A few weeks ago, Stephanie and I had the chance to visit the church where we met 10 years ago--the Woodmont Hills Family of God. While there, I had the chance to visit with an old friend, Terry Smith, who asked about how I was dealing with some lingering issues from my ministerial past. I told him I was not "over it," but I was "better." I also mentioned that being at work, in graduate school, and with a family...I didn't find myself with a tremendous amount of time for introspection. He admonition to me was, "You need to make the time; Because it is in the quiet moments away from the distractions that God meets us."
This encounter had been percolating in my mind when I came to prepare a lesson on Luke chapters 4-5. Perhaps I only saw what I needed to see, but for the first time the recurring theme of "the wilderness" stood out to me. A number of questions present themselves, like "What makes for a wilderness?" In the context of Luke 4, Jesus' temptation takes place in a place of physical isolation and probably some level of danger. Furthermore, the wilderness is not only external but internal as well. Jesus has fasted forty days and is "very hungry." In other words, he is in a weakened physical state. Perhaps most shockingly, we find that the decision to subject Himself to such treatment was not merely a personal fancy, but that in fact Jesus has been "led by the Spirit into the wilderness."(4:1)
After triumphing over his temptation, Luke tells us that Jesus emerges from this time of trial "filled with the Holy Spirit's power" (4:14) and immediately sets about His public ministry. It strikes me as significant that Jesus DID NOT enter upon his Messianic mission immediately following His baptism and the confirming sign of the Holy Spirit's descent.(3:22) It seems as if there is some necessary connection between the experience of suffering and deprivation, and Jesus' ability to emerge with the power (personal, moral, ethical, et al.) to fulfill His God-given mission.
