Luke Chapter 4
Here, one can see a little more time between Jesus' baptism and the temptations. Not a lot, but some.
2026 - This verse:
3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. [Deu 8:3 ESV].
The manna kept Israel from starving. But it wasn't about the manna, it was about the one who provided the manna. It is about trusting not the bread but the one who provides the bread. Satan was appealing to the flesh, to the nearly starved condition that Jesus as a man was in at this time. Satan wants Jesus to step outside the trials, tribulations, and temptations of the physical body and do a miracle to save himself. But Jesus instead leaves his hunger in God's hands, knowing it is not about immediate need, but about faithfulness in the face of any trial.
There are a couple of additional things here about the temptations. First, there is this verse:
6 and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. [Luk 4:6 ESV]
Satan was in charge - or claimed he was in charge - of the goings on of planet earth. He claimed to be able to deliver these kingdoms and all this power. Yet we know that God holds the strings that control kings. Satan is the accuser, and he can do things, but for him to claim ownership of the kingdoms and authority over them...wasn't that a lie? No MSB note about that.
(Later...7/1/20...maybe Satan did have a lot more power before Jesus' perfect life, death, and triumphant resurrection, after which all things were given into Christ's hands. Perhaps THIS is why the activity and power of demons is so very much more limited in our time than it was back then. Maybe that's why we don't see people every day that are possessed. Maybe Jesus stops them, or maybe that is now off limits.)
2026 - This verse:
8 And Jesus answered him, "It is written, "'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'" [Luk 4:8 ESV]. So Jesus does not say "These are not yours to give away, and they will be mine after the resurrection". He does not argue with Satan about ownership. Jesus answers as a man, not as God. As a man, Jesus wouldn't know what was coming. But Jesus did know that the Law prohibited worshiping anyone besides God. That was the bigger issue, superseding any need for discussion about who owned what or about authority.
2020-The Pinnacle of the temple, and being dared to "throw himself down", was a temptation to Jesus to prove he was really the Son of God. Satan was saying "You're just a man, subject to all the foibles and fragility of men. But you claim to be God. Show me, by throwing yourself down." He was trying to get Jesus' pride involved. He wants Jesus to say "Watch this". That is how this temptation is a temptation to "the pride of life". The lust of the eyes was all the kingdoms, the riches, the "I can have all I see" temptation. And the lust of the flesh included plain old simple hunger. If our longing for a piece of bread gets between us and our God, then it is the flesh that is in the way. Lust of the flesh isn't just about sex, there is a whole continuum of fleshly things that can pull us away. What if we have cancer and have to get treatments of various kinds such that we feel like we'd be better off dead. Wanting to die in such a case is the lust of the flesh.
2021 - 12 And Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" [Luk 4:12 ESV]
I now associate this passage about not tempting God with Covid 19. If there's a deadly disease out there, and you're told to stay home and wear a mask, isn't it tempting God to go into public places without one? How is that not tempting God? Where in the NT did the newly formed churches take fried chicken lunches out to the local leper colony, or invite the lepers to attend their church? That would be tempting God. I believe the key is the calling. If God calls you to attend to the lepers, then he will protect you while you do His work, or he will use your death from leprosy to show that doing God's will is more important than life itself. But if you are not called for such a mission, you're going to get leprosy and die because of your own arrogance, and there will be no credit from God for that.
Possible FB post.
2026 - Vs 12 is about Israel at the waters where Moses struck the rock. Mara? No...Meribah? Something like that. It was a huge deal because Israel was "blackmailing" God, saying if he didn't give them water they just "Fine, we'll go back to Egypt". It outraged Moses against them. Moses knew God could start over with stones, he didn't need Israel. It was the sin that kept Moses and Aaron out of Canaan. It is a very big sin. It is about arrogance toward God. So instead of "proving" to Satan that he was not just a man, but was also God, and was also the prophesied Messiah, Jesus, as a man, refused to repeat the sin of Israel.
Second, there is this:
13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. [Luk 4:13 ESV]
So Satan has not, after all, left Jesus alone for good, but has moved away to observe and plot and plan another attempt to thwart the purpose of the incarnation. Which is to snatch those who will be saved from Satan's power.
2022 - Isn't it interesting that Satan quotes scripture in vss 10 and 11, after the first two temptations fail. He tries twisting the word itself into a different interpretation.
Luke also puts the beginning of Jesus' ministry just after the temptation, but his first specific account is of Jesus' rejection at Nazareth. Jesus reads Isa 61:1, a Messianic prophecy. It lists things the Messiah will do: Proclaim good news to the poor, give sight to the blind, free the oppressed, and proclaim the year of the Lords favor. Jesus is doing all these things. (2022 - Isn't this the same prophecy Jesus sends to John in prison when his followers come and ask?) The connection - his meaning - would have been clear as crystal to those present. And if it wasn't, Jesus makes it clear by saying "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing".
