Lenten
Reflections on Scripture Day 5: Getting the most out of Scripture
Today we will look at the passage from this morning’s Gospel reading, Luke 4:1-13. We talked a bit about it yesterday, so today we will mostly focus on how to get the most out of this -or any other- passage of scripture.
Let’s face it Just reading scripture for its own sake can become habitual, and we end up taking it for granted rather than digging in for the gold that lies therein , and all too often we don’t get the full message the writer is trying to convey because a) we don’t look at it in context, not just in terms of what the writer is trying to tell us, but in a context of time as well. Often we don’t even look for different layers of meaning and symbolism in it, and much of the seed, as it were, falls by the wayside among thorns and rocks, instead of fertile soil, where if watered by the Holy Spirit it can produce fruit in abundance. To wit, you can gather something new from a passage each time you read it. THAT is why we say it is life changing.
So let’s dissect this passage. My comments are in red, and they look at what has just happened in light of the old testament, and from meditating on what is said, instead of skimming over it.
4 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the desert, Note that this takes place shortly if not immediately after his baptism at the hands of John the Baptist When The Holy Spirit descended on Him. Which is the first time the Third Person of the Trinity the Holy Ghost/Spirit is mentioned and at this point, as it would be until Pentecost, Jesus is the only one indwelt.
Today we will look at the passage from this morning’s Gospel reading, Luke 4:1-13. We talked a bit about it yesterday, so today we will mostly focus on how to get the most out of this -or any other- passage of scripture.
Let’s face it Just reading scripture for its own sake can become habitual, and we end up taking it for granted rather than digging in for the gold that lies therein , and all too often we don’t get the full message the writer is trying to convey because a) we don’t look at it in context, not just in terms of what the writer is trying to tell us, but in a context of time as well. Often we don’t even look for different layers of meaning and symbolism in it, and much of the seed, as it were, falls by the wayside among thorns and rocks, instead of fertile soil, where if watered by the Holy Spirit it can produce fruit in abundance. To wit, you can gather something new from a passage each time you read it. THAT is why we say it is life changing.
So let’s dissect this passage. My comments are in red, and they look at what has just happened in light of the old testament, and from meditating on what is said, instead of skimming over it.
4 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the desert, Note that this takes place shortly if not immediately after his baptism at the hands of John the Baptist When The Holy Spirit descended on Him. Which is the first time the Third Person of the Trinity the Holy Ghost/Spirit is mentioned and at this point, as it would be until Pentecost, Jesus is the only one indwelt.
2 For the space of forty days; and was tempted by the devil. And he
ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, he was hungry. To really
get the most out of this passage, we need to try on Jesus’ Sandals for a while,
as it were to really get a grasp on what is going on here. First, let’s
remember that Even though Jesus is both fully God and fully man He voluntarily
laid aside His powers as God in order
that he could properly live out the life of a man facing all the temptations ,
suffering and pain all humanity must.
Those of us in modern western countries have trouble grasping where Jesus must have been at mentally and physically at this point. He went to the desert for 40 days with no food and probably only enough water to survive (He too was bound by natural law) We in the west generally don’t know such deprivation. Imagine how you feel after one DAY of fasting... We know how we feel after a full day especially when dinner is being served late. Now try putting yourself in that kind of hunger in Jesus place in your mind’s eye. Now imagine a really hot, dry, summer’s day spent with no shade, when you are weak from fasting. Now imagine Jesus 40 days down the road.
Satan perceived that it was the time to strike and see if there was any way to derail the Cross, and disqualifying Jesus as Saviour.
Those of us in modern western countries have trouble grasping where Jesus must have been at mentally and physically at this point. He went to the desert for 40 days with no food and probably only enough water to survive (He too was bound by natural law) We in the west generally don’t know such deprivation. Imagine how you feel after one DAY of fasting... We know how we feel after a full day especially when dinner is being served late. Now try putting yourself in that kind of hunger in Jesus place in your mind’s eye. Now imagine a really hot, dry, summer’s day spent with no shade, when you are weak from fasting. Now imagine Jesus 40 days down the road.
Satan perceived that it was the time to strike and see if there was any way to derail the Cross, and disqualifying Jesus as Saviour.
3 And the devil
said to him: If thou be the Son of God, say to this stone that it be made bread.
4 And Jesus answered him: It is written, that Man liveth not by
bread alone, but by every word of God. Jesus , in
the midst of his suffering with the devil dangling the middle eastern
equivalent of a Cheeseburger and fries and
a bottle of water in front of Him immediately reverted to scripture to fortify
Himself against this temptation. He reached into the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy
and silenced the devil. He also showed
us how important it is to read and know scripture and use that as the guidepost
against which you make your decisions.
