Lessons Into Luke: Lesson 5

FACTS AND THOUGHTS

LESSON FIVE - TEMPTATION, ANOINTING, AND PROCLAMATION
(Luke Chapter Four; Verses 1 - 30)
Whenever anyone begins a new task or takes on a new assignment, it is absolutely necessary that he knows "where he is going." On the one hand, he must have an overall plan; on the other hand, he must be prepared to face difficulties and problems.


When Jesus had been baptized, Luke tells us that He (Jesus) was "full of the Holy Spirit," Who then directed Jesus as to what He was to do. It was to go into the wilderness: the desert area between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.


How different was this from the usual ambition of man! Given a similar choice, we want to go where the crowds are; we want to face the great public challenges of life and prove our fitness for the fray; we want to place ourselves where we can be "discovered," and so our hoped-for career will start off on an high note. - But the Holy Spirit directed Jesus to the desert, the land of isolation, the testing ground not of notoriety but of character, not of popularity but of integrity.


TEMPTATION: And there, alone in the desert, Satan came to test Jesus.


Once before, when the first man, Adam, created in the very image of the Omnipotent One, was left alone by God, Satan in the form of a serpent, tempted, seduced, and lured Adam to his own personal destruction and the curse upon all mankind to follow.


And now Satan, flushed from his previous victory, and confident of his own prowess, immediately appeared to challenge the new Man, the Last Adam, the Hope and Champion of all creation.


Furthermore, whereas Adam was tempted (and fell) in a perfect environment, with all the delicious foods at hand, in the very Garden of the wonderful land of Eden, Jesus, starving in the wilderness, had to take His stand. Frankly, the odds were stacked against Him.


And all creation, and all the citizens of heaven, were watching with bated breath to see the outcome.


We shall not examine the temptation of Jesus in detail, for that has been done many times before. It is for each one of us to read the text and learn for oneself the lessons to be learned from the recital of the struggle. But we shall try to observe those points which seem to be peculiar to Luke.


In the first place, noted only by Luke, is the fact that the temptation lasted for the full forty days: the full almost six weeks that Jesus stayed in the wilderness. This is noted in 4:2, wherein it was written that the time was "during forty days being tempted of the devil." The temptation did not begin at the end of the six weeks, but was ongoing during all those days; but in a crescendo reaching a climax at the end. Hungry, worn out, exhausted, Jesus had to face at the end the maximum intensity of the challenge.


Notice also, that whereas Matthew had quoted Satan as saying, "Command these stones" to become bread (Matthew 4:3), Luke has Satan saying, "command this stone that it become bread." Perhaps beginning with the general statement, "these stones," then Satan may have picked out a particular rock, perhaps round in shape and looking much like a baked loaf, as a supreme challenge to the hunger pangs of Jesus.


Also to be observed is that whereas Satan challenged Jesus to exercise His divinity, "If thou art the Son of God. . ." Jesus met the temptation based entirely upon His humanity: "Man shall not live by bread alone." If Jesus was to conquer, He must do so where Adam failed; and He must do so in His "kenosis" as Servant-Man.


Then again, Luke's account of the temptation experience reverses the order of the second and third temptations from the account given by Matthew. This does not constitute a contradiction, because as previously noted Luke has indicated that the temptation experience lasted the full forty days, with perhaps the individual temptations being repeated, but in greater and greater intensity.


But whereas Matthew's emphasis in his Gospel was to present Jesus as the Son of David, the Messiah, (see Matthew 1:1), Luke's emphasis is to stress the humanity of Jesus. Therefore Luke will put the temptation of world-dominion first, in the position of greater importance.


But of special interest in Luke's version is his addition (in verse 6) of Satan's claim to authority, "for it hath been delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it." Satan has power, more than we realize. We cannot hope to overcome him in our own strength; but we must always rely upon the strength of the One Who is stronger than Satan, even God Himself. And so the answer of Jesus was: "Thou shalt worship the LORD thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." (Luke 4:8).


One other detail of the temptation is brought out by Luke. When Satan challenged Jesus to jump from the pinnacle of the temple, he quoted from the Ninety-first Psalm, verses eleven and twelve. But according to Luke, Satan misquoted the Scripture. Psalm 91:11 reads: "For he will give his angels charge over thee, To keep thee in all thy ways." But according to Luke, Satan said: "He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, to guard thee." (Luke 4:10.) This would seem to be a deliberate distortion by Satan.

Let us remember that just as Satan lied to Eve in the Garden, so he lied to Jesus. Quoting Scripture (and sometimes misquoting it) does not give authenticity or reliability to that which is false.


And the answer of Jesus was: "Thou shalt not make trial of the LORD thy God." (Luke 4:12, quoting Deuteronomy 6:16.)


ANOINTING AND PROCLAMATION


Led by the Spirit, Jesus had gone to the wilderness.


Led by the Spirit, Jesus returned to Galilee.


And having been victorious in the wilderness, Jesus found that God had allowed reputation to precede Jesus in all that region. (Luke 4:14.)


And so Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had grown up; and on the Sabbath He went to the local synagogue as He had been accustomed to do. So far, everything was as it had long been; but from now on, everything would be different.


Perhaps as a means of grasping the significance of the occasion, we might think of the inauguration of a president of the United States. He has gone through the nomination process; he has endured the campaign and election procedure; now he ascends the inauguration platform. After taking the oath of office he delivers his inaugural address. In it, he will tell of the situation in the nation as he sees it before him; and he will outline his goals and the plans he has in mind to achieve them. And he now speaks, no longer as a private citizen, but as the leader of the entire nation.


