I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent

 

 Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon's house.  But Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her.  So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her.  And immediately she arose and served them. 

When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.  And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of God!"  And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.  

Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place.  And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; but He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent."  And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

 

- Luke 4:38–44 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths.  And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.  Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon.  And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Let us alone!  What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?  Did You come to destroy us?  I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!"  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"  And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.  Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, "What a word this is!  For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out."  And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region. 

 

  Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon's house.  But Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her.  My study Bible comments that this passage and 1 Corinthians 9:5 (in which Peter is called Cephas) show us that Peter was married. 

 

 So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her.  And immediately she arose and served them.   In St. Matthew's version of this story, Jesus heals St. Peter's mother-in-law with a touch (Matthew 8:14-15).  But here in St. Luke's Gospel, the emphasis is on Jesus' rebuke of the fever (both things could no doubt be true).   My study Bible quotes from the commentary of St. Cyril of Alexandria:  "That which was rebuked was some living thing unable to withstand the influence of Him who rebuked it, for it is not reasonable to rebuke a thing without life and unconscious of the rebuke.  Nor is it astonishing for there to exist certain powers that inflict harm on the human body."

 

 When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.  And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of God!"  And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.   Both this passage in Luke and the passage that follows the healing of St. Peter's mother-in-law in Matthew report this activity in that same evening.  That is, both report the casting out of demons connected to healing from disease (see also Matthew 8:16-17).  We can see how such activity is linked to the "rebuking" of a fever.

 

Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place.  And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; but He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent."  And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.    My study Bible comments that Christ's primary mission was to preach the kingdom.  Miracles and healings, it says, testify both to the truth of the message and to the identity of the Teacher (see Luke 5:24).  This same pattern holds true in the Church (Acts 4:29-30).  

 

So far in Luke's Gospel, there has been established a pattern underlying Christ's mission and ministry that spells out a Kingdom come to be declared even in the midst of one under a "prince" making war against that Kingdom.  If we think about the Spirit immediately leading Christ to the desert to fast and be tempted by the devil, we see such a confrontation taking place.  This kind of battle isn't a kind of warfare we understand through worldly life.  Spiritual battle is essentially what Jesus did; it is to resist temptation and hold fast to faith in and obedience to God.   In today's reading, Christ's healing activities are connected to this world as battleground, where He has come to overthrow the "prince of this world" or "god of this age," the devil (John 14:30; 2 Corinthians 4:4).  Each episode or interaction we've read about so far emphasizes this reality as underlying Christ's ministry, whether He is facing temptation, or preaching with His authority, or healing sickness, or casting out demons.  Even when the demons speak up, He silences them, another action of opposition to their "leader," and an act of authority belonging to His Kingdom.  In today's reading, He replies to the people's request that He stay with them by declaring this mission, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent."   Here is here bringing the kingdom of God closer to people, Christ Incarnate.  He's bringing the Kingdom into the world, preaching its gospel.  People do not yet know nor understand the Incarnation, but the demons know who He is, and He is already challenging the gates of Hades by bringing His ministry into the world.  His very presence is like a battle cry; resisting the temptations of the devil the great weapon, healing diseases and casting out demons a declaration of a greater power here than the prince of this world (Luke 11:20-22).  When we pray to Christ, when we resist temptation, when we follow His commands, and live as He asks, then we also join in this battle, and find ourselves in the midst of a battleground that not everyone can see.  But He calls us to this place, and He asks us to join Him under the sign of His Cross.

 

 

And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority

 

 Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths.  And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.  

 

Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon.  And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Let us alone!  What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?  Did You come to destroy us?  I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!"  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"  And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.  Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, "What a word this is!  For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out."  And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region. 

 

- Luke 4:31–37 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee (following His temptation by the devil as He fasted for forty days), and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.  And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.  So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:   "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."   Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.  And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?"  He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'"  Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.  

 

 Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths.  My study Bible cites the commentary of St. Ambrose of Milan, who says that Christ begins preaching and healing on the Sabbaths in order to show that "the new creation began where the old creation ceased."

 

 And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.  The prophets of old would teach in the third person ("the Lord says"), and teachers such as the scribes of Christ's own time would teach by quoting famous rabbis.  But Jesus' teaching was expressed in the first person ("I say to you").  My study Bible explains that this is what is meant by the statement that Christ's word was with authority, and therefore why this type of teaching astonished the people.  See, for example, Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount.

 

Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon.  And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Let us alone!  What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?  Did You come to destroy us?  I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!"  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"  And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.  Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, "What a word this is!  For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out."  And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.  My study Bible reminds us that the prophet Isaiah foresaw the Lord's refusal to fully disclose His identity as Messiah (Isaiah 42:1-4).  Therefore, Jesus rebukes this unclean demon, crying out with a loud voice, to be quiet!  The following reasons are given for this desire for secrecy.  In the first place, Jesus will contend with the growing hostility of the Jewish leaders (He has already experienced the wrath of the neighbors in His hometown of Nazareth in yesterday's reading, above).  Second, there is the people's misunderstanding and expectations of the awaited Messiah as an earthly, political leader.  Finally, Christ desires to evoke genuine faith, which is not based solely on marvelous signs.  My study Bible concludes that Isaiah's reference to the suffering Servant therefore refers first to Christ, and by extension all who follow Him.

