Day 278 (Matthew 4, Luke 4-5) - Year 4
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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Today we dig into the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, which Mark briefly mentioned yesterday.

After his baptism, Jesus spends 40 days in the desert fasting in preparation for the start of his public ministry. As his fast is coming to a close, the devil shows up on the scene. The word used for devil here is an adjective, not a noun, and it describes someone who falsely accuses, which is exactly what's happening here. Remember the baptism of Jesus where God the Spirit descends on God the Son, and God the Father says, "'This is my beloved Son?'

The father pronounced the son's identity, and in the very next scene, the false accuser comes to bring that identity into question. His whole aim is to derail God's plan for redemption. The enemy wants to get Jesus to give things up now instead of go to the cross. Satan is more afraid of the cross than Jesus is because he knows it means his eternal defeat.

But Jesus fights his lies with Scripture, speaking truth to the false accusations. Something interesting to note here is that Scripture is also the enemy's weapon of choice. Twisted Scripture. He pulls verses out of context, making them mean what he wants them to mean, making promises he has no power to fulfill. The enemy knows Scripture and knows how to use it to his advantage.

That's another reason why what we're doing here is so important, taking in all of the Word of God, seeing how it all fits together. So we'll be less likely to believe the lies the enemy tries to craft out of Scripture to tempt us.

The beginning of this text says the Spirit led Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted. James 1 promises us that God himself never tempts us, and this is consistent with that promise. The Spirit didn't tempt Jesus, but he did lead Jesus into the wilderness where the enemy tempted him. But ultimately, the enemy's temptation was used for good.

How so? Two ways. First, this represents a reversal of the three major temptations the Israelites faced when they were in the wilderness for 40 years. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. We'll link to a short article with more info on this in the show notes. Second, not only does Jesus overcome all Israel faced, but now we know that Jesus can relate to our temptations. He faced greater temptations than we ever will and overcame them.

Before we move on, I have to say, it's possible there was some teleportation happening in this passage, but we don't really know for sure. There will be more on this later, though, so stay tuned. As for now, suffice it to say, spiritual dimensions are apparently a whole nother level. After Jesus finishes his six-week trip to the desert, he gets word that JTB has been arrested, and he goes back to the Galilee region where he grew up. In his hometown of Nazareth, he preaches his first sermon during his public ministry. It's the one we read about in Luke 4, 16-30.

When rabbis would teach in the synagogue, they would often read a text, then explain it.

But when Jesus gets up, he reads the text from Isaiah 61 about how God is sending someone to proclaim good news to the poor and liberty to the captives. And instead of explaining it, Jesus says, I am it. I am the fulfillment of this prophecy. The people are thrilled about it. Verse 22 says they all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. They're like, whoa, seriously? Our local guy is the Messiah? I know his dad, Joseph.

But then things take a turn because Jesus starts recounting stories to them about God's love for outsiders. He talks about 1 Kings 17, where God sends Elijah to feed a foreign widow while all the Israelites were starving in a famine. He talks about 2 Kings 5, where the Syrian leper was the only one who was cleansed. And suddenly, they don't like the idea of proclaiming good news and freedom and favor because they only want it to apply to them, not the people of other nations, not their enemies. So...

The guy they were praising moments earlier, they're now trying to kill. They try to throw Jesus off a cliff, but scripture says he passes from their midst. Again, this sounds like teleportation. I can't explain it. Around this time, Jesus moves to Capernaum, which is about a two-day walk from Nazareth. I'd want to get out of there too if I were him. Plus, Capernaum is gorgeous. It's on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and it's one of the most important cities in the area at that time.

And it's important to note that this is one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse areas of Israel in this day, which seems intentional given the mission Jesus is on. We'll talk more about that in the days ahead.

Jesus already knows some people from Capernaum like Simon Peter. In fact, today we recount the story of when he first calls Simon Peter and some of the other guys to follow him as disciples. It happens while they're fishing by the Lake of Gennesaret, which is another name for the Sea of Galilee. This is one of the confusing things about Scripture. There are so many names for the same thing. So I'll try to clarify when I think it might be helpful. By the way, this is the same instance we read about yesterday, where Jesus officially calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John to be his disciples.

