What kind of Child of
god are we called to be?
Today’s Gospel has Jesus filled with the holy spirit being
led out into the wilderness where he fasted for 40 days.
“To fast simply means
to voluntarily abstain from eating and/or drinking for
an extended period of
time.
Biblical fasting is a
discipline of voluntarily denying one’s self of the basics
of eating to be
available for prayer and communion with the Lord. Since it
is an ultimate act of self-denial,
you are simply entering into an intense training in
righteousness.
You can fast for one
day, one week, or just one meal. You can fast from one
type of food or from
all foods. You can fast or abstain from solid foods or all foods
and liquids. It is
during this time of abstinence from food that you are to spend
time seeking the Lord
in Bible study, prayer and meditation.
The discipline of
fasting is designed to separate you from your perceived
life support so you
can focus exclusively on the Lord, your actual life support.
Fasting is the one
discipline Jesus promised would bring about supernatural results.
Fasting just one time
will be equivalent to having one good workout in the
gym. You may feel
great for a while, but you will experience new lasting effects in
the long term”.[1]
Forty days and nights were a long time to go without food
but I believe the fast Jesus was on might have looked more like something we
dee during Ramadan. Literally defined,
fasting means to abstain "completely" from foods, drinks, intimate
intercourse and smoking, before the break of the dawn till sunset.
Unlike Ramadan that happens in the communities of faith, the
Gospel says Jesus was out in the wilderness. So, unless Jesus brought a caravan
of Food supplies I suspect his fast looked more like what John was doing when
he lived in the wilderness.
I would also venture this may have been Jesus’
motivation. He knew John. John was his
cousin. He was aware of the Baptizers
preaching of redemption and the life he was living. It is said that the holy spirit led z to the
wilderness. In this choice, it may also
have become a time of discernment, speculation and revelation.
God sent the Godself to earth to be born of woman and become
fully human and fully alive. God became
human to learn, grow, and to experience what his creation meant. What it meant to be well human.
That leads to after 30 years of being a good son. Learning to be a carpenter. Learning what it meant to be a Jewish man
raised in the town of Nazareth. The spirit started to move something in his
heart. He suddenly had to make a
change. What was the catalyst for this
drastic move we don’t know? But suddenly
he decides to go off to the wilderness for forty days, where he fasts, and
prays.
Of course, the main thing every one recalls and pays
attention to is what is called the temptation of Christ. While hungry,
dehydrated, exhausted and probably, literally prayed out Satan comes to
challenge Christ. To give him three
opportunities to stray from his path.
I think the First temptation is the most tempting. I don’t know about you but I love baked
dread. There is nothing like the smell
of it as the aroma fills the house.
Letting it cool on the window sill or counter till it is finally cool
enough to slice into. So now I have got
you all thinking about fresh baked bread, right!
So now imagine being hungry and tired and someone reminds you
hey you can just go make yourself a loaf.
Not just make yourself a loaf of bread but just command these stones to
do it and they will become bread for you.
This temptation, one could say, it hits at the heart of what
is the root of humanity. I mean food and
water is what is needed to be alive.
Food is desperately needed and wanted when one is hungry. So, after forty days of fasting you can bet
this hits Christ right where it means to be human.
This temptation would so appease what Jesus wants and needs
but in the refusal, we are called to be better.
In Jesus’ refusal to accept the offer, challenge, distraction from Satan
he sets and example. He does not seek
personal satisfaction. And answers this
temptation with “it is written people won’t live only by bread but by every
word spoken by God” (Matt4:4) “Jesus refused to make his personal needs the
center of his life but continued focus on God’s plans and trust God. Jesus teaches us to resist temptation for
personal reasons.”[2]
As we are born into this world as Human so was Jesus. This
temptation is very real and translatable to us as this is about “ME”!
Right? This is about our basic needs
what we want here and now. What we want
when we want it. How many times has what
I needed or I wanted got in the way of what God was calling me to do or calling
me to be? I wonder and no I am not going to start listing my personal failings
for you all to enjoy that was rhetorical.
In the second temptation Satan takes Jesus to the highest
point of the temple. Now even looking at
the temple mount today that sit high above sea level at 2430 ft. Now that is the height of the base structure
you add a temple on top of that and some turrets and pillars well on can
imagine the height must had been dizzying.
