Bible Classes
Luke 4: Recollection and Resolution in the Wilderness and Nazareth
Series: The Jesus WayRecollection in the Wilderness: Keeping God's word to endure trials (Luke 4:1-13)
We have seen Jesus obeying at the Jordan. In this lesson we see that Jesus’ submission to God brings suffering in the face of temptation to sin and rejection by those who live for this world. These are hard realities that face Jesus in Luke 4, first in the wilderness and then in his hometown of Nazareth.
Within the Biblical traditions, the wilderness was a place of physical danger, as well as God’s trial and punishment of his people. The temptations of Jesus in the wilderness are literary echoes of the trials of the Israelites in the desert prior to their entrance into the promised land. This is a deeper, spiritual significance to the temptations that is signaled from the first verse of Luke 4, where he is driven there “full of the Holy Spirit” and “by the Spirit” and encounters temptation by “the devil” for forty days, recalling Israel’s forty years in their desert wanderings. Jesus avoids falling into temptation, whereas Israel succumbed to temptation, even as they put God to the test.
In the present day, the traditional site of the temptations of Jesus is also known as Mount Quarantania. The name arises from a mispronunciation of the Latin word “Quarentena,” meaning forty, the number of days in Christ’s fast. In subsequent history, a forty day fast became the model for the practice of Lent in some Christian groups. The history and name of the place indicates a time of asceticism or self-discipline in which Jesus was tested and demonstrated his faithfulness to God during a time of trying deprivation from food and other comforts of life.
The source of this temptation is the devil, or Satan. The Hebrew term for “Satan” means “adversary” and he is called the “tempter” in Matt 4:3. In the story of the wilderness temptations, we see Satan tempting Jesus in three ways: 1) in his soul to lust with his flesh by making bread for life at Satan's behest (vv. 3-4), 2) in his strength to lust with his eyes by submitting to Satan so that he could become ruler of all he can see (vv. 5-8), and 3) in his heart out of a pride in his life to demonstrate that he was God’s son (vv. 9-12).
The author of the book of Hebrews reveals that these temptations were sources of suffering for Jesus, though he did not sin (Hebrew 2:18; 5:14). As on the Mount of Olives in Luke 22, his temptation brought physical and emotional pain that were part of his suffering in his flesh (1 Peter 4:1). In these sufferings as in his other moments of internal pain due to temptation or rejection (John 11:33; 12:27; 13:21), Jesus empties himself and focuses on God’s will, delaying his gratification until his heavenly glory (Luke 23:26; 24:26; Hebrews 12:1–2; 1 Peter 2:23). This was a mindset of longsuffering that he teaches his disciples to share as they face the trials and temptations of this life. Jesus taught that his followers would need to take up daily their cross in self-denial and suffer the loss of family, finding joy in persecution and poverty (Luke 6:22; Mark 10:27-29; Luke 6:22). Similarly in their letters, the apostles Paul and Peter both indicate the importance of suffering to follow Jesus (1 Peter 4:13; Romans 8:17; cf. Hebrews 12:11; James 1:2-4).
And so Jesus comes to a moment when the Spirit leads him to the trial of the wilderness and Satan tries to tempt him to sin. Jesus does not enter the temptation but avoids it by recollecting Scripture as his defense against sin. Jesus three times quotes from Deuteronomy in response to Satan, showing that we can overcome temptations through knowledge and recollection of Scripture during times of trial.
Our recollection of God's words in the Bible are a source of strength to overcome temptation.
What do the following passages teach us about the example of Jesus and the power of Scripture to help us overcome temptation?
Psalm 119:11, 49-50
Romans 15:4
Eph 6:10-11, 17
Hebrews 4:12
2 Timothy 3:16
Resolution at Nazareth: Using God's gifts to overcome rejection (Luke 4:16-30)
After his temptation in the wilderness, Jesus begins his public ministry by returning to his hometown at Nazareth. This was a small agricultural village with limited opportunities, as is evidenced by the fact that the name Nazareth does not appear in any text from the Early Roman Period (outside of the New Testament). It is an insignificant town, but it sits in an area of a Galilee that provided Jesus with opportunities to see places from the tumultuous history of Israel in the surrounding valleys. For example, from Nazareth he could see where Elijah defeated prophets of Baal on Mt Caramel (1 Kings 18) and were Josiah lost his life at Megiddo (2 Kings 23:28-30). Nearby was where Saul and Jonathan were killed at Mount Gilboa (1 Sam 31) and where Deborah defeated Sisera at Mt. Tabor (Judg 4). From his hometown Jesus could have easily walked to where Elisha raised a boy to life at Shunem (2 Kings 4).
At Nazareth, Jesus enters the synagogue, which was an ancient building for Jewish community and religious worship, and he reads from the Jewish Scripture, which by tradition was made up of three parts – Torah, Prophets, Writings – written on scrolls. Though Jesus reads from the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament (today this text is known as the Masoretic Text), the text that is quoted in Luke 4 is the Greek translation commonly known as the “Septuagint” (symbolized by the Roman numeral for seventy, LXX).
The initial response to his reading is positive in verse 22: “And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” At this point in the story, Jesus is adept, accepted, and even admired among his people. And yet he resolves to read and interpret the Scriptures in a way that is truthful, even though it will lead to his rejection.
In verse 18-19. Jesus reads a Messianic Prophecy (Isa 61:1-3). “Messiah” means “anointed” and indicates the one who was anointed or chosen to liberate and lead God’s people, the Israelites, who were called “Jews” after they are taken captive by the Babylonians beginning in 587 BC. “Gentile” means “the nations” other than the Jews, so Gentiles are non-Jews. All of this is relevant to Luke 4, because Jesus proclaims at Nazareth – his hometown -- that God will make Gentiles His people.
After identifying himself as the Messiah -- ““Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (4:21) -- he declares that his prophecy, like the prophets before him, will be rejected in his hometown and that God’s message would be accepted among the Gentiles, like it was in the days of Elijah and Elisha.
In Nazareth, we see the resolution of Jesus to be a righteous and faithful servant of God who is rejected and suffers because of the truth he speaks with perseverance. The resolution of a suffering righteous person is often seen in the Old Testament (e.g., Abel, Noah, Joseph, Job, Moses, Daniel, Jeremiah). All these men of God resolutely use the gifts that God gives them. Resolution is needed because they know they will face rejection.
In Luke 4, the townspeople try to throw Jesus over the cliff. The historical location of this event is today known as “Mount Precipice,” or the “Mount of the Leap of the Lord.” Also known as Mount Kedumim, the elevation is located just outside the southern edge of Nazareth, 1.2 miles southwest of the modern city center.
But, despite their conspiracy against him, Jesus’ resolution to serve God brings eventual rescue as he departs from them unhurt. What do we learn from elsewhere in Scripture about the commitment and determination to use God’s gifts in the face of opposition and other difficulties?
- Luke4.mp3 (21.78 MB)
