resurrection

Have you ever gone grocery shopping hungry? Do you then come home and, as you begin to put your purchases away wonder how on earth you came home with all those extra items?

Temptation is a tricky thing. We skip one meal and suddenly our cupboards are full of cookies and chips. In Luke 4, Jesus went on forty days without food. I think I’d be tempted to buy an entire farm by that point.

But Jesus taking off into the wilderness wasn’t a whim. It wasn’t an act of being out and about and suddenly realising that you need to pick up a few things on your way home.

Now Jesus, full of [and in perfect communication with] the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they ended, He was hungry.

Luke 4:1-2 (AMP)

When I think about this account, I tend to imagine that Jesus had been wandering alone for forty days and then the devil shows up. But if you read the verse, there is a strong indication that the devil was there the whole time. For forty days, Jesus resisted the devil. For four minutes, I’m not able to resist a chocolate bar. Or a bag of chips. Or that pepperoni stick. Snack foods are so trivial and it goes to show just how much Jesus was able to draw on the power of the Holy Spirit when he was tempted with the thought of bread or authority over all the kingdoms of the earth.

If you take anything from this passage (aside from a hankering for some munchies), think about the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus went into the desert right after being baptised. Right after the Holy Spirit had descended upon him and God spoke from heaven claiming Jesus as His Son. He didn’t go around touting this fact. He went off by himself to be proven.

I believe that, aside from His death and resurrection, this is one of Jesus’ greatest acts. What about the miracles? Sorcerers and magicians were able to perform similar feats (I am in no way making light of the incredible things Jesus did). But no one else was able to stand up in the face of the devil and say, no. Miracles came easy. Resisting temptation did not.

Daily Bible reading: Joshua 11-13, Luke 4:1-32

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Mark 15:34b (ESV)

As Easter draws near, many people around the world are made more aware of the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus, the death and resurrection being the main focus. And so they should be. Without either, our faith is nothing but an empty shell.

In reading this verse again, I began to think of what the cross really meant, not for us, but for Jesus. As he was held to wooden beams with thick, heavy nails driven through his flesh and bones, he not only experienced unbearable physical pain, but, as he cried out, he felt the pain of abandonment.

What does it really mean to be forsaken?

To quit or leave entirely; to desert; to abandon; to depart from.

To abandon; to renounce; to reject.

To leave; to withdraw from; to fail.

In scripture, God forsakes his people, when he withdraws his aid, or the light of his countenance.

How would it have felt to know that your father, The Unfailing God, failed you? To know the one who would never leave has left?

Jesus felt on the cross what no other human being in history ever felt – to be completely and utterly forsaken. Never once before or since has anyone ever been so thoroughly separated from the rest of the world. And never before or since was there anyone less deserving to have endured what Jesus endured.

Next time you feel alone, left out, abandoned, remind yourself that you are not alone. You are not left out. You are not abandoned. Jesus endured it all so we would never have to.

Daily Bible reading: Deuteronomy 28, Mark 15:27-47

Verse-by-Verse

An in-depth and visual commentary on the Gospel of John

Very hungry

Forsake