TEMPTATION OF JESUS

Matthew 4

On one level, the baptism and temptation of Jesus can be considered a coming-of-age story of the Messiah. At His baptism, Jesus formally announced he was submitting to God's call to be the Messiah and following in obedience. The weeks in the wilderness were wrestling over what kind of Messiah He would become. We know He chose to follow the path of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah, rather than the warrior king most of Israel expected.

Still, it is vital to notice this is not a normal temptation, even though “He was tempted in all points as we are.” His were the trials only the Son of God could face. Command these stones to be made bread. Use your miracle working power to feed yourself and others. Use miracles virtually to make people follow you and diminish the role faith plays. Provide a divine welfare state, and they will flock to you.

The second temptation was to embrace spectacle and showmanship. Jump off the temple and land as if gliding in on a parasail. Many today respond to pageants and the like. Consider the coronations of rulers. But remember that a short while ago we were gathering in memory around a manger in Bethlehem. God's magnificence is not from human ways. Rather He can enshrine the simple, and turn that feeding trough into a beautiful world-wide symbol.

Finally, Satan shows Jesus the whole earth, all its kingdoms and rulers. Bluntly he offers Jesus rulership over all of this globe if He will fall and worship Satan. Do you see the contrast that lies at the heart of the entire Gospel of Matthew? John and Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of Heaven, and Satan offers only the kingdom of earth. The tension continues throughout the gospel, and the challenges of the scribes and Pharisees are similar to those of Satan.

The kingdom of this world is also at hand. Consider ISIS and their vicious beheadings and almost random murders. Indeed, consider America and our movement to an “anything goes” ethics, supported more and more by law. Sex without responsibility, gay marriage, abortion, increasing drug usage,rampant government corruption. Which side seems to be winning?

Jesus fasted for forty days. Fasts then and today varied in how severe they were. Most take at least enough water to stay alive and awake. Some do total fasts for a day or so. Longer fasts may be limited with a small meal once or twice a day – again enough to stay alive and alert.

The wilderness was not a jungle, but a desert. If you've seen pictures of the Dead Sea Scroll community (Qumran), that will look more like the area Jesus retired to.

What can we take from this experience to apply to ourselves. The first thing that comes to my mind is to take personal retreats from time to time, especially at critical points in life. Too many wander through life, almost blundering into whatever job opportunity is offered, and little consideration over who to marry, or how we shall raise our kids. How about a spousal retreat as the kids leave us with an empty nest or retirement approaches. Not only at this temptation, but throughout His ministry, Jesus would withdraw to pray and meditate.

Scholars also bring out the importance of obedience. Jesus was obedient to the Father and showed his faithfulness throughout the temptations. In the NT, faith and obedience go hand in hand. Nowhere does the Book protray a free-floating faith, but one always linked to obedience. It is important to recognize that only faith brings salvation, but saving faith always, always results in obedience and good works.

THE MAGI

The Wise Men were Magi, magoi as in the original Greek characters. The most frequent characterization says they were astrologers, men who studied the stars and their supposed influence on the earth. They would have had some characteristics of present day astronomers in that they would have located stars, named them, and entered them onto star charts. Beyond that, they would have sought to tie them to historical events on the assumption that if a king were born, war broke out, or a flood came under certain celestial conditions, perhaps when they saw those conditions repeating themselves, a similar event would occur.

In addition, a wisdom movement seems to have swept the ancient world over several centuries. The Old Testament has several wisdom books, especially Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Some Psalms are wisdom Psalms, for example the first one. In the apocrypha we find the Wisdom of Solomon and the Wisdom of Ben Sirach. These read much like Proverbs, and many people would recognize little difference.

Solomon's reputation of the wisest man could well indicate he was part of the wisdom movement of his day. Since he is not the only author in the Proverbs, he may well have been a patron and collector of wisdom. We know of rulers who supported artists and musicians, so we should not be surprised that ancient rulers also collected wise men around them. Even Herod called for wise men of his own to explor where Jesus was born.

Another issue in Matthew one is the Virgin Birth. I have always accepted this belief quite easily, because I recognize as a kind of creation miracle that seven billion people inhabit this globe, and each one originated as a combination of two microscopic cells. So it the Creator of all decides to bring one child into the world with only one cell from its mother, I have no problem at all.

That said, I want to address a translation problem. When the Revised Standard Version came out in 1952, the translators of Isaiah 7:14 rendered a part of the verse “a young woman shall conceive” rather than “a virgin shall conceive.” Now most virgins are young women, so Isaiah may have indeed referred to an as yet unmarried woman who would conceive shortly. The prophet's point was that by the time a baby could be conceived and grow to the age of weaning (as many as two or three years in that time) the Assyrian threat to Jerusalem will be gone.
The Hebrew word used in Isaiah is “almah,” young woman, not “bethulah” or virgin.

For reasons unknown to us, when a group of 70 scholars translated the OT into Greek, they translated “almah” with the Greek term “parthenos” (as in the building the Parthenon), which does mean virgin. Matthew quotes that Greek translation, called the Septuagint, as a prophesy of the virgin birth. That's ok, as many prophesies have more than one fulfillment. But recognize that Isaiah was not referring to a second virgin birth in his day.

Scholars speculate on who the young woman was, whether Isaiah's wife or a passing girl he pointed out, or just who. But his point for his day was that Assyria would not conquer Jerusalem or Judea. They did, in fact conquer the Northern Kingdom and carry them into captivity. Thus, “the ten lost tribes.”

A third point for the lesson is to note that Matthew included the Gentiles in his gospel that was largely directed to influence the Jews. In the first chapter, Gentiles come from the East to worship Christ, and at the end of his book, the Great Commission sends Jesus's disciples into all the nations.

