The Wilderness
MATTHEW 4:1-11
[Mt 4:1] Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. [2] And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. [3] And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” [4] But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’”
[5] Then the devil *took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, [6] and *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,
‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU’; and
‘ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP,
SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’”
[7] Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’”
[8] Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; [9] and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” [10] Then Jesus *said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’” [11] Then the devil *left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.
MATTHEW 4:1
[Mt 4:1] Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
“Into the wilderness...”
There is a definite connection between the wilderness and God’s call. Joel, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Job preached on the wilderness. Hagar, the Israelites and David wandered there to be refined by the Lord. Elijah hides there, Elisha ministers there and John comes from there. Finally, Jesus is sent there by the Holy Spirit. What is it about the wilderness that God sees as fundamental to followers? It is the place where our reliance on this world is stripped away. It is a place where we are exposed; to the elements, where we are no longer at the top of the food chain (no longer “in charge”), and where our needs our reduced to the basics. It is a place where we become reliant on God — or “The Opposer”; it is the place where all our motives are exposed and there is no place to hide.
Deuteronomy 8:2-6
[Dt 8:2] “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. [3] “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. [4] “Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. [5] “Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. [6] “Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.”
This morning I had a great session with a fellow follower who is “learning to trust God.” I asked him; “Who are you trusting God to be?”
This seemed suddenly important to me because our trust is more often than not a setup of others. We trust others to “perfectly live up to our expectations” and when they don’t — we too easily find the fault with them. If we trust God to fill our expectations (for comfort, acceptance and power) we can expect to be disappointed. If we trust God to give us our wants and not shape them, we can be assured of frustration — eternally.
But here is one matter where we can definitely trust God; God will take us to the wilderness. He will take us to the place we are least comfortable, least respected and most vulnerable so we can finally discover Him as the absolute center of fullness and wholeness. He will free us of our deception and fill us with an emptiness that cries only for one source; “Lord to whom else would we go [John 6:68]?”
There are words used in this opening statement that are vibrantly rich in meaning:
· “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit...” This term [G321 anago] means not only to “leap up” or ‘bring’ but it also means to ‘launch’ or ‘put out to sea’ and the root of the word [G71 ago] means ‘to be arrested’. The timing and the emphasis of this event is critical. First we know that the only earthly witness of this event was Jesus himself. So, it is our Lord’s personal story being recited to us by Matthew, Mark and Luke. It was critical for the followers of Jesus to know that he too was deeply tempted by the malevolent force that seeks to wound God.
Hebrews 4:15-16
[Heb 4:15] For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. [16] Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Our Lord is living proof that all people are tested; but also that temptation can be overcome. Then, he gives us the blueprint both for how we will be tested and how we can overcome it.
Also, we see the importance of the timing: After Jesus steps into the Jordan — after he makes a major commitment to leave behind his worldly commitments as a craftsman and Mary’s son — we see that he is affirmed by three witnesses: John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit, and the Father Himself. Then, immediately, our Lord is ‘arrested’ by the Holy Spirit and sent to be refined in the wilderness. His boat is launched… his journey is started. In the wilderness he will learn his course and see the rocks and sandbars where Satan will attempt to shipwreck our Lord.
· The term for wilderness [G2048 eremos] was also known as a place of desolation, seclusion and solitude. The particular wilderness where the boat of Jesus is launched is Gehenna or the Valley of Hinnom. The history of this desert is particularly morose. It was at the ‘high places of Baal’ in the Valley of Hinnom, that parents sacrificed their children as a burnt offering to the pagan god Molech [2 Kin. 23:10]. Both King Ahaz and Manesseh of Judah practiced these sacrifices [2 Chr. 28:3; 33:6] but King Josiah had these altars destroyed during his reign. Jeremiah prophesied doom to “the Valley of the Son of Hinnom” preaching that it would become known instead as “the Valley of Slaughter [Jer. 7:31-32; 19:2,6; 32:35].”
Jerusalem used the valley as a garbage dump and it is where Peter went to weep after denying Jesus. Fires and smoke continually filled the valley as refuse, waste materials, and dead animals were burned there day and night. The Greek term for “Valley of Hinnom” — Gehenna — is used 11 times by Jesus and once by James as the term for “hell” [Matt. 5:22; Mark 9:43, 45-47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6]. The people of Christ’s times would even refer to that area as the Devil’s property because people lost there rarely returned alive or sane.
Why would the Spirit arrest Jesus and take him there? Why would God decide to launch our Lord’s ministry in that place? A clue to that question can be found when we look at what Jesus said about John the Baptist:
Matthew 11:7-11
[Mt 11:7] As these men were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? [8] “But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings’palaces! [9] “But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. [10] “This is the one about whom it is written,
‘BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU,
WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.’
[11] “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
This was the place where spiritual giants were trained. If you want to train someone for a great mission you teach her or him to survive in the toughest environment you can find. Conversely, if you want to train someone who blows over in the slightest wind, wears dainty clothes and can’t deal with hardship take him for a weekend retreat at a classy hotel. Jesus was entering the toughest time of his life; indeed of any life in history. Where else would he go but to the opposition’s property; to the Satan’s back yard?
From these readings, one almost gets the sense that Jesus is throwing the gauntlet down before Satan. He is “calling Satan out”; Christ seems to be ending his years of silence with a loud pronouncement: “Here — in this place — is where I draw the line, Satan! My ministry has begun. I have come to call you out.”
Even the name of Satan gives a clue to his status. His full name in Greek is often “Kata-Diabolos.” In all of my research into the Greek and Hebrew references to the name and character of Satan, the fullest definition I could find for the Evil One was: “One who is cast into the dung heap to rise from the dung heap.”