 

Christ's humility takes front and center stage in today's reading.  This statement might seem paradoxical, given that we've just read, in fact, that Jesus teaches with a personal authority that is so rare as to be astonishing to the people.   But, in fact, if we consider that Christ expresses Himself clearly and honestly, but without declaring Himself to be the awaited Messiah, then we begin to understand what humility looks like, and why He is the example we have.  In fact, this humility is precisely what is notable about Isaiah's depiction of the Christ as a suffering Servant.  Through Jesus' example, we learn what it is to tell the truth, being obedient to God, but without ostentation or grandiosity, incurring the astonishment -- and resentment -- of others.  In fact, this propensity of Jesus to act and to speak with authority will earn Him the opposition of the religious establishment, and lead to His persecution.  It will be a sticking point in the questioning of the religious authorities as to why and how Jesus conducts His ministry.  But Jesus manages to do something very important:  He acts and lives by His true identity, but never declares this as a proposition to others.  It is His life that reveals who He is, something that can be seen only with the eyes of faith.  This teaches us a great deal about what is true humility.  Humility is not debasing ourselves nor degrading ourselves in some manner so as to please others, or to grovel.  Humility is basically an absolute truth; we are humble before God is who we are, including our flaws, and seeking to do the things that please God in all our choices.  If we think of being fellow servants with Christ -- and servants and disciples of Christ -- then we seek His will in all things, and this is humility.  Just as Christ puts His human will second to the will of God, so we seek to please God and put our own impulses in service to God.  And this is humility and truth, for it is a true expression of the truth of who we are as creatures of God who seek to be children by adoption, to be children of Abraham, in the words of John the Baptist (Luke 3:8).  To live this way is to live with true integrity, for it is an attempt to live transparently in accordance with who we truly are, no more and no less, as those who must acknowledge God and God's guidance as our greatest need and dependency in life.  To live as humble is to remember God, and that God is the ultimate judge of all things, and not ourselves.  To be humble is to know that the discernment of the Holy Spirit, who reminds us of all of Christ's teachings, is what we need to seek at all steps in our lives.  To be humble is to remember that we are time-bound creatures, and so we are born to be always learning, especially from our mistakes.  As those who live bound by time, we live with constant change, and that dynamic of change applies to us as well.  Therefore we must be aware of our constant need for repentance or "change of mind," as the Greek word μετανοια/metanoia literally means.  As Christ's disciples, we will always have new things to learn, and He is our authority.  As His disciples, we are also called upon to forgive and to love, both of which take a great deal of humility, and form a long learning curve.  Let us be "like Him" in all things, as we are able. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me

 

 Then Jesus  returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.  And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.  

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, 

 Because He has anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, 

 To proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." 

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  

 

So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.  And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?"  He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'"  Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.

 

- Luke 4:14–30 

 

On Saturday, we read that Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit [and following His Baptism] returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"  Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."   And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,' and,'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"  And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

 

 Then Jesus  returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.  And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.  Let us note how the Gospel is careful to tell us that all things are done with the power and involvement of the Holy Spirit in Christ's ministry.  This was expressed as a sign "like a dove" at His Baptism, in His being led into the wilderness to be tempted for forty days by the devil (see yesterday's reading, above), and now in this earlier part of His public ministry, in which He returned to Galilee, and taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

 

 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:   "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."   Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  Jesus reads these words from Isaiah 61:1-2.  My study Bible comments that being the eternal Son of God, Christ did not "become" the world's anointed Savior, but He has always been our Savior from before the foundation of the world.  It was Christ speaking through Isaiah who said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me" (Isaiah 61:1).  We are further asked to note that Isaiah does not write, "The Spirit 'has come' upon Me."  When the Spirit of the LORD descended upon Jesus at His at His Baptism (see Luke 3:22), this was a sign which revealed an eternal -- not temporal -- truth to the people.  The acceptable year is the time of the Incarnation -- when the Kingdom of heaven has come to earth (see 2 Corinthians 6:2).

 

So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.  And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?"  He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'"  Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.  My study Bible comments that this double response of marveling and rejection occurs frequently in those who encounter Christ (see Luke 11:14-16; John 9:16).  Christ's being rejected in His own country is a fulfillment of the rejection of the Old Testament prophets such as Elijah and Elisha.   Furthermore, it foreshadows His rejection by the whole Jewish nation at His trial before Pilate (John 19:14-15).  Jesus accepts death according to the Father's will, my study Bible tells us, and not at the will of the nation or the people.  Here, the hour of Christ's Passion has not yet come (see John 8:20).  Jesus' statement that no prophet is accepted in his own country appears in all four Gospels (see also John 4:44; Mark 6:4, Matthew 13:57).

