Chapter Four

Chapter Four

The Hebrew name for wilderness is midbar which means a "desolate and deserted place" and also "that which is beyond". This refers to a place that is beyond organized settlements, the control of government and traditional civilized norms. In fact the word wilderness originally meant a "place of herding" and may have been pastoral land with plenty of water and vegetation without a lot of people or settlements around. Wilderness was also considered to be a place where evils spirits resided and was for sure a place where bandits hid out.

The bible has multiple examples of prophets and holy men wandering in the wilderness and for that matter a whole nation wandered together for forty years! The prophets went to the wilderness to be tested or tempted so that they could overcome physical and psychological dangers as they were cut off from food and water as well as their community.
In our secular culture we hear references to the wilderness as being a place where we wander in our careers and our personal lives, constantly seeking the right path to success relating to business, family or marriage. In that wilderness arena we are tested and we are able to find out if our instincts and values are the same leaving as they were when we went in.

Luke tells us that Jesus, being full of and being led by the Holy Spirit, went into the wilderness and ate nothing for forty days. It should be noted that Moses and Elijah endured similar fasts before receiving divine revelations from God. If you will visit Exodus 34:28 and 1st Kings 19:8 you will find an account of these fasting events. In the case of Jesus, many critics and believers who don't understand who Jesus was and is, may say, big woop! He's God, how tough would it be for God not to eat for a while? The truth is that the bible tells us that Jesus is God and became man and in this particular case, and many others, He faced the obstacles that we face as humans and did it without super powers or an advantage. I like to think of it like when we hear of a good boss, supervisor or leader that doesn't just tell you what to do, but leads by example and does the task along side you, showing that it can be done in an efficient manner. In this case, Jesus had fasted and prayed for forty days and the devil shows up and tempts Jesus. Just like the devil tempts us at our weakest point, he thought that he had Jesus in a vulnerable position.

According to the bible, the devil prowls the earth like a lion who is looking to pick off the weak and the sick. Despite the power that the devil has in this world, he lacks spiritual vision and he probably wasn't that impressed with the human form that he saw that day. After all, I'm sure that he had tempted countless prophets and holy men and history is full of accounts of these people succumbing to his temptation. The man before him that day may have looked unremarkable to him and at first glance looked weak and emaciated after such a long ordeal. Since the devil can't read our mind but can hear every word that comes out of our mouth it is probable that Jesus said something to himself about being hungry after His fast and the devil thought that he found an opening for attack. The problem was that Jesus may have had physical weakness as a result of the lack of food and water, but He was spiritually strong because and the devil had no idea of His fortified spiritual position.

Using the hunger card, the devil tells Jesus to perform a miracle by turning a rock into a loaf of bread and to add insult to injury pulls the ego card by questioning if Jesus truly is the Son of God anyway. Jesus answered with scripture from Deuteronomy 8:3, saying that man does not live by bread alone but by every word and expression of God. Next the devil took Him to a high mountain and showed Him the kingdoms of the habitable world and offered Jesus dominion over all of it if He would just worship him just once. Luke tells us that Jesus must have been losing patience because He quotes Deuteronomy again (6:13 and 10:20) and tells the devil to get behind Him and if anyone is going to be worshipped, it will be God that is worshipped. Now, up to this point, the devil has questioned whether or not that Jesus is the Son of God and during the third temptation he throws all of that out the window and takes Jesus to the top of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and tells Him that scripture (Psalm 91:11,12) says that if Jesus is the Son of God, He could jump and that the angels would catch Him before He hit the bottom. The bible makes no mention of this, but Jesus probably looked at Satan and probably said or wanted to say something sarcastic like, "Are you a moron, have you been listening to yourself?", but the official response noted by Luke was according to Deuteronomy 6:16, "You will not tempt the Lord your God". Luke tells us that at this point, the devil gave up and quit tempting Him and stood off waiting for a more favorable time to pursue temptation in the future. An important side lesson to be learned by this confrontation is that the devil knew scripture enough to quote it line by line. Proving that even if you know scripture verse by verse, it doesn't make you holy or Godly.

The value of the bible as a blueprint for life seems obvious to me and while there are many reasons for God to maintain His word throughout history, examples of those who did it right and wrong are essential tools to live a successful and Godly life. From the scepticism of Zechariah, the faithfulness of Elizabeth, the example of Mary and Joseph as they submit to God's will, the arrogance of the Roman leaders and their assigned minions as well as the political incorrectness of John the Baptist, all can be used as sign post examples of how to and not to live our lives. We see their reflection in our day to day lives and the lives of others and are struck by the irony that the examples they give are alive and well today and will remain constant in the future.