It is the Evil One, the Reviled One, the Opposer, the Accuser, who would gleefully cover us with the sins (dung) of our past and tell us that it is also our future. His role is to ‘bring charges’ [G1225 diaballo], which is also the root of his name. He is the Tester and the Temptor; his temptation [G3985 peirazo] is: “Prove to me that you are a child of God…” Or, as it is so eloquently in this reading: “If you are the Son of God…”
Expect Satan to constantly question your worth before God, to question God’s ability to love you — no matter what you have done in your past, no matter how you have sinned or fallen and failed. Creating constant doubt is the desire of the King of the Dung Heap. That is our chief Opposer. That is The Temptor.
MATTHEW 4:2
And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.
Forty days and forty nights...
Just as with the first verse, there is also a great deal of symbolism behind these words. Jesus fasted [G3522 nesteuo (nace-tyoo’-o)] which means to religiously abstain from food. However the root of the word means to “be strengthened by abstaining.” There are many times and many ways that we can be “strengthened by abstaining”; from gossip, from television, from pornography, from alcohol, the list is endless. Our Lord went to Gehenna to be strengthened by abstaining from the basic desires of life and at the end of forty days it left him hungry [G3983 peinao (pi-nah’-o)]. Here again, is a word filled with imagery. It means to pine for, to be pinched from hunger, to crave or to be famished. Yet, the root word is to cringe as in a beggar cringing from the abuse of those who pass by him.
The emphasis is this: Our Lord purposely put himself in a position where he was so vulnerable that he was like a cringing beggar; but he did it in order to more clearly hear God’s call. Am I willing to make myself that susceptible to God? Do I seek to be that available to my Lord?
Jesus did this for a significant amount of days; not just significant in terms of the numbers — but it was also religiously significant. The number forty is perhaps the most significant number in the bible:
· It was the number of days that it rained on the world to wipe out the stain of man [Gen 4:4]
· It was the number of days that Moses spent fasting in the cloud of the Lord prior to receiving the written commandments on both the first and second occasions.
Exodus 34:28
So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. (See also Deuteronomy 9 and 10).
· It was the number of days that Israel’s spies entered Canaan before bringing back a report that showed their lack of faith (of everyone by Caleb — it was also Caleb’s age when he was sent into Canaan).
Numbers 13:30
Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.”
Joshua 14:7
“I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought word back to him as it was in my heart.
· It was the number of years that the sons of Israel were forced to wander in the wilderness after they refused to follow Caleb’s call:
Numbers 14:33-34
“Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness. [34] ‘According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition.”
Numbers 32:13
“So the LORD’S anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of the LORD was destroyed.
· It was the number of days that Goliath taunted Saul’s army before David arrived [1 Sam 17:16] and the number of years that both David and Solomon reigned over Israel:
2 Samuel 5:3-4
[2Sa 5:3] So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them before the LORD at Hebron; then they anointed David king over Israel. [4] David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.
1 Kings 11:42
Thus the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.
· It was the measurement of the inner court of Solomon’s temple [1 Kings 6:17] and the nave and courts of the temple in Ezekiel’s vision [Ezekiel 41:2 and 42:22].
· It was the length of time that Jonah gave the Ninevites to change and — when they did — God forgave them:
Jonah 3:3-10
[Jon 3:3] So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’walk. [4] Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
[5] Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. [6] When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. [7] He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. [8] “But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. [9] “Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.”
[10] When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
· It was the number of assassins that the High Priests sent after Paul:
Acts 23:12-13
[Ac 23:12] When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. [13] There were more than forty who formed this plot.
· It was the number of days Christ continued to appear to his followers after his resurrection:
Acts 1:3
To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.
The Hebrew language is not an economic language (such as ours); numbers had symbolic meanings as well as being terms of measurement. The Hebrew term for forty had a deeper meaning than just it’s numeric value; just as other numbers had symbolic values: Seven (the number for wholeness) or six (the number for less than whole) and twelve (the number of the sons of Jacob and the tribes of Israel). The number forty meant as long as it takes or as much as it takes to accomplish God’s purpose.
The Israelites may well have wandered in the wilderness (actually they were in multiple wildernesses: Shur, Paran, Wandering, Tarawah, Arabah, and Zin) for forty years — but assuredly, they were kept in the wilderness for as long as it took to get rid of those with the mindsets of slaves and raise a generation of nation-builders. The Lord rained on the world as long as it took to wipe out the evil of man. The Lord sent spies into Canaan for as long as it took to prove their character (of lack of it).
The number of days that Jesus was in the wilderness is extremely symbolic; it was as long as it took for Satan’s ways to be revealed but he was also there one day for every year that the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness. His time in the wilderness was meant to correlate with our wandering, our sin, the years we waste without God. It is highly symbolic of his commitment to us.
It is hard for us to imagine such a fast; I think of how few of us would even spend forty minutes with a troubled child or forgotten elderly man or woman who needs a friend. I consider how the average father spends far less than 40 minutes a week in healthy conversation with a teenage son (the last figure I heard was 2.5 minutes per week). I am reminded at how few of us would even carve out forty minutes a week to spend with the one we call “Lord,” but we have no problems watching a two-hour movie or a three-hour sports event.
Jesus spent as long as it took to clearly hear God’s direction, to become vulnerable, hungry; a cringing beggar for our sakes. How long are we willing to spend in the Lord’s wilderness before we start making demands on our investment or simply become bored and impatient?
It is a frightening prayer, but I ask this for myself and those around me: “Lord, please take us to a place where we will become starved for you!”
MATTHEW 4:3-10
[3] And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” [4] But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’ “
[5] Then the devil *took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, [6] and *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,
‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU’; and
‘ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP,
SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’ “
[7] Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’ “
[8] Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; [9] and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” [10] Then Jesus *said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’”
“If You are the Son of God…”
In the study from Luke 4:1-14, I looked at each individual temptation in detail. This time I would like to look at the temptations corporately; how they tie together to show us what we can expect from Satan based upon how he attacked our Lord.