 

Jesus reads from the prophecy of Isaiah: "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me."  And when He finishes reading the passage, He declares to the people of His hometown of Nazareth: "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  It's interesting that so much of Luke's Gospel (particularly the passages we have read so far in the lectionary at this time, beginning especially with Friday's reading of the events of Jesus' Baptism) concerns itself most transparently with the work of the Holy Spirit, active and participating in our world through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.  After all, it is Luke's Gospel that tells us of the Annunciation, and Gabriel the Archangel's announcement to Mary that she will conceive a child.  When she asks, "How can this be?" the angel replies to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35).  In all things concerning Christ, we find the activity and anointing and blessing of the Holy Spirit.  Today's reading is no different, because the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah is also linked to the Spirit, as we read.  Most clearly the Spirit appeared "in bodily form like a dove" at Christ's Baptism, and from there the Holy Spirit drove Christ to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil while He fasted forty days.  The Spirit was also at work in Christ's beginning His ministry in Galilee, and now here He is in His hometown of Nazareth (that is, where He had been brought up), also in Galilee, where His fame has already spread.  But the interesting part of this work of the Holy Spirit is that it doesn't lead automatically to a life and ministry for Jesus that is simply filled with a worldly concept of "success."  While His fame has grown (He has been glorified by all), this doesn't mean that He meets with universal acceptance.  In fact, so far, quite the opposite seems to have happened.  He is first led by the Holy Spirit to be opposed, tested, and tempted by the devil in the wilderness.  And here, while He's come back to the place He was raised with a lot of renown in Galilee already, the people both marvel and become offended.  Where did He get those gracious words?  Then the real work begins, and Jesus tells them the truth, that He can't reproduce the marvelous works they've heard about which have taken place in Capernaum (possibly at the wedding reported by John).  For these things require faith, and they will not be done as proofs, or on demand.  And so comes the opposition and rejection, even outrage on the part of His neighbors at Nazareth.  Who does He think He is, after all?  He reminds them that prophets of the past -- Elijah and Elisha -- were not sent to their own to do great works, but rather to foreigners, and the response of His former neighbors is wrath.  Perhaps the lesson we should take from this is to understand that success on God's terms and success on worldly terms are two entirely different classes of experiences and values.  Do we need to be popular and liked by everyone?  Can we stay "friends" with all those who are not going to like the truth we embrace in our faith?  Perhaps even fellow Christians, members of our families, and those of our community reject truths we are led to embrace in our faith.  Particularly difficult is when political tests (of any type) come to apply as checks to our faith.   But a life spent pleasing God is just not going to be the same life that seeks instead the "praise of men," and we should be prepared for rejection, even outrage, because this is what accompanied our Lord.  As His disciples, we are told, "Love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34-35).  Learning to follow Christ in that love is perhaps the greatest undertaking of our faith, for we are asked to love even when we can't "like" something.  To my way of thinking, this is not a question of doing things others want or desire from us, but rather finding out how love is seeking the good for others, and learning discernment in what will and will not have such desired effects -- including even where we cannot intervene or interact.  These are difficult things to learn, but that is what we are called to learn, how to love.  We can call on the mystery of the Holy Spirit to always be at work in our lives, but remember that worldly expectations are not always the answer, nor are they the purpose of the call of God.

 

 

 

 

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil

 

 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"

 

Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."   And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"

 

Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:   

'He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you,'

"and,

'In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"   

Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

 

- Luke 4:1–13 

 

Yesterday we read that, as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John the Baptist, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."  And with many other exhortations he preached to the people.  But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.  When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.  And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."

 

  Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  My study Bible comments that this exodus of Jesus into the wilderness after His baptism has a dual symbolism.  First, this fulfills the Old Testament type in which Israel journeyed in the wilderness for forty years after "baptism" in the Red Sea.  Second, it's a prefiguration of our own journey through the fallen world after baptism as we struggle towards the Kingdom.  

 

And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.   Jesus fasted to overcome temptation, my study Bible says, giving us an example of our own power and limitations in the face of temptation.  The hunger of His flesh doesn't control Him; He controls His flesh.  This forty-day fast is the foundation of the practice of the Christian Lenten fast.  Christ's forty day fast reverses Israel's falling into temptation in the wilderness.  My study Bible comments that the Israelites were tested forty years in the wilderness, and proved disobedient and disloyal.  God humbled them by first letting them go hungry and then feeding them with manna to help them learn dependence upon God (Deuteronomy 8:2-5). Christ is tested but does not sin; His answers to Satan are all from Deuteronomy, and they all call for loyalty to God.

 

 And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"  Note how the devil is challenging Christ's relationship to God the Father.  If You are the Son of God is playing upon the Father's declaration at Jesus' Baptism (see yesterday's reading, above, in which the Father's voice says to Christ, "You are My beloved Son").  The devil wants to break Christ's relationship to the Father, so that He will detach Himself from the Father's will.  In Christ's divine nature, my study Bible explains, He shares one will with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  As Christ declared, He can do nothing of Himself apart from the Father (John 5:30).  But in Christ's humanity, He possesses free will, and therefore must at all times choose to remain obedient to the divine will of the Father.  Jesus responds by quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3.  Each time Jesus rebukes the devil, it's with the truth and power of Scripture.  My study Bible notes that this teaches us faithful to become immersed in Scripture in order to resist and to drive away every temptation (see Psalm 119:11).  My study Bible further asks us to note that by rejecting this temptation, Jesus rejects an earthly kingdom and shows us not to pursue earthly comfort in the "food which perishes" (John 6:27).  While Adam disregarded the divine word in order to pursue the passions of the body (Genesis 3), Christ is the New Adam, who conquers all temptation by the divine word, and gives human nature the power to conquer Satan.