One of the most telling and shared examples of this kind of biblical lesson is the wilderness adventure of Jesus. Everyone is either currently in a "wilderness" experience or still has the figurative scratch marks and blisters from the last time they went through it. Believers and non believers all this type of experience and if you don't know how to act in this environment, you may never escape it and will be forced to live within it's confines seemingly forever. As I write this book, I am drop dead in the middle of my own wilderness adventure and if I didn't have the example of Jesus to follow, I truly wonder if I make it.

In our lives the devil attacks us at our weakest point whether it be a financial, legal, marital, social or a parent related issue of vulnerability. He doesn't seem to mess with us when everything is going right but when things go south, he makes his presence known by attacking us in what he perceives as our weakest point. He encourages us to question the strategies that we used to put ourselves in a financial bind, or the details that led up to a lawsuit, as to why you deserve to be happily married after all or torment you with the mistakes you have made in regards to your children. If we don't know the word of God that spells out the promises of God, it is at these weak moments that the devil can claim victory over our weakened position.

We live in a world of hybrid Christianity that is all based on the word of God, but twisted to serve man and the devil. By twisting the bible to meet their theology, man and the devil have concocted everything from mild deviations to outright cults, all claiming to be Christian churches. They have managed to take Jesus from His status as God and turned Him into a prophet or holy man and in some cases placed historical figures in his place or designed a false office of high priest, prophet or leader who speaks in binding authority for God in matters of faith. In almost all cases they have managed to place "holy" intercessors between God and man, unsurping the direct contact that God gives us in the bible.
The tragedy to all of this is that people who are hurting and are in the wilderness, are given a false set of religious values to stand on and will not have a fortified spiritual position. Instead of having strength in the word of God, they will see their tithe and offering money go to pay off lawyers for the latest sex scandal, watch their church leaders fight over whether an immoral person has the right to be a church leader or will have to watch the media document the financial ruin of a ministry because the founder and their spouse ransacked the treasury and storehouse, spending the money on every type of vain and sinful endeavor all the while preaching a self serving version of God's message.

When you are in that spot of vulnerability and the devil is hunting you, it is not just enough to have your spiritual weapon with you if you brought the wrong ammo and if your compass is modified or broken, you can declare a north and south all that you want, but you will always be off course.

After the wilderness temptation and spiritual battle with the devil, Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit. Luke tells us that Jesus was getting pretty famous throughout the country as a result of His public teaching. When He came to the village of Nazareth, His boyhood home, Jesus stood up and read from the book of Isaiah and basically outlined His ministry with these old testament words. Acknowledging that the spirit of the Lord was upon Him, he told the crowds that He was appointed to preach the good news to the poor, proclaim that those that are held captive must be released, the blind will see, the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors and finally that the favor of the Lord was upon them. He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the temple assistant and with every eye in the place apparently fixed on Him, told the crowd that scripture was just fulfilled before their eyes. It is an understatement to say that this was a very dramatic moment.

After being stunned by His teaching and speaking complimentary words regarding His message, the crowd began to ask questions like, "isn't this Joseph's son?, "how can he be who he says he is?" Jesus hearing the remarks, commented that the crowd was probably wondering why He performed miracles elsewhere but never in His home town? He answered by telling them that a prophet not accepted in their home town. Because these folks watched Jesus grow up among them, they had a hard time accepting Him as the Messiah. As far as I can tell, Jesus never did perform any miracles in Nazareth.

When I became a Christian at the age of 47, my wife rededicated herself to Christ and my three grown children all accepted Jesus as their Savior. The friends and family who had known me my whole life were and are unconvinced and skeptical of my my new walk even ten years later. They knew me when I was a sinful man operating outside of the influence of God and they just have a hard time believing that the imperfect man that they know could possibly be who he says that he is now. I once stood up at a family reunion and told everyone that I had accepted Jesus as my Savior and that it was important that we all love one another in the same way that Jesus loves us. I should note that this little speech was given after a Catholic mass service conducted by my older cousin who was a priest and attended by everyone at the reunion. After I was done sharing my message, which was not very well presented because I was so choked up looking at the faces of my sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles, I sat down to a thundering silence and was looked at like I was a crazy person. It was a good thing that I chose to do this on the last day, just before I left to come home as the mood shifted towards me, although still friendly, but suspicious, like "I always knew that boy wasn't right in the head".

