Understatement
This coming Sunday’s Gospel is St Luke’s telling of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. (Luke 4:1-13) I’m sure it is not St Luke’s writing style but the translation into English that is causing me concern. Well, not really a “concern”, more akin to an inward chuckle. One may run across those certain “turn of a phrase” passages that strikes a particular chord in one’s imagination; either that inward chuckle or a conviction of conscience. I am never sure which is which. St Luke has done that for me three times in this reading.
The first is “he was tempted by the Devil for forty days” (v 2a EHV). We try to imagine being face to face with the Devil and resist him; this is impossible apart from Jesus. I wonder if I could last two minutes, on the one hand, or if by my pride I would last for the duration, on the other. Either way, my sin consumes me. This is what Luke is alluding to with the “wilderness” and “forty” references. This language should bring to mind the Exodus. Israel’s sin consumed an entire generation.
Number two, my inward chuckle, is: “He did not eat anything during those days. When they came to an end, he was hungry.” (v 2b) A forty day fast and he was hungry? What an understatement! I have heard it said that the first seven days of a fast are the hardest, apparently past that point, well, it gets easier??? Yeah… Sure… Let me know if that works out for you… After this comes more Exodus language: stone and bread.
The bread should bring to mind manna (Exodus 16) and the stone, think water from the rock (Exodus 17).
You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger,
and you made water come out of a rock for their thirst.
Then you told them to go and take possession of the land
that you swore to give them.
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Nehemiah%209%3A15&version=EHV>
“I am the Bread of Life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+6&version=EHV>
I should point out here that the manna and water from the rock are a result of the peoples’ grumbling, complaining, and sin. The exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land could have taken only about eleven days. God in his mercy made it forty years. Paul puts it this way, “Do you have so little regard for his rich kindness, his restraint, and his patience, that you ignore the fact that the purpose of God’s kindness is to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4 EHV) This is the Bread of Life.
The third line that struck me is Luke 4:13: “When the Devil had finished every temptation, he left him until an opportune time.” (EHV) This raises an interesting line of inquiry, whose “opportune time” or put another way, on whose timetable? Jesus met and cast out many demons throughout the Gospel of Luke. The Devils opportune time came in Luke 22:12, “Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve.” (EHV) However, I think the opportune time as Jesus saw it was when he sent out the seventy-two (Luke 10).
Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!” He told them, “I was watching Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names have been written in heaven.”
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2010&version=EHV>
More so after the resurrection, Jesus’ timetable:
Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came by a man, the resurrection of the dead also is going to come by a man. For as in Adam they all die, so also in Christ they all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ as the firstfruits and then Christ’s people, at his coming. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has done away with every other ruler and every other authority and power. For he must reign “until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” Death is the last enemy to be done away with.
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015&version=EHV>
Jesus has taken care of sin, the Devil, and Death.
As we move this week into the season of Lent…
Trust the Promises
Steve Skiver