 

 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."   And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  My study Bible comments that God's Kingdom isn't one of earthly power and possessions.  Here the devil tests Jesus by asking Him to choose worldly power over the Kingdom of God.  The devil is the "ruler of this world" (John 12:31), "the god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), because the whole world is in his power (1 John 5:19).  Jesus refuses this road of earthly glory, my study Bible says, which would lead Him away from His suffering and death for the redemption of the world.  See Deuteronomy 6:13; 10:20.

 

 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:   'He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"  As Christ had defeated the devil by the power of the Scriptures in the first two temptations here, Satan tries to use the Scriptures to put god's power of protection to the test (see also 2 Peter 1:19-21).  The devil quotes from Psalm 91:11-12.

 

And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  My study Bible comments that trials and temptations come on their own.  It adds that we should never intentionally expose ourselves to danger to test or to prove God's protection.  To do that is to tempt the LORD.  Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:16.

 

 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.  Regarding an opportune time, see Luke 22:40-46, 23:35; Matthew 16:21-23.

The concept of time is an interesting one, and somehow related to today's reading.  That is, time plays a role in all of our lives because our capacity for repentance -- for growth -- is dependent upon us being time-bound creatures.  But we find in the Gospels that Christ is a master of time.  When it is His time to come to the Cross is determined by no one except Himself, for example.  Turning water into wine seems to have something to do with the capacity to bypass time in some sense, as well.  Christ's use of time is yet another sort of "sign" of His divinity.  But in today's reading, there's another being who also seems to be able to use time in ways that human beings cannot, and that is the devil.  It's quite intriguing that the devil has the capacity to show to Christ "all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time."  This seems to tell us more than one thing about the devil.  First of all the devil could do this in a moment of time, and also that the devil is capable of presenting ideas, even visions, to people.  So, when we speak about temptations of the devil (or possibly other demonic beings), we should remember that we are speaking of beings which were created as angels.  According to at least one Orthodox theologian, these demonic beings are those created as angelic, but what they lack is the Holy Spirit.  Therefore they have some capacities that angelic creatures do, including a great intelligence, but they lack the goodness of creativity that Holy Spirit gives, and the other blessings and gifts of the Spirit, because they are in opposition to Christ.  We also note that today's reading tells us that the devil had the ability even to take Christ to a high mountain, and also to set Him on the pinnacle of the temple.  So, in terms of space, the devil would also seem to have some extraordinary abilities.  But what this seems to imply for us is that Christ paves the way for us human beings to do something truly extraordinary.  As noted above, my study Bible names several things we learn about resisting temptation from Christ's time in the wilderness during these forty days of temptation and fasting.  First, we may seek to become immersed in Scripture in order to resist and to drive away every temptation.  Jesus also teaches us that, as He rejects an earthy kingdom, so we may resist passionate pursuit of "food which perishes."  While Adam disregarded God's word to pursue bodily passions, Christ is the New Adam who gives human nature the power to conquer Satan.  So Christ paves the way for us to be "like Him," to derive help from our Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to gain the capacity through putting on Christ via our own baptism, and to resist the devil.  Note that the devil also acts as trickster, even quoting Scripture to mislead.  But Christ rebukes the devil with appropriate Scripture, and the Spirit is our Helper to give us discernment.  Can one imagine what a comedown it must be for a being created as an angel, with all of these abilities to use to tempt, and yet we far more simple, and time-bound, human beings have the capacity to resist?  This is the great victory of Christ for us, and our liberation and deliverance, for we don't have to be slaves to temptations, and we can abide in Him.  Let us note once again the activity of the Holy Spirit, also revealed to us in today's Gospel reading.  For it is the Holy Spirit who leads Christ into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and the same Spirit who helps to give us the power, made firm in Christ, to beat the devil at his game.  Let us be aware and prepared, for as with Christ, the devil awaits "an opportune time."  

 

 

And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ

 

 Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon's house.  But Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her.  So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her.  And immediately she arose and served them.  

When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.  And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of God!"  And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.  