We can be assured that we know Satan is pursuing us if we hear these words: “If you are beloved by God…”
Here is the progression of Satan’s preambles to temptations:
[v3] “If you are the son of God…”
[v5] “If you are the son of God…”
[v9] “If you will worship me…”
It is the way of Satan to make us question: “What makes you think that God could possibly love you?” Satan seeks to coat us with what we have done and God seeks to challenge us with whom we can become. God is neither concerned with what we have done or even what we will do; He cares only that we will be in relationship with him and especially in his most vulnerable form: “Will you be with me when I am hungry, when I am cold, when I am naked or when I am incarcerated?”
We are often convinced that God can’t love us because of what we did and won’t love us except for what we will do. So Satan hammers away at this twice with Jesus: “How could you be loved? How could you be special to God?” Then, the Deceiver shifts to a different tactic; “If you worship me, think of what we could do.”
However, doing and having is not at all what our Father blesses; in fact, He blesses us for who we are and what we give. When Jesus receives the ultimate blessing of the Lord — “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” — Jesus had yet to begin his public ministry. Yet, he had given up his comfort, status and home in order to step into the River Jordan. It is the decision that God blesses; the decision to be available to God; not what Jesus has done or even what he will do. Eventually, that decision will lead him to give up everything including his life to become the perfect offering, the superlative gift of love.
It is the desire of Satan to fool us into thinking that our worthiness is dependent upon what we have or do. Satan would love us to believe that God weighs the number of things we ‘did’ right with the number of things we ‘did’ wrong and evaluates our salvation on the ratio. It is the beauty of God that our worthiness is based upon our availability to Him; especially in His most vulnerable form.
The three levels of temptations
As Christ overcomes each temptation, Satan increases the intensity of his temptations until he promises the entire world. However, the one thing Satan does not offer is love. The singular focus of Satan’s temptations is this: “I will give you any thing to make you worship me instead of loving God.”
In other discussions, we have examined how Satan does not want our love, respect or relationship; he wants only to suck us dry and leave us spent. In the end, it is not you or I that Satan wants; it is not a relationship with us that he seeks. Satan seeks one thing and that is to hurt God. We are left like the exoskeletons of dead insects in a spider’s web after the web-weaver has robbed them of their life’s essence.
What are the enticements of the Prince of Lies and how do they interact? There are three levels of temptations that Satan offers Jesus and each is increasingly difficult to a) detect and b) resist. In this story — given to us by the Lord himself — we can see into the Evil One’s mind and the vacuum of his heart. He offers us:
1. Comfort and Immediate Gratification
We can always count on Satan to try and entice us with personal comfort or egocentricity. This includes all physical forms of distractions that we would willingly grasp and which would keep us from seeking God in His purest, most holy form. There are so many of us that fall at this level of temptation that Satan never even has to offer us a deeper enticement. It could be as simple as a beer, TV and lounge chair that we see as our own throne in the castle or as difficult as the lust that robs the heart of our healthy inter-gender relationships.
The person trapped by comfort will never be a threat to Satan or a servant in God’s Kingdom. This is Satan’s easiest snare, yet most of us rarely make it out of this most rudimentary trap.
2. Approval
If we make it past seeking our own comfort in life; the Deceitful One uses a deeper ploy to attack us. Satan offers Jesus prestige and the crowd’s approval if he throws himself off of the highest corner of the temple wall. Whose approval do I want so bad that I am willing to do anything to get it?
For many of us, we long for a blessing from a parent that we never received. I remember learning in a counseling class that; “We always seek the love of the parent who loved us the least.”
The greatest trial of adolescence is helping people move beyond peer approval and into developing a personal set of values by which they will make their life choices. Yet, how many adults never make it past this stage in their lives; buying bigger cars, houses or RV’s with the singular purpose of impressing those around them?
This person might get beyond comfort in their life, they might move beyond immediate gratification, yet their life is hampered because they seek the immediate approval of this world and are unable to weigh their choices by things eternal.
3. Power
The person who can move beyond the constant temptations of comfort or acceptance is still not free of Satan’s ever-deceptive traps. The deepest level of deception is the falsehood of power. There are very few people who can get beyond self-gratification and approval. However, those who do rise above the base temptations will find themselves in a position to manipulate and control others who resist even the first two temptations. These people quickly rise in man’s power structures and use their ability to manipulate others to further themselves. They have always done well in religious, financial or political systems; but they can be just as manipulative on the street trading in human lives.
How few people can obtain power and not use it to manipulate others for their own ideologies or ends. Manipulation is when we use another person for our own ends without revealing our motives. Have you noticed how deceitful Satan was about hiding his true motives from Jesus? Even to the point of using scripture to attempt to confuse our Lord? How often have we seen powerful deceivers use scripture and religion to mask their true motives? Indeed, the deeper the temptation the more we can ‘dress it up to look pretty’.
The greatest deception of Satan is using ends to justify means: “If you worship me; I will help you achieve all of your goals.” Satan is telling our Lord and Savior that he can make us worship Jesus if Jesus will worship him. Satan could not be more obvious in this final temptation because he reveals his true perception of God’s beloved creation: “All these things I will give You…”
The word, “things [G5023 tauta]”, reveals how Satan views us — not as beings, not as beloved, not as God’s children — but as things. We are manipulators when we see others as ‘things’ in our toy box, tools for us to use and discard, and means to our ends. We can be assured this is how Satan sees us and it is incomprehensible to him that Jesus can see more in us than playthings to be used towards his own gratification.
Pleasure, approval and control; these are the tools of Satan and they are all centered on one source: Self; the deceitful self. Satan will always deceive us with self. “What about my contentment, my needs, and my rights: What about me?”
