Luke 4

I have to confess that part of my mind
was not looking forward to reading Luke
because
I've already finished two similar gospels
and I would rather try something different
instead of reading the same story again.

but ya know,
the third time around I notice different things
and I think of different things
and I'm surprised how this story still captivates me.

I haven't written in awhile, even though I read this chapter
for the first time about a month ago.
I wanted to record my first impressions through the New Testament
so I'm reluctant to skip a chapter and move on without writing
something....
but this is what happened:
Every time I got set to write I would re-read the chapter again
and then something would come up to distract me,
and so far I've read this chapter about 7 times!

so now that I am actually writing something
I can't tell if this is a particularly powerful chapter,
or if it's the fact that I've read this over and over now,
but it seems like there is a LOT here to think about.

Luk 4:1
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan
and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness
Luk 4:2
forty days, being tempted by the Devil.

My mental picture of Jesus being tempted by the devil
is almost surreal.

I don't know how well I can explain this,
but it is my personal belief that sin is:
"whatever I do that separates me from my relationship with God".

I can use my free will to follow the example of Christ,
or I can choose not to.
and the choices I make are what defines our relationship.
He is always there,
I am only sometimes there.
Being conscious of both times of joy and times of selfish isolation
leads me to the conclusion
that it is my own will that makes or breaks my life along the way.

In other words I generally assume it is He and Me and no one else!

Now that I have read this account
in the third gospel
for the seventh time,
it dawns on me that this chapter is saying
it is NOT just a question of He and Me!
There is a third entity,
and intelligent entity determined to trip me up!

This might sound silly as you read it,
after all, I've heard of evil and satan and the devil all my life.
but maybe I've just never really believed it.
Really.
I don't think I have ever REALLY believed there is an actual
somebody something someone
or even some group of entities out there
plotting against me,
trying to insinuate anything and everything between me and God

Who ordered that?

I guess I have seen the devil as a
pathetic prankster type of kid's caricature,
or as a lame cop-out excuse
that people use when they turn away.
"The devil made me do it."
Not as an adversary worthy of serious attention and caution.

My first impulse is to drop what I'm doing and go study
every reference I can find to "devil" and "satan".

But the next thing that pops into my mind is something
a teacher (Chuck Missler) once said;
"Do you know how they teach bank employees
how to spot counterfeit bills?"
By teaching them about the real thing!
They study authentic money.
When they are intimately familiar with the real thing,
they are more likely to spot a fake.

So I suppose I should remain here,
with the focus of my mind towards God,
continuing to seek the truth
instead of being lured away
in search of the great deceiver

Luk 4:13
And when the Devil had ended every temptation,
he departed from Him for a time.

now this seems like a very interesting statement!

I have other translations that say
"departed from Him until an opportune time."
"departed from him for a season. "
"he left him until another time. "
"departed from him till a convenient season."

an opportune time? a convenient season?
What could be more opportune or convenient
than 40 days of hunger and fatigue and isolation?
Maybe death?
I can't remember any stories, does he really come back again?

Don't tell me, I'll get there.

-=-=-


After his time in the desert,
Jesus began teaching in the synagogues,
and when he was given the scroll of Esaias in Nazareth
he read:

Luk 4:18
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor;
he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

And he said to them,
"Today this scripture has been fulfilled."

Wow!
That is a major accomplishment, dontcha think?

I went and looked this up,
and I see one interesting difference...

Isa 61:1
The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is on Me;
because Jehovah has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
Isa 61:2
to preach the acceptable year of Jehovah
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;

Did you notice that when he was reading in Nazareth
he skipped part of it?
He stopped before he got to the end?

That suggests two things to me
1. He was being very specific about what was being fulfilled
2. There is something else that is yet to be fulfilled.

I predict that the next time he comes around
he will be saying:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
he hath sent me to proclaim the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;

Ok, so let's look at what he said he did...

proclaimed the gospel to the poor
healed the brokenhearted
proclaimed deliverence to captives
gave sight to the blind
delivered those who were crushed
proclaimed the year of the Lord.

At first I kind of let this pass by my attention because
I'm not poor or brokenhearted or a captive or blind or crushed.
But hey,
wait a minute....
let me revisit this....
maybe I should think about this a different way....

Didn't he proclaim the gospel to everyone?
Might I be one of the poor?
In fact, YES.
Before I I opened the door to Jesus I WAS poor!
I was lost and didn't even know it.
Yes, I was brokenhearted!
I had the selfish greedy proud kind of heart
that I hope is crushed so I can be delivered.
I WAS a captive to this world,
never having known freedom from it.
And yes, I was pathetically blind.

I don't really have anything else to say about that.

Thank you for coming, Jesus
Thank you
for opening my eyes
for freeing me
for the healing I didn't deserve.

and thank you for showing me
the me in this verse.

and how did the crowd react?

Well, there is a stark contrast in this chapter in that regard;
compare these:

Luk 4:28
They were all filled with wrath in the synagogue,
as they heard these things.
Luk 4:29
They rose up, threw him out of the city,
and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on,
that they might throw him off the cliff.

and

Luk 4:42
When it was day,
he departed and went into an uninhabited place,
and the multitudes looked for him,
and came to him,
and held on to him,
so that he wouldn't go away from them.

sheesh!

The division had already begun.

I hope I would be in that second group, eh?