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I was reading in Luke chapter 4 the other day about Jesus fasting and being tempted in the wilderness for 40 days.
At the first temptation by the Devil of Jesus, Jesus quotes Deut. 8, “Man shall not live by bread alone”. The casual reader of the Bible might miss what the Jewish reader of the day must have seen very clearly. Jesus was referencing the 40 year wandering of the Jewish people in the wilderness. The fuller quotation goes like this…
“…you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these 40 years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
And 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.”
Let’s look at some similarities between what Jesus was doing and what the Israelites had done.
- Jesus was baptized prior to the 40 days in the wilderness.
- Israel was baptized prior to the 40 years wandering in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:2)
- Jesus ate nothing during his 40 day fast (God sustained him).
- Israel ate nothing during their 40 year fast except for the manna which God provided.
- Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit (which he received at his baptism) and was led in the Spirit into the wilderness
- Israel was led into the wilderness by God after Israel was baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1 Cor. 10).
The 40 years wandering by Israel in the wilderness was a punishment by God for believing the bad report of the spies they sent into the Promised Land. In Deuteronomy we find that its purpose was not strictly punishment but was also to humble them and test them to see whether they would keep his commandments and to teach them that their priority was not to serve their physical appetites (with bread) but to live by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.
So what does this say about Jesus’ purpose in his 40 day fast and temptation?
Let me suggest that his 40 day fast was similar to his baptism…. It was to fulfill all righteousness. He wasn’t baptized because he needed his sins washed away and he didn’t endure the temptation to because it was possible for him to sin
His 40 day fasting and temptation by the devil was to demonstrate his humility, to demonstrate passing the test of temptation and to demonstrate that he didn’t live by bread alone but by following God.
When Israel after 40 years humbled themselves and passed their test they could move on into the Promised Land.
The message for Christians today is that we also are undergoing testing and passing that test starts with humbling ourselves and living by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of our Lord. And if we do that we can join Jesus in our promised land.
I went to Glenn Torno’s funeral the other day. I try to make every funeral of church members and their families that I can. It was pretty easy to attend this funeral. Glenn attended at Borden Street Church of Christ in Sinton, Texas. I had come to know him on a casual basis because of my relationship with his family. When we first moved to Corpus Christi in 1982 we met Ray and Linda Torno. Our kids grew up with their kids. Of course Glen’s other son Tim was at Parkway too but I had known him since college days.
Even before I met Glen I felt like I knew him because I knew his sons. Anyone who raised godly men like Ray and Tim must also be godly.
When I first met Glenn I sensed we had something in common… Glenn liked people. He was very gregarious and welcoming and Julie and I were even invited into their home. I was impressed.
I was also impressed to learn things about Glenn. Things like when he was 14 years old during the Depression he would drive a truck across the state delivering pipe. Farm raised kids aren’t like city raised kids. I also learned that he set the 440 record in Track and Field at Sinton high school. That record lasted until 1964 when his son Ray broke it.
I really enjoyed hearing what Keith Miller his oldest grandson had to say. Keith and his Paw Paw would leave Sinton in Glen’s old truck and his Paw Paw would start a story and that story wouldn’t end until they pulled up into the driveway in Bayside 30 minutes later. As a kid he used to be so bored with those stories. As an adult he wishes that he could hear them one more time. Keith said they would drive around looking at the cotton fields. As a kid he thought… all these cotton fields look alike. As an adult he wished he could just drive with his Paw Paw just one more time.
Of course those close to the family knew that Glenn developed Alzheimer’s and I guess he knew the progression of that horrible disease and kind of quit talking.
Keith said Alzheimer’s took everything from Glen but it couldn’t take his soul… powerful words.
I hear Christians say frequently that “we just need to get to know each other better”. One of the best ways to get to know people is to go to the funerals of their families.
This was an easy funeral for me to go to for a lot of reasons. The truth is that if they had charged admission I would have been happy to pay it.
Rest in eternity Glen Torno, you did well.
Jesus was, of course, crucified between two thieves… one on his right and one on his left. They not only suffered the same brutality as Jesus suffered but also witnessed all the emotional abuse he suffered.
The Rulers “scoffed” at Jesus. The word “scoff” means literally to “hold the nose up”… to sneer and to show contempt.
The Soldiers “mocked” Jesus. The word “mock” literally means to make sport or to jest.
One of the thieves after witnessing this joined in and “railed” at Jesus. The word “rail” means to literally blaspheme which is “speech defamatory of divine majesty”. A sin punishable by eternal death.
The other thief didn’t join in with the crowd. He had witnessed all the things the first thief witnessed and had witnessed what his fellow thief said and “rebuked” him for it. He stood up for Jesus.
It’s never wrong to stand up for Jesus or to stand up for anyone else being abused wrongly. The thief was guilty of being a thief and accepted his punishment for that crime but he was smart enough to know that the door to eternity was about to open for him and the one hanging on the cross next to him held the keys to that door.
In Matthew 20, the mother of James and John asked that her two sons be permitted to sit at the right and left of Jesus when he became a King. Jesus replied that was not his honor to give.
I guess that if you can’t be honored by sitting on the right or left side of Jesus in his Kingdom… it might be very honorable to be on his right or his left when he was crucified.
One thief is in Heaven right now wearing that honor. The other thief is in Hell lamenting his foolish mistake of blaspheming God as he hung on a cross. Be careful not to scoff, mock or rail (by speech or by action) at Jesus. It could be a fatal mistake.