In the midst of a ‘self-help’ society, Jesus’ responses stand out. Self-focus never frees us; it only traps us. It doesn’t deepen us; it makes us shallower. It doesn’t bring us joy; it makes us more bitter and angry, more possessive and spiteful. There is no salvation in self. Our salvation lies in giving away all of our selfish desires to love our Creator and His beloved children.
MATTHEW 4:11
[11] Then the devil *left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.
“…Angels came and began to minister to Him.”
We have two complimentary accounts from Matthew and Luke about how this story ends. Matthew shows Satan departing and angels descending to ‘minister’ to Christ. The word ‘minister’ [G1247diakoneo (dee-ak-on-eh’-o)] means to ‘wait upon’ or ‘serve’; however, it is also one of the terms used for a deacon or a follower of Jesus. Here is Luke’s complimentary version:
Luke 4:13-15
[13] And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. [14] And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit; and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. [15] And He {began} teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.
John’s version skips the temptations and goes right from the baptism to the call of the first disciples (however he uses the word ‘Mathetes’ [G3101], which means pupil or learner). Mark, on the other hand covers the whole incident in four verses:
Mark 1:12-15
[12] And immediately the Spirit impelled Him {to go} out into the wilderness. [13] And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him. [14] And after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, [15] and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
What we learn from all the accounts is this:
1. It was the Holy Spirit who sent Jesus into the wilderness for the purpose of being tempted;
2. The result of the temptations was to refine Jesus’ purpose and the means by which he would carry that purpose out. He would not seek personal comfort, the approval of man or manipulate others to get his ends;
3. Following the temptations; Jesus was served by ‘disciples’ from God — Mark and Matthew tell us they were angels; John tells us they were the first two followers of Christ. In any context, God never leaves us without community as we attempt to follow Him completely.
4. Finally, after the intense experience of the wilderness, it is not time for Jesus to rest. It is time for him to fulfill his role: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
We also learned that Satan only left Jesus until a more ‘opportune’ time. Satan again tries to detract Jesus from his mission on multiple occasions: Through Nicodemus offering him a chance to compromise and become a part of the religious ‘team’; through Pontius and his offer to save Jesus if our Lord just compromises on the truth; and, even through Peter when he tells Jesus not to go to Jerusalem. However, the tactics of Satan never change, nor do his motives. The wilderness experience helped Jesus clearly see the ‘way of sin’ and through our Lord’s experience we too learn of Satan’s ploys.
Where are we in this story? Have we even stepped into the Jordan yet to give up our worldly title, position and comforts? Have we heard the blessing of our wonderful Father; “You are my beloved child; in whom I am well-pleased.” Have we been taken by the Spirit to the wilderness to be refined? Have we made it through the temptations of comfort, acceptance or power?
Has God given us a community of support to continue the journey? Have we taken up our true mission to love others as Christ loved us? Have we confronted the temptations in multiple forms and yet remained committed to forego personal comfort, self-righteousness and false ideologies?
The way of Jesus is hard. The way of Jesus is filled with temptation; but each temptation refines us and strengthens us — if we can resist it. Here are some scriptural promises for those who are able to resist the Evil One:
Ephesians 6:12-18
[12] For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual {forces} of wickedness in the heavenly {places.} [13] Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. [14] Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, [15] and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; [16] in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil {one.} [17] And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. [18] With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.
James 4:7-8
[7] Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
1 Peter 5:8-11
[8] Be of sober {spirit,} be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [9] But resist him, firm in {your} faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. [10] And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen {and} establish you. [11] To Him {be} dominion forever and ever. Amen.
We spoke earlier of perfect trust and here are the promises of perfect trust. We can trust that God loves us so much that He will take us to the wilderness to refine us. We can trust that He will not allow us to seek comfort, approval and power in this world without challenging us. But we must resist the temptation to become ever more self-conceited, obsessive about the world’s applause and approval or manipulative, self-righteous and ideological.
It is the way of God to lead us into deeper understand of humility, compassion and self-sacrifice. These qualities we can trust from our Lord.
They were fishers…
MATTHEW 4:12-23
12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; 13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: 14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. 21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. 22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. (KJV)
OVERVIEW OF MATTHEW 4:12-23
They were fishers
They weren’t aristocrats, priests, or philosophers, neither were they the professional mercenaries of Rome or the ruling class of Jerusalem. They were coarse, broad-shouldered, illiterate men whose schooling had consisted of a life on the unforgiving and tempestuous Sea of Galilee.
They were Galileans — disdained by Rome and Israel alike — they were the first to pick up arms and the last to lay them down; they were thought of as traitors, terrorists, and troublemakers. On their soil, the greatest victories and defeats of ancient Israel had been fought.
Galilean fisherman; why build your religion on uncouth laborers when Jesus could have picked the finest minds in the world?
Yet, Jesus wasn’t building a religion — or even a movement. He wasn’t thinking strategically or acting clandestinely. He was loving unconditionally. He didn’t pick these disciples (except for Matthew); they came to him. Jesus took the first people he saw as he walked out of the desert and back towards Galilee. He took who God sent him — he didn’t handpick the greatest minds of his time. It was all about God’s will and zilch about his own. If God wanted a church of laborers, …then who was Jesus to seek royalty?
Right from the start of Christ’s ministry something fundamental occurs. From these first disciples on, subtle lines were being drawn. Those who considered following Jesus would look at his uncouth disciples and either say; “If he accepts them — maybe he will take me.” Or, “I’m not going to hang around people like that!”
Ultimately, our relationship with God also hinges on those two questions. Would I be comfortable with the crowd that picked Jesus?
MATTHEW 4:12
12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed
With John’s arrest, Jesus takes two strategic actions. First, he gets out of Herod Antipas’ reach. Jesus would tell his own disciples they needed to be, “wise as serpents and gentle as doves,” in other words, “Know what the Enemy is up to and respond with the power of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus is merely taking his own advice.