Herod was crazy, but he had been driven there by his own family plotting against him. He had a wife and mother-in-law who wanted him dead so his son could be king. Others in his family had similar ambitions. Unfortunately, slowly but surely all the plotters came to an early death. That includes the women. So you can imagine his reaction when these wise guys show up looking for the “king of the Jews.” No wonder he ordered all the boy babies under two killed. It totally fits what we know of him.

But the Lord protected His Messiah. He led the Magi to find the baby, but led them back another way. We deduce three wise men from the three gifts, but there could have been any number from 2 to 20. God warned the men in a dream to go back another way, and He also led Josept to escape to Egypt. Dreams have a significant history of divine leadership in the Bible. Some people find them useful today. My own recommendation to interpret your dreams is to identify how you feel in your dream and trasfer to where you feel like that in real life. That often leads to an “aha moment.”s

JOHN THE BAPTIST
Matthew 3

Remember how excited churches became when Billy Graham came to town? Perhaps you were able to attend one to see this phenomenon. A similar excitement spread over Israel when John the Baptist came on the scene. Because the Christmas season is at hand, the quarterly temporarily bypasses the birth of Jesus stories and will come back to them the next two weeks. But Matthew jumps straight from those birth stories to nearly 30 years later and the beginning of Jesus's ministry. Actually, we have only one other story from that interval in the gospel of Luke – the boy Jesus in the temple. This reminds us that a gospel is not a biography. Matthew was not written as a life of Jesus, but as a witness to the Messiah and His ministry.

John was nothing if not spectacular. Dressed something like a Tarzan in animal skins and preaching on the edge of the wilderness. The thrust of his message was simple: Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Exactly what Jesus began preaching.

Israel had been looking for a Messiah for years. In 160 BC Israel won its independence from Greece. A band of guerilla fighters under Judas Maccabeus took advantage of Grecian troubles elsewhere to win first, freedom of worship, and later relative independence. That's why the people of Jesus's day thought they could overthrow Rome, not realizing how much stronger Rome was than Greece. Besides, the Lord through His Messiah could bring victory. BTW, I  often recommend Bible students read 1 Maccabees, a history of that rebellion, that explains a lot of what was going on in the 175 years just before Jesus was born. You can simply google it and read the whole book online.

Part of their expecting a messiah was the expectation that the prophet Elijah would return first to prepare the way for that messiah. John the Baptist filled that role. Amid great excitement, the people flocked to John as the harbinger of God's intervention through Messiah. So they were to repent in preparation and witness that repentance through Baptism.

Through the Dead Sea Scrolls, we are pretty sure that the archaeological ruins near the caves where the scrolls were found was Qumran, the home of a Jewish sect called the Essenes. Many Bible scholars feel John had spent time in that community, and that they influenced his message. Among other things Qumran had several pools, and they put much stress on ritual bathing or baths to symbolize cleanness of soul. John's baptism was different. You were baptized only once for repentance. And that repentance was preparing for the coming of the Messiah.

John appeared preaching in the “wilderness,” a barren land south of Jerusalem near the Dead Sea. His baptizing, however, was in the Jordan River, far from a barren place, more like a small jungle in places.

He preached repentance. In the NT, the word means a change of mind that leads to a change of behavior. The OT word meant “turn,” just as a physical change of direction. Again, the Bible is not much concerned with how you feel, but how you behave. Feeling sorry for you sins is good, but repentance is being sorry enough to quit!

Books have been written and heated arguments ensued over the term Kingdom of Heaven. Israel had been a kingdom since the days of Saul, and it was their preferred manner of government. David was the hero king, their George Washington, and they envisioned a descendant of David ruling once more the most respected kingdom on earth. Jesus taught the Messiah would not be an earthly king. Though indeed a descendant of David, he was to be a “suffering servant” as depicted in Isaiah. He did indeed establish His kingdom, but of a very different sort. “Kingdom” implies a ruler and some subjects. In the Kingdom of Heaven Jesus is king, and His followers are the subjects. The Kingdom is present where two or three gather in His name. A Christian is a citizen of that Kingdom.

Some writers insist the Kingdom of Heaven is only future, a final kingdom after the return of Christ. Others emphasize that His rule begins here and now: “The Kingdom is within you.” Still others see the Kingdom as past, present, and future. The Kingdom came in Jesus, continues in his followers, and will finally be revealed in glory when Jesus comes again. I like the last view.

John's food was a bit  unique in his day, but not as weird as today. Locusts, like grasshoppers, were kosher for the Jewish diet, and desert dwellers often ate them as readily available for the gathering. I've even seen them in specialty sections of grocery stores. Haven't bought them, nor chocolate covered ants.

Verse 7: Saducees and Pharisees often hated one another. They disagreed on almost everything, but they made common cause against John and Jesus. John was not very complimentary. He called them a bunch of snakes. He called on these, the religious leaders of their day to repent. He charged they thought being born as a descendant of Abraham assured their good standing with God. He assured them that God didn't need them, He could turn the stones into His people if He chose. Rather their lives should show radical change and bring forth good fruit. He warned the coming Kingdom included judgment. Just as finding a woodsman's ax leaning against a tree, one can expect God's wrath against the wicked.

People have trouble with God's wrath. A seminary prof I respected like to say that wrath is the underside of God's love. An old saying has it that hell has no fury like that of a woman scorned. Reject her, and in fury she will reject you. God's wrath is the kickback from rejecting or refusing His love.

Then John pointed to Jesus. He was supreme, and John was unworthy. His baptism would be with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Fire here may refer to judgment, since the word has just been used in that sense. But fire is also used as a sign of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2 the disciples experiences “tongues like fire” on their heads as the Spirit came upon them. We also use the expression of excited Christians being on fire for the Lord. We sing “Set My Soul on Fire, Lord.”