the time of his conception and birth, so it seems unlikely that he was presenting such a thought.
     One of the things people have puzzled over concerning the baptism is that John was preaching a baptism of repentance. We have generally believed that Jesus would have had nothing to repent. The scriptures say he was tempted in every way as the rest of us are, but without sin. At the same time, we affirm the fact that he was as human as any one of us, with the same fears, pain, hopes, dreams and longings as we might have. He expressed grief, anger, friendship, even a sense of abandonment by God when he was upon the cross.
     In each of us, our “humanness” also meets the soul which was created in God’s image. How might this be understood in the case of the baptism of Jesus?
     If Jesus was without sin, what might have his baptism meant to him? Could it have been a ritual for him as he embarked upon a new path?
     When you consider your own baptism, either by memory or the knowledge of it as a child, what does it mean to you to know that Jesus also was baptized?



    

Luke 3:15-20

     John excited the crowds. There was a wind of something important in the air. Between that and the yearning for something to change in their circumstances, a natural question to occur to these first century Israelites was whether John might be the Messiah.
      Christians refer to the Messiah as a title for Jesus (and enjoy a tremendous piece of music by that title), but it may not have deep significance for everyone. It was a powerful expectation of Judaism. Once the church became primarily Gentile in population, the Christians had to learn and adopt the concept.
     There is no way to determine a systematic theory/theology of the Messiah from the various sources in the scriptures and there is extensive commentary on it. A few brief comments:  The Messiah was to be one appointed king by God, possibly at the end of time. It literally means the “anointed one.” The kings of Israel were also known as anointed ones.  The Messiah was frequently seen as a conqueror who will destroy hostile world powers. Some did not seem to expect the Messiah at the end of time, but to address current problems (such as, perhaps, the Roman Empire). There was some thought that the messianic era was delayed by sin and impenitence, while other thinkers said it had no effect.
     One idea that was not prominent (some scholars say it was completely absent) is the concept of the Messiah as one who suffers and dies for all humanity. This was the Christian understanding of Jesus as Messiah or Christ. (Christ means the anointed one.) Although Christians have not adopted the specific ideas of ancient Judaism regarding the Messiah, followers of Jesus have seen in him as the fulfillment of God’s promise.
     Given the varieties of ideas about what the Messiah was to be and when the Messiah was to come, it may not be surprising that first century Israelites would ask whether John or other individuals might possibly be the anointed one of God. Luke does not record John’s answer to them as a simple yes or no. Instead, John said that he baptized with water, the more powerful one who is coming will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. John said further that he would not be worthy to untie the sandal of the one who was coming. The images he uses for the Messiah separating good from bad reflect traditional ideas of the Messiah.
     Scholars point out that the followers of John were powerful and even competitive with the followers of Jesus for many years. 
     For all the fact that John was rebuking people right and left, thundering about repentance and issuing exhortations, his message is described by Luke as a proclamation of good news. Herod, the tetrarch, however, did not receive it as good. John disapproved of his marriage* and other unsavory activities. So Herod locked him up in prison.

     *Herod the Great's son, Aristobulus married Bernice, a cousin. One of their children was Herodias. Herodias was first married to her half uncle. They had a daughter named Salome who later married a great uncle. Herod Antipas was the half-brother of the husband of Herodias. Herod Antipas became smitten with his brother's wife and wooed her away to marry him. But first he divorced his wife to make room for Herodias.

     John was an important figure in his world. His arrest alone tells us this. Many people probably muttered and criticized Herod for his marriage, but John was too prominent for Herod to ignore. Mark says that people from all over the Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were coming out to be baptized by him. The drama of the way he lived and dressed and shouted his message certainly had some draw, Perhaps some came first to see the show, but the clarity of his call to repentance must have changed lives.


What made the words of John “good news”?

Is the concept of “Messiah” meaningful to you, and if so, how?


What words or images of Jesus mean the most to you?


What words, concepts or images of Jesus might be most powerful to explain the good news of his coming to the world of today?