He sees that Satan is using the Herodian family to attack him (as the Evil One had done shortly after Christ’s birth). Our Lord knows that it was not yet time for his sacrifice; the church still had to find its roots. So, Jesus makes a hard choice; he retreats into the depths of Galilee and regroups. Our Lord is not running from his death, he is picking the right time for it. He is picking his battles strategically — unwilling to waste his precious time on every gauntlet thrown in his path.
Distractions; those are what neutralizes the majority of Christian believers and churches. We fight over stupid and worthless trinkets. We do not understand our central mission and we are not pursuing the vision of Jesus Christ with single-minded fervor. Instead, churches break up over theological trivia and who left the vacuum cleaner in the wrong closet.
How about us? Are we wise enough to know when Satan is trying to distract us from our mission? Is our energy being wasted in gossip and debate when Jesus’ body is suffering in our own backyard?
Do we need to retreat, regroup and refocus!
Secondly, Jesus begins the critical work of gathering his disciples. You see Paul doing the same thing. Always mentoring, always taking people with him on his missionary journeys.
We need to consider one more critical point here before we can continue. Jesus did not go to Galilee to gather an army to fight for John’s release. Our Lord’s disciples never “got this,” even right up to the very end when Peter draws a sword and slashes at the ear off an arresting guard. Jesus was seeking followers who would be willing to die for their testimony (a word that means martyr). Herein is one of many key mysteries of our savior; it is not an army to defend him that he seeks — it is disciples who will love the weak with him.
Let’s retreat into the Lord. Let’s find out where he is calling us to follow. Let’s focus on the causes worth dying for and quit being frozen by distractions. Jesus is ready to send us into the world — let’s make sure that we are not among those who are left at home because we cannot decide which vestments would be ceremonially correct for the occasion.
Word Study
He retired into Galilee, [G402 anachoreo (an-akh-o-reh’-o)]; this term is best understood when divided into its two root words ana [G303] and choreo [G5562]. It is like saying; “He habitually found quiet space.” This is what Jesus was doing in Galilee and he did it every time in his ministry that he had to make a significant choice. We might call this a “retreat,” because the meaning is the same. To “habitually find quiet space” is a sign of a healthy Christ-centered follower.
MATTHEW 4:13-16
13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: 14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. 17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
That it might be fulfilled…
“That it might be fulfilled [G4137 pleroo]…” Matthew, the Instructor, uses this term a total of fourteen times in his writings to express how the birth, death and life of Jesus “made full” or “completed the contract” of God. Each time Matthew uses it; it refers to an Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah. Here are some examples in which we have already seen this term used in Matthew’s Gospel:
Matthew 1:22-23
[22] Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, [23] “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”
Matthew 2:14-15
[14] And he arose and took the Child and His mother by night, and departed for Egypt; [15] and was there until the death of Herod, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, “Out of Egypt did I call My Son.”
Matthew 2:17-18
[17] Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, [18] “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be comforted, because they were no more.”
Matthew 3:14-15
[14] But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” [15] But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit {it} at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him.
Once again we see the theme of Matthew surface repeatedly throughout his writings: 1) Jesus is the Messiah prophesied about throughout the Old Testament; he has arrived! 2) This Jesus is also the Messiah who will return. The Messiah has come, the Messiah will return, this is the point of Matthew’s Gospel.
There is no way to read Matthew’s Gospel aside from attending to this word “pleroo”; fulfilled. In Matthew’s mind, there was no other explanation for Jesus except that he was the Promised One who came and will be the Promise One to come. We must always remember these bookends and never forget our role. For we are the ones commissioned to carry that promise to the ends of the earth.
Matthew 28:19-20
[19] “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Will Jesus find us in the field ‘filling full” (pleroo) his promises?
Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
At the very beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, he accomplishes five strategic tasks:
1. He gives himself to God as an obedient servant (Baptism)
2. He “retreats” into extended prayer in order to understand how Satan will attack him (fasting in the desert)
3. He leads by transparent example (“Come and see”)
4. He clarifies his mission statement (“I have come to proclaim good news to the poor”)
5. And, he begins to instill that mission into what will become the root of the church (gathering the twelve).
In verse 13-16, Matthew wants to once again affirm the prophesied role of Jesus, the Messiah. He sets Jesus’ mission in context of Isaiah’s prophecy: “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.”
Over the years, we have diminished this statement that bursts with promise upon a darkened world into something as menial as; “You better stop sinning because someday you’re going to hell.” In comparison to what Christ said, that is like associating the winter skeleton of an apple tree with the same tree in its fall fullness, laden with fruit and ripe with blessing. The depth of what Jesus says cannot be reduced to a mere highway warning sign; “Cliff ahead… use extreme caution!” Instead, Jesus tells us; “Cliff ahead… Get ready to fly!”
When he says, Repent [G3340 metanoeo],” he is calling us to a higher (meta) knowing (gnoia). The term means total reversal, paradigm shift or greater intimacy. It is as though we are hearing Christ’s call; “Completely turn around your whole way of looking at life, the eternal joy of God is finally no farther than my breath!”
Why gasp in misery for air when the entire breath of God is available to us right here, right now? Jesus isn’t chasing people to heaven with the misery of a worse life than they are already experiencing (have you ever seen a shepherd try and chase sheep)? Our Lord is inviting us to an abundant life resounding in hope; resplendent in peace and founded in salvation — a peace this world can neither understand nor take away! Contrasting the weak pleasures of this world to the grandeur of the Godly life is akin to contrasting the cynicism of today’s television comedies with watching the joy of a mother playing with her newborn baby.
Why live for a joy that would produce anything less?
What encumbrance keeps me from the joy of Jesus? Can I not give that to him with the ultimate trust that he can restore me? Our Lord longs to restore us? He delights in our restoration?