5 And the devil led him into a high mountain, and shewed him all the
kingdoms of the world in a moment of time;
6 And he said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the
glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them.
7 If thou therefore wilt adore before me, all shall be thine.
8 And Jesus answering said to him: It is written: Thou shalt adore
the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
A good hermeneutical principle to follow when reading scripture is that if something is repeated, especially soon after , that it is a point that God (who inspired the writer, in this case Luke) wants to hit home with and underline the importance of the principle. So once again, when Jesus is tempted , this time with temporal political power , He falls back on scripture to help Him resist.
Again there is a reference to the Old Testament here. Doesn’t this remind you of Genesis where Esau had such little regard for his birthright as the firstborn of Isaac’s sons that in his hunger (only after a few hours out hunting) how easily he sold his birthright to his younger brother Jacob for a bowl of red pottage? Jesus was having none of that from Satan. The difference is that Jesus, unlike Esau, strengthened through prayer, and reverence for the Word of God was thus able to keep in perspective what really had value.
A good hermeneutical principle to follow when reading scripture is that if something is repeated, especially soon after , that it is a point that God (who inspired the writer, in this case Luke) wants to hit home with and underline the importance of the principle. So once again, when Jesus is tempted , this time with temporal political power , He falls back on scripture to help Him resist.
Again there is a reference to the Old Testament here. Doesn’t this remind you of Genesis where Esau had such little regard for his birthright as the firstborn of Isaac’s sons that in his hunger (only after a few hours out hunting) how easily he sold his birthright to his younger brother Jacob for a bowl of red pottage? Jesus was having none of that from Satan. The difference is that Jesus, unlike Esau, strengthened through prayer, and reverence for the Word of God was thus able to keep in perspective what really had value.
9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the
temple, and he said to him: If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself from hence.
10 For it is written, that He hath given his angels charge over thee,
that they keep thee.
11 And that in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest perhaps thou
dash thy foot against a stone.
12 And Jesus answering, said to him: It is said: Thou shalt not tempt
the Lord thy God.
The next move in his bag of tricks was to ask Jesus to step back from total faith and trust in God the Father, by putting Him to the test as to whether He would indeed protect him from harm. Jesus once again falls back on Scripture from the Old Testament, and let Satan know that Hunger , thirst, fatigue and discomfort notwithstanding, He knew the Word was built upon solid rock. Jesus said this knowing full well what was coming at the end of his brief sojourn on earth, and knew that if He didn’t have total trust in His father now, He might succumb later at the Cross, and call upon legions of angels to tke Him down, and the mission will have failed.
So we too, have our mission here on earth, and the enemy would like nothing better that to derail it, so Jesus is telling us, “Trust in the Father and His will, and that his plan and your small part in it will be fulfilled. You don’t need to test Him, and in fact testing, not trusting will break His heart”
The next move in his bag of tricks was to ask Jesus to step back from total faith and trust in God the Father, by putting Him to the test as to whether He would indeed protect him from harm. Jesus once again falls back on Scripture from the Old Testament, and let Satan know that Hunger , thirst, fatigue and discomfort notwithstanding, He knew the Word was built upon solid rock. Jesus said this knowing full well what was coming at the end of his brief sojourn on earth, and knew that if He didn’t have total trust in His father now, He might succumb later at the Cross, and call upon legions of angels to tke Him down, and the mission will have failed.
So we too, have our mission here on earth, and the enemy would like nothing better that to derail it, so Jesus is telling us, “Trust in the Father and His will, and that his plan and your small part in it will be fulfilled. You don’t need to test Him, and in fact testing, not trusting will break His heart”
13 And all
the temptation being ended, the devil departed from him for a time.
And if we , inspired by Jesus, fall back on the word, and the Holy Spirit which now indwells every believer, Satan will depart from us too..... Until a more opportune time... Like “The Terminator” , unfortunately, “He’ll be back” .
He will wait for our next time in the desert, whether we have wandered off there to fast and meditate, or more likely, got careless and wandered back in inadvertently, but Scripture provides us a way out in God’s will.
And if we , inspired by Jesus, fall back on the word, and the Holy Spirit which now indwells every believer, Satan will depart from us too..... Until a more opportune time... Like “The Terminator” , unfortunately, “He’ll be back” .
He will wait for our next time in the desert, whether we have wandered off there to fast and meditate, or more likely, got careless and wandered back in inadvertently, but Scripture provides us a way out in God’s will.
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