 

Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place.  And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; but He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent."  And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

 

- Luke 4:38–44 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus, after visiting His hometown of Nazareth and being rejected there, went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths.  And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.  Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon.  And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Let us alone!  What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?  Did You come to destroy us?  I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!"  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"  And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.  Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, "What a word this is!  For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out."  And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

 

  Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon's house.  But Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her.  So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her.  And immediately she arose and served them.   My study Bible remarks that this passage and 1 Corinthians 9:5 (in which Simon Peter is called Cephas) indicate that Peter was married.  Christ's healing miracles, it notes, are diverse.  In this case, He heals by a word.  In other cases, He heals by touch (Matthew 8:1-4).  This healing is immediate and complete, but others are gradual (Mark 8:22-25) or they require the cooperation of the person or their loved ones (Luke 8:54-55).   All of Christ's miracles, my study Bible adds, manifest His redemption of ailing humanity.  We note also the language here:  Christ rebuked the fever.  My study Bible quotes St. Cyril of Alexandria:  "That which was rebuked was some living thing unable to withstand the influence of Him who rebuked it, for it is not reasonable to rebuke a thing without life and unconscious of the rebuke.  Nor is it astonishing for there to exist certain powers that inflict harm on the human body."

When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.  And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of God!"  And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.    Let us note here first of all that we're given a sample of a "day" in Christ's early ministry.  During this Sabbath, Christ was in the synagogue and rebuked the unclean demon (in yesterday's reading; see above).  Then Jesus left the synagogue and went to Simon Peter's house, where He rebuked the fever of Peter's mother-in-law.  Here the sun is setting (this is actually the start of a new day in the ancient Jewish reckoning) and so the people all come with their sick and those with various diseases, and bring them to Jesus to be healed.  Again, part of this healing is the expelling of the demons, who are once again rebuked by Christ.  And also again, as in yesterday's reading, the demons know exactly who He is; they know the messianic secret.

 

Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place.  And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; but He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent."  And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.   This is the same day that begun (at sunset) with the healing of the sick and demon-possessed, only now it is daylight.  Perhaps Jesus went to a deserted place for prayer or rest.  But the crowd sought Him out,  and tried to keep Him from leaving them.  This is a repeated experience in the ministry of Jesus.  My study Bible comments, regarding His response to them, that Christ's primary mission was to preach the kingdom.  It notes that miracles and healings testify both to the truth of the message and the identity of the Teacher (see Luke 5:24).  The same pattern holds true in the Church (Acts 4:29-30).  

 

We have repeatedly read about Jesus acting to rebuke in several ways.   He rebukes a fever in the case of St. Peter's mother-in-law, He rebukes the demons who speak and identify Him as the Christ, the Son of God.  In that latter case, Christ's rebuke is like a muzzle, His command is for them to be quiet (literally so, in yesterday's reading, above).  So let us examine directly what a rebuke is, and what is meant by this.  Oddly, perhaps, this word in Greek is related to "honor."   It has to do with placing proper weight on something, giving it the proper value.  In this case, the word meaning to rebuke (ἐπιτιμάω/epitimao) indicates, according to Strong's Greek Concordance, meting out a due correction, even a warning to prevent something from going wrong.  So "rebuke" as an action of Christ is yet another action of authority, a kind of authority that has the ultimate discernment regarding what is fitting and right, and what is not.  Jesus has this authority to assign values, including, apparently, negative values.  It is yet one more aspect of His identity as Son of God.  He can teach us what is good to say, what is not good to say.   It's very interesting to note that, although what the demons say is quite true, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that they know something that the people don't know, it's nevertheless inappropriate and not good for them to say it.  Hence, Christ is the One who is the ultimate judge of all things (John 5:22), and here in His authority He makes it clear that His identity must not be publicly revealed except in the proper way and at the proper time.  This gives us several avenues to consider:  First of all, the demons are those in rebellion against God; even a truth spoken from them is misleading, inappropriate, used improperly, and a hindrance to God's plan for salvation and Christ's mission in the world.  This alone gives us a great deal to consider in terms of our own discernment when we speak to others, and how, for example, we respond to our prayer lives and where God would lead us -- including who we listen to and why.  Even what is true can be used in a false and misleading way.  If the demons were enabled or allowed to continue to reveal the real nature of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, all of the misunderstandings and inappropriate expectations of the Messiah would trample upon Christ's ministry, creating chaos for Him.  Soon enough, this will happen in its own time and in the ways we will see; but it will all be used by the Lord for the Lord's purposes.  Christ also rebukes the fever of St. Peter's mother-in-law.  Like St. Cyril of Alexandria responds, this would indicate that there is a type of "living thing" that is the cause of this fever being rebuked by Christ.  Again, Christ's authority and discernment is being expressed in the rebuke.  Is this fever caused by a demonic force, or something else?  Perhaps it is so, as St. Cyril in his wisdom states.  This fever has the effect of disabling in a temporary way this woman who would be the elder woman of the household, the one who -- minus the fever -- becomes upright and serves Christ and His ministry (immediately she arose and served them).  In other words, she not only is engages the honor to serve Christ and this beginning ministry, but she becomes able to take her rightful place in the household.  Thus Christ's rebuke again puts things in a way that are fitting and right, bestowing the proper honor and value and rectifying a situation.  What we perhaps are meant to learn from this action on the part of Jesus is His role as the ultimate discerner and judge of all things.  It is Christ who can mediate and assign values, teaching us what is proper and true and what is not.  Even a true statement in a false place or manner of use becomes bad, a misuse of knowledge for misleading purposes.  Something done at the wrong time, not at the proper hour or with the proper preparation, also becomes a false step, a way to mislead and waylay God's purposes and Christ's plan of salvation.   In today's world, there is a high price placed on information.  That is, information of all and almost any kind.  We have a proliferation of sights, internet portals, social media, and all kinds of technologies designed for gathering information in all kinds of ways.  But what the story in today's reading seems to tell us is that there is a proper time for all kinds of things, and an improper way to use even what is true.  St. Paul writes, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify" (1 Corinthians 10:23).  Let us pray that we will use discernment, in both consuming and hearing information, and in spreading it.  