Word Study
Repent [G3340 metanoeo (met-an-o-eh’-o)] this term means to completely change your way of thinking; your paradigm, the entire way that you perceive the world. It is a call to higher knowledge — or more appropriately in the Hebrew language of the Old Testament — a more intimate relationship with God himself.
The Kingdom [G932 basileia (bas-il-i’-ah)] is less a place than a way of being. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus differentiates between the Kingdom and Heaven. The kingdom is available when we do the will of God (on earth as it is always being done in heaven).
Heaven [G3772 ouranos (oo-ran-os’)] this term would be like saying, “all of eternity in this moment and this moment throughout all of eternity.” Scripture does not lead us to believe that heaven will find us in any different spiritual place than we are now — a physically different place — but not a spiritually different place. It will just be our current spiritual life “fulfilled (made full).” If you are full of joy now; imagine being full of joy without encumbrances. If you are devoid of joy now — filled with anger and unforgiving — hell will be that spiritual reality made full.
At hand [G1448 eggizo (eng-id’-zo)]: When Jesus came to earth the kingdom of heaven was “at hand.’’ The term means near or close — ever a heartbeat or one breath away.
They Were Fishers
MATTHEW 4:18
18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
They were fishers.
Let this thought seep in; they were not scholars, they were not warriors, they were not priests, they were fishers. They were men who eked out a living with oar-hardened hands and broad sunburnt shoulders. They were not afraid to work, they were used to hardship and they faced death everyday in a job that is still among the most dangerous in the world. What they lacked in scholarly training — they made up for in sweat.
Yet, think about this. When a fisherman says; “He called me and I gave my life for him.” Who, in turn would argue; “Well, I can’t be as great as them — they were scholars / princes / wealthy aristocrats.”
No, the response of most people would be; “Wow, if Jesus loved him, he could surely love me!” “If Jesus used him for a leader — maybe he could even use me.”
However, there might be one exception to this statement and that would be the man who would say; “I’m not going to be found with the likes of them!”
That statement is the padlock on the gates of hell and heaven. Christ’s special vehemence was saved for that second group of people, the religiously righteous. I need to be so careful with these words — for they are scary indeed. How often those words could slip into the crevasses of my own mind. There are few sharper arrows in the quiver of Satan than the subtle words of pre-judgment.
”Flee!” We must run for our spiritual lives from those thoughts of self-importance. When quietly whispered in our ears, they come from a forked tongue. Indeed, “those people,” are the very people that God made into his most intimate companions!
”They were fishers…”
Boozing, carousing, hard-core malcontents who left their nets for Jesus. What power, what attraction the Lord must have had in order to call hardened men from their revelry! In order to truly understand and apply this principle we need to ask; “Where would I find such people in my community?” “What would call them to become leaders of Christ at the forefront?”
If I want to find Jesus; those are the places where I should go and the people I should embrace. What would it look like to have a church full of these hardened outcasts? A church filled with sinners? But isn’t it true that a church is either filled with sinners or liars anyway?
MATTHEW 4:19
19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men
Fish came from the sea, fishermen came from the sea, but salt also came from the sea. The root word for fisherman was also the root word for sea salt.
In the very next chapter, our Lord will refer to this salt. “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savior, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. [Matthew 5.13 KJV].”
Jesus accepted Peter, Andrew, James and John, first as fishers. In essence, he took them as they were and transformed them into what God intended them to be — not salt of the sea but salt of the earth. Jesus will do the same for each one of us. Once touched by the Messiah, staying the same is not an option (we can see above what happens to salt that loses its flavor).
All of God’s saints were ‘‘something else” before they became a “someone new” (a new creation in Christ). These four were fishermen. Paul was a persecutor, Augustine of Hippo was a carouser, Francis of Assisi was a rich brat, Mother Theresa was a nun teaching in an exclusive private school. Who were you before Christ called you and what does he call you to be now?
Christ’s words could quite literally mean; “Put your life in my care and I will take you from meaninglessness to purpose in a heartbeat; from inmate to witness, from illness to healer, from retiree to bridge-builder, from housewife to word of life, from death to life.
Often our greatest sin is that we don’t allow this transformation. We allow Satan to hold us bound with “what we were” and because of our guilt, shame or even pride; we refuse to change into what Jesus would have us become.
What keeps me from transitioning from “salt of the sea” to “salt of the earth?” From a fisherman to a fisher of men? Won’t our Lord take that encumbrance if I but humbly offer it to him? If he can take “fishermen” can he not take me? In the end, the Apostles did not teach a new church how to fish; they taught the new church how to love Jesus and accept his forgiveness. That is our call, that is what the church must excel at, that is what I must excel at as well.
Word Study
Follow me [G3694 opiso (op-is’-o)]; get behind me or place yourself in my care. This is the word from which we derive “bishop” — the person who places him or herself under or behind the Lord. Have we “gotten behind” Christ yet? He uses this term a number of times (once very unpleasantly to Peter when the “Rock” tries to stand between the Lord and the cross). Are we still trying to “jump ahead” of Jesus? Are we still trying to say; “Listen Lord, your servant is speaking?” It is time to change seats and let the Lord have his rightful place in our lives. Only then can we become “fishers of men.’’
I will make you [G4160 poieo (poy-eh’-o)]; I will appoint you — I will ordain and fulfill you. Our Lord’s ordination is not just for the learned few; it is for all who follow him. The disciples had two years of walking with Jesus; however the man possessed by a Legion of demons had only minutes. His testimony was the truest of all: “You know what I was and you can see what I am now — all because of Jesus.”