They are speaking well of him, and then they note that this is Joseph's son. Perhaps this was their denial that he is the Messiah. He couldn't have been, he was only Joseph's son. Then Jesus suggests that they are probably thinking that he should do the miracles there in Nazareth that he has done elsewhere. But Jesus points out that they don't believe who he is - do not accept him as Messiah but only want the miracles without the belief - and Jesus lets them know that it is not a prophet's hometown that necessarily benefits. In fact, hometowns reject their own. Jesus talks of Elijah and Elisha, who took care of only one widow, and who healed only one leper - neither of whom was a Jew! (2021 - Likely because Elijah and Elisha were in the north, and they were worshiping the two calves and to a very great extent Baal and Moloch and Chemosh and those guys. Israel at that time was disbelieving, and because of it, no miracles were done for her own. In Nazareth, the weight of physical evidence outweighed the spiritual evidence. They'd known Jesus since he was a pup. He could not be the Messiah, he was just too common. Why, most in Nazareth came from better folks than Jesus.) They get really mad, and try to force Jesus off a cliff to his death. But he "passes through them".
2022 - This verse:
"23 And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, '"Physician, heal yourself." What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.'"" [Luk 4:23 ESV]. First, it would be good to find out the basis of this proverb. What is the story behind it? Perhaps that is the key to understanding why they were so incensed? But in a way, isn't this also what they said to him later, as he hung dying on the cross? You healed everyone else, so let's see you get yourself down off the cross. Let the healer heal himself. Why would they say this to him in Nazareth, though? What were they saying he needed to heal, his heritage? His conception out of wedlock? Is that what he needed to heal? This quote is right after they say "Isn't this Joseph's son?"
2022 Later,
Heal thyself meant "take care of your own house before you go and heal Capernaum. And Jesus answers that they don't deserve it. That's why they got so mad.
2020-MSB says that this story is part of Luke's repeated teaching that Jesus came also for the Gentiles. He shows here that such is not new, that in fact even in ancient times, when Israel was unbelieving in general, the miracles were done for Gentiles. He is telling Nazareth that they are like Israel in those old dark days before Israel even had a king. But...why should this make them so angry. It says they were "filled with wrath". These words about Elijah and Elisha incensed them. Provoked them. Why was it such an insult? They were, after all, far up in the north, where the 10 tribes used to be. These of Nazareth were likely imported to the region by Assyria back in the day. It is unlikely that they could trace their history back to Jacob. And Jesus knew them all by name, as he had grown up there. Maybe ....ahhhh....They had said "Isn't this Joseph's son?", perhaps reminding Jesus that they knew he was born out of wedlock, just a bastard child come home, but they knew who he was. They knew a bastard child was all he was. So he turns the tables. He says they are not "Jews" either, but are also putting on airs. They are Assyrians with no history, no right to be on the promised land, and no idea who their parents are either!!! YES! That is why this made them so mad! Later - maybe Jesus was also saying that in this place where you live, even back in the days of Elisha and Elijah, mostly Gentiles lived in this part of the world, and your prophets came here to escape the Jews. Maybe you guys are descended not from the very few Jews that lived here, but from those Gentiles? Or even more, perhaps some conquering Assyrian had his way with your ancestral grandmother, and instead of being Jewish, you are in fact descended from an Assyrian warrior? Yes. There could have been a lot of implications in what Jesus said.
2021 - And...I could be totally off track with this. Still, if this is wrong, then why did Jesus' comments so incense them? They took it personally enough to try and kill the man whom they knew to be a miracle worker, and who'd just claimed in their presence to be the Messiah. Maybe it was just that. Like the High Priest later, they decided he could not be the Messiah because they knew who his father was. Was there some sort of expectation that the Messiah would just appear, rather than be born? And here was one whose birth was questionable in the first place, claiming to be Messiah. Perhaps they wanted to kill him for this blasphemy in their eyes.
Then Jesus goes to teach at the synagogue in Capernaum, and we have the story of the demon he casts out.
2022 - Note this verse: "33 And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice," [Luk 4:33 ESV]. Sometimes, demons go to church. It isn't like they "can't" be in a sacred place. There can be a demon right beside you on a Sunday morning. Listen carefully to whomever you talk with. Think about the implications of what they say.
The narrative moves on as it did in Mark. Simon's mother in law healed. 2020 - The verse is phrased this way:
39 And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them. [Luk 4:39 ESV] He rebuked the fever, as if the fever was caused by a demon. He had just rebuked a demon in vs. 35. Now he rebukes a fever. Sickness caused by demons? The word "rebuke" is the same in both verses. Strong's G2008. I found it interesting is all. Then in the very next verse, he heals by laying his hands on those brought to him. No more rebuking? This whole paragraph is interesting, as "demons also came out of many". So the diseases....maybe a lot of them were caused by demons.
It says that demons came out of many. Why so many demons then and none now? Are we just too "smart" to diagnose anyone as demon possessed these days, or did Jesus' resurrection put a real damper on their presence in this world?