In his description of John's ministry, Luke points out the Jews as a nation are not walking where God intended. In the vestment of Jesus as His Father's emissary, we have prepared the ground for a ministry which reveals what the Jews are doing wrong, what they could do better. Jesus is the ultimate reformer, but first Luke explains what sort of reformer.
Now filled with, and driven by, the Holy Spirit, Jesus goes out to the wilderness retreat His cousin John had just left. As a physician, Luke knew fasting would quickly put the stomach asleep until the body had cleansed itself, then hunger returns, typically a month later. Luke does not cite the trio of temptations in the same order as the other writers, but presents a logical order for his patron, Theophilus. Being hungry, Jesus was tempted to take the easy way out of things and make bread from stones, since the round flat stones looked very much like the disk-shaped bread common in those days. But Jesus was not going to let His personal needs and desires interfere with His ministry. He rebuffed Satan with a quote pointing out food and similar basic human needs were not what made life worth living. If a man could not obtain his needs in the manner God provided, he was better off doing without. Jesus would not use His divinity for such mundane purposes, but set it aside that divinity to live with all the risks of human life.
Nor would Jesus take any shortcuts by seizing political power. It hardly matters whether Satan could deliver on his offer. The point was Jesus had no need for such authority. His goals had little to do with the broader affairs of human existence and nations, but with bringing the revelation of God to the world, to put their focus on a higher Kingdom. Nor would he take advantage of human fascination with spectacle. God did not operate that way. Flinging a challenge in the Father's face, forcing Him to rescue His Son from a foolish act in order to leave people no room to doubt would insure the failure of Jesus' message. He was there to act as a man of faith, a man of Spirit. If people were not drawn by the power of truth, they would never listen and be changed.
Jesus had no intention of trading on His divinity. Instead, He set it aside to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit. His whole interest was other-worldly, but with a very powerful impact on human conduct in this world. His agenda on earth flowed from the Kingdom priority of revealing the Father, primarily by acting as the Father intended men should act in every circumstance.
Skipping over a lot of detail, Luke relates the ministry of Jesus as it began in Galilee. Simply obeying the Spirit was all Jesus needed to become famous. He typically taught in the synagogues. When He returned to His boyhood home of Nazareth, He did as always, entering the local synagogue. Luke describes the ritual: standing to read from the sacred scrolls, then sitting down to teach. Jesus read the portion of Isaiah already known to be a Messianic prophecy (Isaiah 61:1-2). It is obviously an expansion on what John had proclaimed. Jesus began His message essentially proclaiming Himself the Messiah. His teaching was spellbinding, though Luke sees no need to recap the whole sermon. Rather, he notes the crowd then remembered this was just some fellow who grew up in their town.
Jesus senses this, and points out their change of attitude. How did this nobody become so famous? How about showing off some of the miracles they had heard about? Having already rejected that sort of spectacle mongering in the wilderness, Jesus points out how those listening were no better than previous generations, demanding things God would not do, and refusing to obey Him. The Jews would reject their Messiah. Because of this, His Messianic power would be exercised among the Gentiles. The hardness of their hearts is amply demonstrated by their attempt to lynch Jesus by tossing Him over a cliff. Luke does not say in what manner, only that Jesus walks through the mob and escapes.
In another synagogue back in Capernaum, it's a counterpoint when we see the demons have no trouble recognizing Jesus as Messiah. Exercising His spiritual authority, Jesus evicts a demon from a man. The same authority extended over sickness. Peter's mother-in-law is relieved of a fever which could surely have been fatal. These weren't flukes, for Jesus continued the same activity of healing and casting out demons late into the evening. Unlike Nazareth, Capernaum had no trouble embracing Him as the solution to all their problems. That next morning, He informed the crowd He had to carry that same message and authority all over the land.
Luke noted in passing Jesus didn't quote previous rabbis, showing off His great intellect by citing a memorized catalog of footnotes. Rather, He taught from His own authority. He needed no reference to earthly authority, but spoke directly from the Spirit who gave the Word in the first place. He fulfilled the promises quoted in Isaiah directly, as a means to pointing out the spiritual truth behind the apparent reality.
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By Ed Hurst
28 June 2008
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