Fishers [G231 halieus (hal-ee-yoos’)] “I will make you “fishers.” or even, “the salt of the earth.” Am I salt to those around me — flavoring and preserving the best of life? Am I truly out fishing for the lost? Too many of us are armchair fishers. We like to do our fishing by osmosis, through the television set as it were. We let others go to the front because we no longer like to get our hands dirty or our backs burned. The call of Jesus is a call to the frontlines not the sidelines.
MATTHEW 4:20-22
[20] And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. [21] And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. [22] And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
Straightway, they left their nets
The chronology is interesting here. Jesus “converts” the apostles (see John 1:34-42), then our Lord goes on to a confrontation at his home “church” in Nazareth and apparently sends the three new converts to their homes during that time as well.
What do the apostles do during that time?
The answer may be evident in the choice of Jesus’ words. First, we know from Luke that Jesus went home to make his initial invitation to his own household and village. On the way, he was not lax in his work — for many miracles occurred during that trip.
Second, we see the three were not idle either, for the brother of John is now a follower of Christ. We can also tell that the household of John and James (Zebedee) and the household of Andrew and Peter were now prepared for the Lord’s arrival. The interesting term that Matthew attributes to the Apostle’s immediate response to Jesus was, “Aphiemi.” It means to ‘lay everything aside” or, more pointedly, to “forgive and get on with life.”
Therein is the chronology of deep conversion.
1. The need for wholeness prompts us to seek God;
2. The beauty of God prompts us to desire him before all else;
3. The love of God prompts us to forgive and seek forgiveness from those we’ve wounded or those who — in our judgment — have wounded us (“forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”).
4. Then, the call of Christ — once set free of the burden of sin — bids us to the mission of Christ: “To preach good news to the poor.”
Laying aside my nets (sins) and seeking forgiveness was not a private prayer — it was the follower’s initial act of communal healing. Religion (from the term; “rebinding torn ligaments”) is primarily an act of healing. Sin wounds us, God heals us and repentance rebinds us so we can love unencumbered. Where am I in this plan of conversion today?
No doubt, my wounds may have already prompted me toward Jesus. Possibly, I have even seen and been drawn to the incredible face of his love. However, have I taken the communal step; am I unencumbered today? What am I carrying in my backpack right now that may keep me from loving each and every person that God sends my way? Is there a Capernaum in my life to which I need to return on this day?
One note, just remember — please — we can only offer and seek forgiveness; that is our Godly call. However, we cannot control the acceptance or rejection of that offer. Leave that in God’s hands; we must strive to live each day FOR-GIVING.
Word Study
Straightway, they departed [G2112 eutheos (yoo-theh’-oce)] this was young Mark’s favorite word and it is wonderful to see it used by the careful, logical, accounting-like mind of Matthew. There was no hesitancy in the apostle’s following of Jesus. Yet, this didn’t mean there weren’t any fears. Their desire to be close to Jesus overruled all reason and all logic. They left everything for him. I love this because when Matthew writes these words he too is one who “straightway” followed Jesus. He is the only disciple we know who Jesus sought out (the other’s sought out Jesus and our Lord accepted them). But Matthew is sitting at his tax collection table when the Lord boldly walks up to him and says; “follow me.” Matthew — a tax collector and traitor to his own people — leaves the money on the table and walks away “straightway.”
They left [G863 aphiemi (af-ee’-ay-mee)] this is such an important term in the Gospels; “They left their nets.” The word is used over and over for laying aside, putting away or forgiving. When the disciples “left their nets’’ behind on that day, they left more than their livelihood. They left their sins and hang-ups on the shoreline. They were far from perfect, they were far from leaders, but they were not far from Jesus and that’s all that mattered. Jesus does not call us to perfection, but instead to be perfectly focused and perfectly forgiven. Have I left my nets behind?
Followed him [G190 akoloutheo (ak-ol-oo-theh’-o)] this is a word of in-depth commitment. It doesn’t mean that they were following Jesus to the corner store or even to church on Sunday. It meant they became his disciples. They knowingly and willingly left their livelihoods behind and “walked in the same way” as Jesus. Where were they headed? Not to an earthly destination, but to a metanoeo — a more intimate relationship with the one, true God of the universe.
MATTHEW 4:23
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Preaching Teaching and Healing
Preaching, teaching and healing — talk about a weekly to-do list! A number of years ago a very good slogan began showing up on bracelets and T-Shirts. WWJD: What Would Jesus Do? This verse tells us exactly what the Lord did; he taught, preached and healed. To follow Jesus is to go where he would go and do what he would do. My weekly task list should look like his weekly task list.
Monday Teach, preach and heal Tuesday Teach, preach and heal Wednesday Teach, preach and heal Thursday Teach, preach and heal Friday Teach, preach and heal Saturday Teach, preach and heal Sunday Retreat and Renew with Jesus
Many people don’t believe in miracles anymore but the truth is that we won’t see what the apostle’s saw if we don’t go where Jesus went and do what Jesus did. If we commit to that — if we lay down our nets and leave our “taxes (ill-gotten gains)” on the table — we cannot expect our lives to see the fruits of Christ.
MATTHEW 4:24-25
[24] And the news about Him went out into all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, taken with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. [25] And great multitudes followed Him from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and {from} beyond the Jordan.
They brought to him all who were ill
Let’s take a little deeper look at the weekly to-do’s of our Lord so that we might better practice them ourselves:
· Teach [G1321 didasko]
The word for teach in Greek means both to teach and to learn, in fact the direct translation would be the ‘‘way of teaching’’ or the “way of learning.” The more I teach the Gospel (and the more varied the environments in which I teach; jails, detention centers, rest homes, shelters), the more my understanding of people and the Gospel will increase. Can we say that Jesus learned? To say that he didn’t would be to say he was a bore. The teacher who doesn’t continue to learn from his/her students should find another profession.