I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!

 

 Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths.  And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.  

 

Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon.  And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Let us alone!  What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?  Did You come to destroy us?  I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!"  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"  And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.  Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, "What a word this is!  For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out."  And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

 

- Luke 4:31–37 

 

Yesterday we read that, after His forty-day period of fasting and temptation in the wilderness,  Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.   And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.  So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:  "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."  Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.  And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?"  He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'"  Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way. 

 

  Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths.  My study Bible cites the commentary of St. Ambrose of Milan, who says that Christ begins preaching and healing on the Sabbaths to show that "the new creation began where the old creation ceased."

And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.   Jesus teaches with authority; that is unlike the prophets of old and the teachers of His time, who taught in the third person ("the Lord says"), Jesus taught in the first person ("I say to you").  See, for example, the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5.  

 

 Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon.  And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Let us alone!  What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?  Did You come to destroy us?  I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!"  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"  And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.  Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, "What a word this is!  For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out."  And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.  Christ is careful to keep hidden His identity as Messiah, in this beginning of His ministry ("Be quiet...!").  My study Bible comments that this hidden or secret quality is foreseen by Isaiah (Isaiah 42:1-4).  There are several reasons for this secrecy.  First, there is the growing hostility of the Jewish leaders which Jesus knows will happen (Jesus has already dealt with rejection in His hometown of Nazareth; see yesterday's reading, above).  Second, the people have particular expectations of the Messiah which are focused on an earthly, political leader quite different from Christ's own messianic mission.  Finally, the Lord's desire is to evoke genuine faith, which is not based simply on marvelous signs. 

 

The first thing we notice about Jesus is, indeed, His authoritative presence, and presentation of Himself.  As my study Bible points out, He doesn't simply teach like one of the scribes, nor does He speak as did the prophets.  He speaks from Himself.  He doesn't declare His identity to the world in proclamations about Himself, but instead His actions reflect who He is.  They give us a portrait of messianic authority.  As the people say, "For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out."  He speaks with authority and power, commanding the unclean spirit, and this is, indeed, Christ's own authority and power.  This is important for us to understand, because without such authority within Himself, He could not command us in the ways that He does throughout the Gospels.  When He speaks and teaches with authority, such as in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7) or the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20-49), we're given commands that Jesus teaches are "everlasting life," because He speaks whatever the Father has told Him to speak (John 12:50).  Elsewhere Jesus teaches that His words are spirit and they are life, because it is the Spirit who gives life (John 6:63), and the Spirit rests on Him.  Moreover, John the Baptist teaches (in John's Gospel), "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand" (John 3:35).  Everything that we know points to Christ's authority as Son, which has been given Him by the Father.  In John 16:15, Jesus says, "All things that the Father has are Mine."  Therefore, the authority in Christ is a kind of absolute, for it is conferred by the Father.  Even the sheep who belong to Christ, those who come in faith, are drawn by the Father to Christ (John 10:27-30); so therefore, Christ's authority is complete in all the ways we can think of.  Even the power of judgment is conferred to Christ by the Father (John 5:22-23).   In today's reading, Christ's actions express who He is.  In some sense, He's hidden in plain sight, but clearly, in the words of the unclean spirit, the spirit world knows who He is.  For us, it's important to understand that whatever we see in life (or think we see) there is this hidden, mysterious realm that is part of our reality.  It might not show so well to us, it might not be obvious, but Christ, the saints, the prophets before Him, and the faithful of the Church, testify that that reality amidst us.  Christ's authority is clear to the unclean spirit, and it obeys.  But we, who might not be aware of all that goes on around us, are left to discern what perhaps we cannot so clearly see.  Jesus will teach us that "every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them" (Matthew 7:17-20).  Christ speaks with authority and acts with authority, and these fruits of His early ministry bear witness to Him.  How will we know what's real and what's true?  We will follow His command, seeking His help for discernment, for His authority is what leads us and protects us from false prophets, from the darkness that rejects the light of the Holy One of God.

Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country

 

Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.   And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.  So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,

Because He has anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  

 

So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.  And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?"  He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'"  Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.

 

- Luke 4:14-30 

 

Yesterday we read that, Jesus, after His baptism by John in the Jordan, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.' Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'" Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,'and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. 

 

Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.   And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.  Jesus' first acts in this beginning of His public ministry (after His baptism by John, and His forty day fasting and temptation period -- see above) is to go to Galilee to preach and teach in their synagogues.  Let's note that just as He was led into the wilderness for fasting and temptation by the Holy Spirit, here He returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, in this beginning of His ministry.    