My pastor tells the story of a young man who was addicted to drugs, found Jesus and was delivered from his addiction. This man had stolen money and possessions from his family just so that he could buy drugs to feed his habit, they saw him do horrible and unspeakable crimes in his drug induced fog but when he announced that he had become a Christian, his mother said that she would rather he stay on drugs if that was the price of his cure. I try to remember always, that whatever life throws at me and as disappointing as it can be at times, our Lord and Saviour experienced it all before me and gave me a perfect example on how to adjust to it all.

As Jesus went on to speak to the crowd about why He performed no miracles in Nazareth and compared His situation to Elijah who was sent to minister to an unlikely widow or to heal a Syrian instead of Jewish leaders who were also in need of healing, the crowd became furious. The mob jumped up and took Jesus to the edge of the city and intended on killing Him by throwing Him down the hill, but Jesus slipped away and left them standing there, confused.

There is a recent example that can help illustrate the importance of what Luke is telling us here. Martin and Gracia Burnham were missionaries in the Philippines and were held captive by Abu Sayyaf, a guerrilla group linked to the Al-Qaeda terror network. During their 376 day hostage dilemma, the couple were beaten, starved and threatened with death constantly. When they were told by their captors that they were about to be killed, Martin told them that while the person who was threatening was capable of killing them, it would be God's choice when they would die. Martin was killed during the rescue operation by Philippine special forces and Gracia was wounded in the leg, a wound that she did recover from and is still involved in missionary work. Man may be the instrument but God knows the day and like the example of Jesus in this chapter in Luke, the crowd would have their day, but just not that day.

Having your neighbors and boyhood friends want to throw you off of the nearest cliff would make any of us want to get out of the town we grew up in. Jesus chose to leave Nazareth and move to Capernaum, a village situated on the edge of the Sea of Galilee with a population of about 1500 people who were fishermen, farmers, artisans, merchants and publicans. The people of Capernaum were a homogeneous lot who, judging by the excavations that have been done, seemed to live a life without strident economical inequality. In other words, no one seemed to be showing off with a opulent life style and it appears that all of the classes got along well. In fact, it was such a laid back place that, the locals got along well with the Romans who were stationed there at the military outpost. The fact that there was a Roman contingent stationed there indicated that Capernaum had some strategic value to Herod Antipas and his government. Because this town was located on the Beth-shan or Damascus highway, visitors came and went with ease offering the opportunity for the Herod to pick up scuttlebutt and rumors, the foundational mortar needed to build a wall of reason to attack your enemies or limit your allies. I have read the opinion of several biblical scholars that feel that the Centurion, a Roman military leader who commanded a contingent of 80 to 160 soldiers, featured in the seventh chapter of Luke who asked Jesus to heal his servant, was the same Centurion who built a synagogue for the Jewish population of Capernaum. By the way, the ruins of that building are still there today as the second synagogue was built upon the foundation of the first.

Whereas Nazareth was a mountainous and isolated hamlet, well off the beaten path, Capernaum's location allowed Jesus a twofold advantage as far as His messianic activity was concerned. First, because it was on a main road, the message of Jesus was able to travel great distances quickly. Secondly, the population was open minded, energetic and almost 100% Jewish believers who understood the scriptures quoted by Jesus and could relate the teachings to their lives. Thirdly, Capernaum was sufficiently apart from the big cities like Tiberius where Herod had established his capital and Jesus could work "under the radar" so to speak without raising early suspicion or incurring immediate official oversight. The original name for Capernaum was, Kefar Nahum which has been interpreted through history as "the village of consolation" and the "the beautiful city" but was probably just the name of the first person who settled there. In any case, this community was commercially linked in a prominent way to the northern regions of upper Galilee, Golan, Syria, Phoenicia, Asia Minor and Cyprus and was considered to be a vital hub of business, art and politics in its day.

The fishing along the 8 km of shoreline, even to this day is bountiful and it is possible that the abundance of fish on this side of the lake is what drew Peter and his brother Andrew to leave their hometown of Bethsaida to set up their fishing business in Capernaum. It should also be mentioned that James and John were also fisherman who may have been drawn to the good fishing conditions. Agriculture was highly developed, proven by the modern day excavations of olive presses, grinding stones for wheat and cereals, mortars, stone bowls and craters etc. There was a strong manufacturing base in the town also, as the aforementioned tools were probably manufactured there along with a variety of glass vessels. It was because of this manufacturing base that drew tax collectors like Matthew who was drawn to Capernaum by a different type of abundance, tax money.