Such is a very elementary parallel. Jesus has met with His forerunner; has identified Himself in baptism with those who would repent in anticipation of God's kingdom; led by the Holy Spirit He has endured the testing by the Tempter and conquered the threefold temptation. Now, led again by the Holy Spirit, He has returned to Nazareth, before those who had known Him as "the carpenter's son": there to deliver His "inaugural address" as God's Anointed One. In this speech, he will address the needs before Him, and outline the things He plans to do to meet those needs. This will set forth the aims of His "administration" as Messiah, (which means "The Anointed,") and not just for the Jews but for all peoples everywhere who will receive Him.


Dr. Alfred Edersheim, in his marvellous two-volume work entitled "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah," written almost one hundred years ago, has described in minute detail the order of synagogue service, with its series of stated prayers, the reading of seven passages from the Mosaic Torah (known to us as the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament), and then the reading of a passage from one of the Prophetic books of the Old Testament.


According to Dr. Edersheim, the ruler of the synagogue had, before the service, asked Jesus to give a sermon. When the time came, Jesus stood up, reverently prepared to read the appropriate Scripture. The attendant took out the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, Jesus found that portion of the prophecy we know as the Sixty-first Chapter, and He read the passage:

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me:
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He hath sent Me
To proclaim release to the captives,
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty them that are bruised,
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD...."

And at that point, and in the middle of a prophetic sentence, Jesus stopped reading, rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down to teach.


And He began His address: "Today has this Scripture been fulfilled in your ears." In other words, "I Myself am the fulfillment of the words written some eight hundred years ago by the prophet."


What an astounding claim to be made by the Young Man they all knew as the village carpenter's son! (To be "anointed" means to be the Messiah, and He claimed that this anointing was by the very Holy Spirit which rested upon Him and in Him.)


With amazement the synagogue crowd, His own fellow-villagers, heard Him. Dr. Edersheim says it was customary for a synagogue audience to listen in silence to the sermon, at the conclusion of which they could ask questions and raise objections. But both Luke's account and an appreciation of the situation would suggest otherwise at this time.


There was probably a murmur of amazement whispered through the congregation. And Jesus, Who was also "The Word of God," was able "to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12.) He said, "You have heard reports of Me from Capernaum; now you want to see some miracles for yourself; you will be saying to me, "Physician, heal thyself."


As a minor note, observe that it was Luke, himself a physician, who alone preserved this word of Jesus, in which He was perhaps alluding to His coming death on the cross, when His critics cried, "He saved others, Himself He cannot save." (Matthew 27:42.)


But Jesus went on with His "inaugural address," by declaring the total scope of the blessings He would bring to those who needed Him. He spoke of the Gentile widow whom Elijah (their favourite prophet) had helped; and of Naaman, a Gentile from Syria, whom Elisha had cured of leprosy.


This was too much for their narrow Jewish prejudices. Anti-semitism has worked in two directions. Gentiles have disliked and so persecuted Jews down through the centuries, it is true; but Jews have likewise despised Gentiles, who have been "dogs" to them.


How much more Jesus would have declared to them, we are not told. Certainly the synagogue crowd would hear no more. The meeting was broken up by the mob, who rushed Jesus out of the synagogue, out of the village, and to a cliff, which they planned to be for His destruction. But He slipped through them, and went away. Then (probably after sunset, the end of the Sabbath,) He journeyed to Capernaum, from thenceforth His new "headquarters."


The special significance of this event is that:

(1) Jesus was announcing Who He was and the purpose and scope of His beginning ministry;

(2) He was completely different from other men, both in Who He was and in the message He was announcing;

(3) The people completely failed to understand Who He really was, and the intended direction of His work.


So the first thing Jesus must do was to give evidence as to Who He was. This He must do, both by the actions and works that He came to do, and also by the things He taught to those who were ready and willing to learn.

Before He could teach others about His plans, He must teach them about Himself.


Who was Jesus? If, as we believe Luke emphasized, Jesus in His humanity was true Man, even "The Son of Man," we must begin to learn what kind of Man He was, and wherein He differed from all other men. This will occupy our attention until Chapter Nine of Luke's Gospel.

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW, STUDY, AND DISCUSSION


1. Review of preceding text: What details in the temptation and/or speech in Nazareth have impressed you concerning Jesus? Why?


The following questions are based on Luke 4:31 - 9:20:

2. According to Luke,

a. What were the first two miracles performed by Jesus?

b. When and where were they performed?

c. What was the resulting response of the people?

d. Why did it occur after sunset?


3. What was the purpose of Jesus in performing His miracles? Discuss your answer to this question.


4. Four kinds of miracles:

a. Miraculous catch of fishes: what power of Jesus did it demonstrate? (5:1 - 11)

b. Healing a leper by touch: what aspect of Jesus's character? (5:12 - 16)

c. Healing a palsied man after forgiveness: what authority? (5:17 - 26)

d. Raising widow's son and Jairus's daughter: how great was the

power of Jesus? (7:11 - 17; 8:40 - 42; 49 - 56)


5. Do you think the answer Jesus sent to John Baptist (7:20 - 23) was sufficient? Why?


6. According to Luke, when Peter made his Great Confession (9:20), Jesus immediately silenced him. Why do you think Jesus did this?


7. Try to memorize Luke 9:23 - 24.





--- Norman L. MacLeod Jr.

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