 

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:  "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."  My study Bible comments that, as Christ is the eternal Son of God, He did not "become" the world's anointed Savior, but has always been our Savior from before the foundation of the world.  It was Christ who spoke through Isaiah, saying, "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me" (Isaiah 6:11).  My study Bible asks us to note that He does not say, "The Spirit 'has come' upon Me."  When the Spirit of the LORD descended upon Jesus at His baptism (Luke 3:22), this was a sign which revealed an eternal, not temporal, truth to the people.  The acceptable year is the time of the Incarnation, when the Kingdom of heaven has come to earth (see 2 Corinthians 6:2).

So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.  And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?"  He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'"  Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.  My study Bible cites this double response of marveling and rejection, which it says occurs frequently in people who encounter Christ (see Luke 11:14-16; John 9:16).  Christ's being rejected in His own country fulfills the rejection of the Old Testament prophets such as Elijah and Elisha; it's also a foreshadowing of Christ's rejection by the whole of the nation at His trial before Pilate (John 19:14-15).  Jesus accepts death according to God the Father's will, not at the will of the people.  Here, Christ's hour of His Passion has not yet come (see John 8:20).  Jesus' statement, that no prophet is accepted in his own country, is found in all four Gospels (Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, John 4:44).

How can we help but be struck by the people's response to Jesus, where one moment they marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth, and seemingly in the next they are filled with wrath to the point where they take Him to the edge of the cliff on which His hometown is built, with the aim of throwing Him off?  These are zealous, fiery responses; we might call them highly passionate.  But let's examine where they come from.  In the first place, the "gracious words" which proceed from Him are something they can't quite reconcile with the status of Jesus and His family as He's known to them.  "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they say.  Those of us from closed communities, small towns, or familiar neighborhoods might not be so surprised by this response.  But perhaps what we're meant to understand is once again the power of the Holy Spirit working through the divinity of Jesus and His ministry.  We can take it for granted that until this time of public ministry, initiated by Christ's baptism, there hadn't been a time where Jesus was meant to be publicly preaching or declaring Himself.  But here in His hometown, there is a clear declaration made by Jesus, when He says, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  He is the "anointed one" to "preach the gospel to the poor."  He's the deliverer, and the one who has been sent in this "acceptable year of the Lord."  All of these things mean that He is declaring, in His hometown of Nazareth, that He is the Messiah; He is the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy.  But the people are waiting to be stunned and started and offered dazzling proofs and miraculous signs.  After all, He's the son of Joseph, isn't He?  Where did He get these gracious words?  So Jesus rebukes them, in a sense, with His recounting of the Scriptures:  that God does not visit everyone simply by virtue of their ancestry or associations with the history of Israel -- and the implication is, not even if they're the people of Christ's hometown.  Elijah was sent to Sidon, Gentile territory, to Zarephath the widow rather than a widow of Israel.  (As an aside, Jesus will refer to Zarephath also when responding to His mother at the wedding in Cana, by quoting Zarephath's words directly from the Greek Septuagint Scripture in which she questioned Elijah after the death of her son; see 1 Kings 17:18; John 2:4.)  With all the lepers who needed healing in Israel, only Naaman the Syrian was cleansed by Elisha.  Jesus is telling them, in effect, that it's not their proximity to Him that would render them witnesses to His divine power and the miraculous signs they may have heard about, done by Him in Capernaum, but rather their faith.  But they don't respond with faith or trust; they can hardly believe that this is the same Jesus they knew once upon a time, the Jesus they know as Joseph's son.  So, Jesus tells them, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country."  But there will be others, foreigners, who accept Him.  Of that He has confidence.  For this truth, they seek to kill Him in His hometown, and they are enraged, filled with wrath.  But Jesus goes on His way, out to preach, and toward His hour, which has not yet come.  How can Jesus' response to the people in His hometown help us when we are in difficult circumstances?  When we tell the truth to those whom we know, and they disrespect or become enraged at us?  Jesus gives us the clue, for His Father teaches Him where to go and what He must do, and has plans for Him.  For all of us, let it be a model when we, too, are rejected.   In our faith, God has a plan for us to pursue, an identity that is bigger than anything else we know, and others who will accept that identity.  Let us take guidance from His example.

 

 

Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time

 

 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"  

Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"

Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:

'He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you,'

"and,

'In their hands they shall bear you up, 

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"

Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

 

- Luke 4:1–13 

 

Yesterday we read that, as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John the Baptist, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."  And with many other exhortations he preached to the people. But Herod the tetrarch,  being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.  When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.  And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."

 

  Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  My study Bible comments that this exodus of Jesus into the wilderness immediately following His baptism (and being filled with the Holy Spirit) has a dual symbolism.  First, it fulfills the Old Testament type, in which Israel journeyed in the wilderness for forty year after its "baptism" in the Red Sea; and second, it's a prefiguring of our own journey throgh the fallen world after baptism, as we also struggle toward the Kingdom.  