Lastly, I would like to point that Capernaum, is one of the three cities cursed by Jesus for its lack of faith and by the time just prior to the Jewish revolt of 135 A.D., and because a majority of the Jewish population accepted Jesus as the Messiah and were known as Minim's, there was heavy religious condemnation passed down on the town by the Jewish leaders against "the sons of Capernaum". Minim's challenged the fundamental dogmas of Judaism and its whole ritual life. The religious leaders held minim on a level equal to pagans and instituted laws prohibiting commerce and certain interrelationships with them. Later on the religious leaders outlawed the writings of the early Christians declaring that Torah scrolls or texts with divine names copied by Christians had no sanctity and the Gospels that must have been widely circulated at this point, would have also been outlawed. Those religious leaders were incensed with the idea that the Jewish people would accept the teachings of Jesus and a notation in Jewish scripture (Midrash Qoh Rabba 1:8) details how even a sect Rabbi named Hanina had a "spell" worked on him by the wicked one (i.e.Jesus) and later in the same scripture (Midrash Qoh Rabba VII:26) cursed Capernaum and referred to the population as "bad". This small town was the starting point of the Christian faith and a precursor to all future societies that had its values based on Christ and His teachings and later watched those values dissipate over time.

In Capernaum, Jesus taught in the synagogue and Luke writes that Jesus confronted a demon possessed man who began yelling at Him during the sermon. The demon screamed that it knew who Jesus was and started to tell Him to go away. Jesus cut the demon off in mid sentence and, told it to shut up and leave the man and the wicked entity did as it was told. The crowd that was watching all this were amazed that this rabbi had the power to tell evil spirits to flee and that they obeyed. The bible says that this account in the synagogue spread like wildfire throughout the whole region. It should be noted that this synagogue can be seen today if you were to visit Capernaum as its remains were used as a foundation for the existing that was built on top of it. Jesus had a vibrant healing ministry in Capernaum where He healed the mother in law of Simon (later named Peter) in his home by breaking her high temperature and fever. Jesus had people touch His hand and they were healed and with a word from Him, evil spirits went out of them. The interesting thing about the healing ministry of Jesus Christ is that He was (and is) God, walking the earth as a man, having no divine powers in His human body and was able to heal because the Father provided the healing power and used the human body of Jesus to deliver it. It is difficult for me to understand why God would love us so much so as to put a part of Himself at risk for us. It took me a long time to get it through my thick head to see Jesus in this way as I always wanted to view Him as God who kept all His powers as He walked as a man during His earthly ministry. When Jesus healed, He gave us the example of faith in the Father and the example of our equally inherited ability to heal in the same manner. Because we have allowed religion to build walls between the gifts that God has given us and their daily use, we don't exercise these inherited spiritual muscles and they wither away.

Luke then tells us that Jesus went out into the wilderness and the crowds searched for Him and when they found Him, they begged Him not to leave again. Jesus told them that He was called to preach the Good News everywhere and that He had to move on. These sentences helped to prove to me that Jesus was, who He said He was. If He was just a charasmatic religious leader just starting out, He would have stayed and worked the locals a little bit more. Maybe hustle a little money from them, talk them out of a beach house and a boat perhaps or at least consolidate His power base before moving on. Instead, Jesus pursued His ministry throughout the countryside and visited temples and synagogue's throughout Judea which if you will remember was included, by the Romans, within the province of Syria and governed by a procurator - Pontius Pilate being the most well known.

It should be noted, that in my research regarding this book of Luke, throughout time there has been a constant drone of negativity regarding the historical facts connected to Jesus's ministry and the bible in general. For centuries, naysayers wrote at length about Capernaum and the physical places mentioned by Luke and how they did not exist. My first question that came to mind when I found this was, why do you care? What is the value of denying that Jesus was and is who He says He is? I have read nothing about the discussion of the existence of Muhammad or Confucius or where they taught and if the geography matched their spiritual movement. I did come across lively discussions on the internet regarding the reasons that these men existed as historical figures but the true venom and nasty discussion was associated to the existence of Jesus. The reason I believe that the name of Jesus gets the enemies of God riled up is because of who He was and is and the redemptive message of His ministry. You can visit Capernaum and see the house that Jesus healed the mother in law of Peter, stand in the synagogue that was built on top of the one that Jesus taught in or view the ruins of the Roman outpost commanded by the Centurian who asked for healing, from Jesus, for his servant. These places exist and like the details of Jesus's ministry will be denied by the unbeliever with great energy.