I love how it all goes down. These professional fishermen are failing miserably at their job. Then Jesus walks up like tech support and says, have you tried unplugging it then plugging it back in again? And they're like, uh, okay, sure. But it works. They catch so many fish, the nets are breaking and the boats are sinking. And at that point, when he invites them to follow him, they jump at the opportunity. They know there's something special about this man.

Contrary to what the Renaissance paintings portray, Jesus' disciples are young and spry. They're probably in the range of 13 to 15 years old. We know that because they're still young enough to follow a rabbi or teacher, which usually happens for Jewish boys at age 12. But it appears these guys have been rejected by other rabbis.

They're in the early stages of their work life where they're mostly working at their dad's business. Peter is married and maybe a few others, but most of them appear to be single. And they're following Jesus, who is 30 years old at this point. And as we keep reading, we'll see that he often refers to them as little children. So we have to shake off the mental image of their weathered foreheads and their massive beards and instead picture scrawny little fishermen with raging hormones and lots of energy. That perspective will also help some of Peter's actions make a lot more sense.

When Jesus moves to Capernaum, lots of scholars think he probably moved into Peter's family's house. Here's why. In ancient Jewish culture, extended families lived together, so Peter's mother-in-law would have lived with him. The culture also restricted adult males from being in the private chambers of a home unless they lived in that home. And since Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law while she was lying down at home, it seems to add up.

Archaeologists think they found that house where Peter and possibly Jesus lived. We'll link to a short article about that in the show notes. We visit that house on our teaching trips to Israel, and it's right across from the entrance to the synagogue where Jesus taught with authority in front of his disciples, then healed the man with a demon in today's reading. He does a lot of healing in today's reading. And you may have wondered why in Luke 5.12, he tells the leper he heals to keep things hush-hush. Why doesn't Jesus want anyone to know he healed this guy?

Put a pin in that. We'll come back to it in the days ahead. Today's reading also mentions a lot of first century synagogues, and it tells us that Jesus was preaching in all of them. For a long time, scholars used this verse in an effort to disprove scripture, because as far as they know, there were no first century synagogues. They argued that first century Jews only worshipped in the temple in Jerusalem, not locally. But in recent years, archaeologists have discovered seven first century synagogues.

Some of them are in remarkable condition despite being buried for 2,000 years. One of them even has the mosaic tile floor intact. We visit that synagogue on our trips to Israel. It's in the hometown of Mary Magdalene, and it's one of my favorite stops on the tour.

Today, Jesus also calls Matthew the tax collector to be one of his disciples. In the text, he's called Levi, but all the evidence points to this being the same person as Matthew the gospel writer. Look for a short article about that in our show notes if you want more info. Tax collectors like Matthew slash Levi are especially hated in Jesus' day, not just in the way we joke about the IRS.

They're hated not only because they overcharge people, but primarily because their job is to collect money from the Jews to fund the Roman army, the occupying army who has moved into their country and is oppressing them, making their lives miserable in general, and even killing their family members. Imagine if someone took your paycheck and used it to fund the murder of your family. That is why the people hate the tax collectors so much.

So think for a minute about what it says about Jesus that he sought out the people who were rejected by rabbis and hated by locals.

This is where I saw my God shot today. He's already showing us that his kingdom is an upside-down kingdom. He's seeking out the unwanted and the unloved. He's pointing to Old Testament stories of healing and provision for the foreigners. And he's saying he's come to bring freedom for prisoners and liberty for the oppressed and sight for the blind and good news for the poor. And all of this is so encouraging to you if you're the oppressed, if you're the imprisoned. But it's not good news for the jailers and the oppressors.

Because when you set prisoners free, the jailers grow even more furious and entitled and self-righteous. And the minute Jesus points this out to the people of Nazareth, they try to kill him. But he knew what he was doing. He knew they would reject him. He even said it to them in his sermon in Luke 4. He knew from the beginning that they would reject him. And still he came.

to be rejected by the people he loved, to feel their pain so he could lead them out of bondage and into joy, to lead them to himself because he's where the joy is. The Bible Recap is brought to you by DGroup, discipleship and Bible study groups that meet in homes and churches around the world each week. For more information on DGroup, visit mydgroup.org.