 

And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"   This first temptation is seemingly about hunger, but Christ's human hunger is really just a lever, for testing Him about His relationship to God the Father.  The real temptation is the question, "If You are the Son of God. . ." seeking to tempt Christ away from His faith in the Father and the identity given of the Father.  Keep in mind that at His baptism by John, the Father declared, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."  This is a challenge to that declaration.  My study Bible points out that in His humanity, Christ must choose to obey that divine will, even if in His divinity His will is one with the Father's.  Just as Israel was tempted through hunger to disobey God when following Moses in the wilderness, Christ responds with Scripture from Deuteronomy 8:3.

Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Here is the next temptation, and once again, it's a challenge to Christ's relationship to God the Father.  The devil tempts Jesus with a worldly sense of power, authority, and glory, if only Jesus will worship before him.  But as Jesus has already indicated with the first temptation, it's not the things of the world that make life, but the things of God.  My study Bible comments that the devil is the "ruler of this world" (John 12:31), "the god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), because the whole world is in his power (1 John 5:19).   Christ will so memorably teach, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36).  "Get behind Me, Satan!" is a phrase He will use again (Matthew 15:33; Mark 8:33), and in the similar sense that, as my study Bible puts it, He refuses the road of earthly glory, which would lead Him away from His suffering and death for the redemption of the world.   Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:13.

Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.':  And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  My study Bible comments that here, seeing as how Christ had defeated him through the power of the Scriptures, Satan tries in vain to use the Scriptures to put God's power of protection to the test.  (See also 2 Peter 1:19-21).  It further notes that trials and temptations come on their own; we should never intentionally expose ourselves to danger in order to test or prove God's protection.  To do so is to tempt the LORD.  Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:16.

Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.  The devil still works to wait until an opportune time (see Luke 22:40-46, 23:35; Matthew 16:21-23).  

We note that the devil departed from Him until an opportune time.  My study Bible comments on the temptation of hunger after forty days of fasting, that, while Adam disregarded God's divine word in order to pursue the passions of the body (Genesis 3), the New Adam -- who is Christ -- conquers all temptation by the divine word; in effect, Christ gives human nature the power to conquer Satan.  So this devil who waits until an opportune time is something we should take seriously, because we ourselves struggle against similar temptations and in the same world in which the devil remains the "god of this age" or "the ruler of this world."  That's not to say that the devil has utterly usurped the place of God or even that Christ hasn't power against the devil.  What it does say is that this struggle in which Christ engages Himself as human being, while He is yet also the Son of God, is our struggle.  In effect, Jesus engages in this struggle and even begins His ministry with it, because it is our struggle.  Everything about Christ's life, and especially His ministry, is to engage fully in human life in order to transfigure that life through His divinity, so that we also may follow, even drawing on the strength that He gives us to do so, as my study Bible explained.  Note that today's passage begins by telling us that Jesus, when embarking on this forty day fasting period, was filled with the Holy Spirit and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to do so.  This is a forceful statement, it's the Holy Spirit, essentially bringing or carrying Him here.  Moreover, if we look closely at Mark's Gospel, we'll see that St. Mark writes (in Greek) that the Spirit "threw" Him into the wilderness.  So this powerful period, which sets us up for understanding how we are to meet temptation in the world, is the first order of business of Christ's public ministry, and it's fully begun and set into motion through the actions of the Spirit.  So this public ministry in which Christ is now immersed, prepared through temptation, but also working in order to harness the power of redemption and resistance to the devil for us human beings, starts off with this selfless act guaranteed to transfigure what it is to be a human being following Christ in faith.  We're here not just to follow Him but to also be engaged in the same work we see Him doing.  Our faith is in some sense about being born into this battleground, where, in the words of St. Peter, "your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).   We still face the same kinds of temptations that Jesus did:  questions that shake up our faith in God and God's love for us, temptations that look good -- like all the splendid goods of the world and its power and glory -- but really aren't very good for us after all.  We're born into a world where there might be all kinds of seemingly new "forms" of such things, but they're not really new at all.  We still hunger for things that nominally seem good, but given at the wrong time or gone after for the wrong reasons are all about defying what God wants for us, and falling into the hands of the one who wants to oppose God's plan.  The one thing the modern world, especially in its more "developed" environments may excel at is bombarding us with temptations of all sorts, and this is particularly so for those of us immersed in technological communications and their modern capacities over the internet.  We'll be feasted and tempted with a huge host of images to follow:  what we should look like, what we should pursue, what we should be collecting or consuming, who our friends should be, etc. in an endless parade that doesn't stop.  What we need to do amid this host of temptations is stop and pray, take the time for God, seek to set our feet upon the right path, asking for Christ's light to guide us the way through the darkness that still dwells in ignorance of what God has in mind for us.  Just ask anyone who's struggled with an addiction, engaged in self-destructive activities, worked their way into a fever pitch of chasing all the dreams that paid back very little in terms of meaning, and nothing in terms of love and goodness and mercy.  Let us be mindful of our faith amidst it all.  For it's Christ who'll teach us who we really are, and what we really need to be that person.