Satan says to Jesus if you are the only begotten throw
yourself down “and here the devil uses a verse of Scripture (Psalm 91:11–12),
but the Lord replies again with Scripture to the contrary (Deuteronomy 6:16),
stating that it is wrong for Him to abuse His own powers”[3]
the psalm Satan uses is a psalm of Moses and God is saying how the people will
be protected as they are the chosen people.
Talk about using scripture out of context. So, Jesus rebukes him using
Deuteronomy out of context. See the c
setting is commanding the Jewish people to follow Yhwh and not to follow the
examples of others around them who worship other Gods. Yhwh reminds them that he has a short fuse
and do not test me.
All in all, this is a mighty big production Satan has put
before Jesus but again Jesus stands his ground, um pinnacle. He is not about to allow his own being be
used to sensationalize himself. He was
not about to attract attention to himself by attempting this grand act just for
Satan’s enjoyment or anyone else’s.
Jesus refused to put himself in front of God.
As we are born into this world as Human so was Jesus. This
temptation is very real and translatable to us as this is about look at what I
can do. So many times, we lose our
spiritual center. The prayerful ministry
we are called to do as individuals can and has become less about ministry and
more about look what I can do. Ministry
becomes self-promotion as opposed to self-sacrifice and gift.
. How many times has
what I done and what I felt needed to be done go in the way of what God wanted
to be done? How many times were people’s
hearts, spirits broken because I made a ministry about me? Because I made some
project about being perfect so I looked good instead of making it about God and
the people so that good was done?
Then, as if the temple wasn’t scary enough Satan takes Jesus
to a high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms and offered them to him. The
site Got questions dot org say this about the final temptation;
“and if any quick route to the Messiahship
could be attained, bypassing the passion and crucifixion for which He had
originally come, this was the way. The devil already had control over the
kingdoms of the world (Ephesians 2:2) but was now ready to give everything to
Christ in return for His allegiance. But the mere thought almost causes the
Lord’s divine nature to shudder at such a concept and He replies sharply, “You
shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only” (Deuteronomy 6:13).”[4]
“Jesus resist the temptation for power and control and again
uses free will to resist temptation.”[5] He
does not let the concept of power and control and/or riches of the kingdoms
sway him. He stays faithful to his path.
How many times have I allowed the concept of power, control
or even financial stability sway we from where God has called me to be? How many times did I say yes to the easy
light path or maybe it was the expected path.
Not necessarily being tempted by power but perhaps giving into to power
and influence as opposed to doing what God would want or has called me to be. I
wonder.
Ministry Matters website reminds us:
Most of the time,
without any real thought, we do what we want to do and make inferior choices.
We trivialize sin when we think of it as an error in judgment. Sin is a flawed
approach to decision making that leads us to the worst decision with which we
can be comfortable. In a thousand ways, we get used to making lesser choices.
We’re so used to choosing what’s easiest that deciding to become more than we
are doesn’t occur to us.
Yet it’s always
possible to be true to the higher calling. Jesus is baptized in the muddy water
of the Jordan River. The voice from heaven proclaims, “You are my child, my
beloved, in you I am well pleased.” Then Jesus goes to the middle of nowhere to
decide what kind of child he’s going to be.”[6]
This time of Lent is an opportunity for each one of us to enter
an intentional time of prayer, reflection and fasting if you feel called to do
so. This is a time when one can decide What
kind of child of God am I called to be. Maybe this is a time of self-sacrifice
for the better of the self and or the world around you. It is for you to decide. The one thing I
recommend is just don’t give in to temptation and make the easy choice. pray about it and allow yourself to be
challenged. Amen
[1] Miles
McPherson, 40 days of prayer and fasting, 1997, accessed February 28, 2017,
http://www.sdrock.com/uploads/docs/archive/prayerfasting.pdf.
[2] Scott
Hoezee, ed., The Abingdon Preaching Annual (Nashville: Abingdon Press,
2017), 33.
[3]
questions.org, What was the meaning and purpose of Jesus' temptations., 2017,
accessed March 1, 2017, https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-temptations.html.
[4] questions.org,
What was the meaning and purpose of Jesus' temptations., 2017, accessed March
1, 2017, https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-temptations.html.
[5] Hoezee, The
Abingdon Preaching Annual, 33.
[6] Bret
Younger, Disabling intentions, February 1, 7217, accessed March 1, 2017,
http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/4748/disabling-temptations.
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