· Preach [G2784 kerusso] the Gospel [G2098 euaggelion]
To preach means to stand in a public place and “cry out” the king’s news (a town crier). However, the preaching of Jesus was always backed up with action. If I am standing in a public square “crying out the king’s news” without the king’s power to back it up then I am worse than a nuisance; I am a fraud. I am taking the name of the King without the approval of the King.
Jesus backed up his words with acts of healing. Do I? Read on… for we are all called to be healers in the name of the Gospel.
· Heal [G2323 Therpeuo];
The word used for the healing act of Jesus is “Therpeuo” [G2323] and it differs from the word for physician [G2390 iaomai]; indeed, it is closer to the term for “therapist.”
My brother was a physical therapist. When he passed away, my sister-in-law asked me to eulogize him. I described him as a Man of 1,000 Best Friends. It didn’t matter if you were his patient, family or referring physician. To him, if he was with you, you were the only one on the planet. He doesn’t prescribe drugs or cut people open. Instead, the focus of his work was on teaching people how to rebuild damaged muscles and joints. However, his work was only as good as the patient’s commitment. He could create a perfect plan of care to help a patient recover the use of a damaged shoulder, back or knee. Yet, until the patient participated in the plan of care it was just ink on paper.
Nazareth did not see the healing power of Jesus because they did not participate [Luke 4:21-31] in the cure. Jesus is the therapist who came with the perfect “plan of care.” We alone decide whether to follow or reject the plan. Many times after Jesus healed someone, he followed up the incident (action) with the statement (preaching); “Go your faith has healed you.” There are even cases where Jesus would say; “You’re faith has healed him/her” (as in the Samaritan woman who begged for the healing of her daughter and the Roman Centurion who pleaded for the life of a servant).
Jesus, the ultimate healer never hesitated to point the injured towards the source of all healing: Faith. The term for faith in Greek [G4102 pistis] means more than a moral conviction; it also means fidelity, reliance and a deep enough persuasion to act on my beliefs. That’s what brought healing to these people. They had the courage to “cry out in public” regarding their deep need for the Lord. In Hebrew, the term is èmeth [HSN571]. It means stability and trustworthiness. Faith implies faithfulness; actions based upon faith.
When was the last time I acted on faith? The last time I truly pushed myself beyond what was comfortable to me? The last time I sought to apply my faith and not just talk about it in a congregation of like-minded believers?
The term for healing means so much more than relieving disease, it also means to be a menial servant or to adore God. The more I work with wounded people; the more I learn that nothing heals like serving others and adoring God. I have seen people dying of cancer become “clothed in light” when they began to use their last breaths to encourage others and praise God. I have seen the incarcerated become ministers; the homeless become more pastoral than most of us in churches could ever hope to become.
What was it that Jesus healed? All types of disorders [G3554 nosos] the term includes infirmity and sickness — but, also moral disability. Not in the terms of a malady, a disease or a crippled limb — those are merely symptoms. Jesus healed disorder, “DIS-ORDER” — disintegrated order or more familiarly, chaos.
Two days ago, I had a one-on-one session with a young man in our local jail. He asked for a meeting because he was considering suicide. He told me that voices had been filling his head telling him to kill himself. I could see the panic on his face and sleeplessness in his eyes as he desperately asked for assistance.
He was living in a mental and physical world of chaos and that is what the Christ would heal. In a couple of questions, I learned that he was just off the streets where he had been using methamphetamines. This demon was still attacking the young man’s system and demanding that a) it be satiated or b) that the young man die in the attempt. Secondly, I learned he had been previously diagnosed with clinical depression but was unable to afford the treatment.
My first response was to take his hands, to tell him to look in my eyes and breathe with my rhythm. Together we drew long and deep breaths. Then, I asked him to pray a simple breath prayer with me; “Come, Lord Jesus.” “Come, Holy Spirit.”
With every breath we petitioned God to fill the room with his presence and heal our hunger.
Immediately, I could see his face begin to relax. There was another Christian in the jail pod that agreed to pray this simple prayer with the young man whenever he came under attack. Finally, we all agreed that the guards and the nurse needed to be aware of the situation so he could receive long-term treatment for his depression.
This young man’s problems weren’t just from a lack of sleep. It wasn’t just depression. It wasn’t just detoxification. It was the horrific combination of all these assailing demons bombarding him with confusion and darkness. Jesus always healed the confusion and then the dis-ease. In John 5:1-9, Jesus asks the crippled man, “Do you wish to get well?” before he heals him — he gives him the “option” for wholeness. In Mark 2:4-11 and Luke 5:19-26, Jesus first forgives the sins of the man lowered through the ceiling before healing him of his paralysis.
In every case, the healing of disease, illness or paralysis was always accompanied by chaos. Jesus not only healed the diseases — he also healed the disorder; he healed chaos.
In the beginning, God turned chaos into cosmos — disorder to order. He is still willing to do that in each of our lives today and he commissions us to do that for each other. I may only be a fisherman. I may even be unemployed — as was the writer of this gospel once he followed Jesus — but I have been “set apart” (ordained) for the purpose of the Lord — to teach, preach and heal — wherever I am; whatever I do.
Word Study
Teach [G1321 didasko (did-as’-ko)]; a prolonged (causative) form of a primary verb dao (to learn); to teach (in the same broad application): KJV — teach.
Preach [G2784 kerusso (kay-roos’-so)] heralding (like a public cryer),
The Gospel [G 2098 euaggelion (yoo-ang-ghel’-ee-on)]; going out like an angel sent with the task of declaring God’s plan,
Heal [Therpeuo [G2323]; a menial servant / relieving disease / being a therapist / adoring God, euaggelion (yoo-ang-ghel’-ee-on);
All types [G3956 pas (pas)]; any type of disorder / restoring disease to wholeness,
Disease [G3554 nosos (nos’-os)]; infirmity and sickness — but, also moral degeneration.