Journey into the Wilderness

Hello everyone. 

I have recently finished going through Luke telling of the temptation of Jesus in Luke 4.  There is lot that can learn from Jesus here. The story begins with a double reference to the Holy Spirit. It starts by stating that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and then that the Spirit led him into the wilderness.  Jesus was very attuned to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  But we have to understand that the Spirit did lead Jesus into a time of testing.  

This is the second time in Luke that we see someone being led by the Spirit to a certain place.  In  Luke 2, Simeon was led by the Spirit to the temple to see the young Savior, and now that Savior has been led into the wilderness for this time of prayer, fasting and testing before kicking off his ministry.  There is an interesting comparison here with Mark's account.  In Luke, Jesus was led into the wilderness, but Mark uses a different word.  He uses the word ἐκβάλλει (ekballei) which means to throw or cast.  So in Mark's account, Jesus was driven into the desert by the Spirit. A lesson for us, sometimes, when the Spirit leads, it is rough, without soft landing spots.  

Robert Stein suggests that this time of temptation was initiated by the Spirit rather than the devil.  He says that Jesus was not just being passively drug around the wilderness, but that God is the offensive, confronting the devil. According to Stein, God was the initiator here. (Stein, 145).

Matthew records that the devil came at the end of the 40 days.  Mark and Luke say that Jesus was in the wilderness 40 days, being tempted. These do not have to be inconsistent.  The three recorded temptations may be the culmination of a long period of temptation.  In fact, it is likely the devil tried to tempt Jesus his whole life, not just these three times. Now, I know that Jesus was “God in the flesh,” but He was still ‘in the flesh,” and subject to all of the temptations that we are. He said ‘No’ for forty days (and beyond.)

Heinz Schurmann (from Bock, 363) points out that Jesus is obedient to God in a way that others are not.  He uses this example: Jesus succeeds in the wilderness, where the children of Israel failed so miserably in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. I appreciate Schurmann's comparison to Jesus in the wilderness to the Israelites in the wilderness. (I also appreciate Bock reading Schurmann's commentary Lukasevangelium, since my German is limited to the phrases, "Please", "Thank you", "I don't understand" and "Where is the bathroom?") Like Jesus and the Israelites, we will all have our own journey through the wilderness.  Over my next three posts, we will look at each temptation.  We will see how the Israelites failed the test, but Jesus passed. 

            

            Darrell Bock, Luke Volume 1: Luke 1:1-9:50, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baker Academic, 1994.

            Heinz Schurmann, Lukasevangelium, vol. 1, Kommentar zu Kap, 1,1-9,50, Herders theologisher Kommentar zun Neuen Testament 3, Freiburg:Herder. 

            Robert Stein, Luke, Nashville, Tennessee, B&H Publishing Group, 1992.