Bad Samaritan?

WE NOW consider the gospel reading for the Third Sunday of Lent. Coming from the Gospel According to Saint John, this text told of the encounter between Jesus and a woman in Samaria.

 We find at the beginning that the woman was presented in scripture as a person shunned. She was a woman who lived on the fringes of acceptable society. She was treated badly, even by those who were themselves treated by Judeans as lowly outsiders.

 The story thus revealed to the Church the radical grace and acceptance that God universally offered to the lowest of the low, and so this grace also comes to us…

So he (Jesus ) came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. 

 There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 

 The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 

 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." 

 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?" 

 Jesus said to her, "Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." 

 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." 

 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." 

 The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly." 

 The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." 

 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." 

 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things." 

 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he." 

 Just then his disciples came. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but none said, "What do you wish?" or, "Why are you talking with her?" 

 So the woman left her water jar, and went away into the city, and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" They went out of the city and were coming to him. 

 Meanwhile the disciples besought him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." 

 So the disciples said to one another, "Has any one brought him food?" 

 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest. He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." 

 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word.  They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."  (John 4:5-42)

 

Twelve Extraordinary Women: How God Shaped Women of the Bible and What He Wants to Do with You By John MacArthur

On Being Thirsty…

Traveling from Cana where he had turned water into wine during a wedding celebration, our Lord went onward in ministry. He walked a short, but not highly traveled route through Samaria along the way. He went there in spite of the fact that no devout Jew would have dealings with any Samaritan. Most devout Jews would take the longer route around the region. The historical disdain between Samaritans and Jews went way back in time, as likely recorded by the prophet Nehemiah, in Chapter 4.

 The Samaritans had since those days of the ancestors, been driven from their temple on Mount Gerazim. They had been forced to the location of Shechem by Alexander the Great. Later the Maccabean ruler Hyrcanus destroyed that temple and tried to suppress the cultic practices there. Scripturally, however, we have little other knowledge of them than this history and that which is found in the Lukan telling of the “Good Samaritan”.

 Thus the place called Sychar was indeed classified as lost and desolate to Jews. And yet Jesus deliberately went there… as if to retrieve the lost. In surety however, let us be reminded that both Samaritans and Jews had belief in the coming of the delivering Messiah. As evidenced here, the woman believed that a Deliver would come.

Samaritans, the Earliest Jewish Sect: Their History, Theology and Literature By James Alan Montgomery

 

 Therefore, we read that the woman went to the well of Jacob as recorded by this story in John. There a prophetic event occurred between that fallen woman and Jesus. The event revealed to John’s churches, and to us… the unfolding grace of God which was to be poured out also upon lowly Samaritans through his beloved Son.

 Of first importance, let us note that all of the disciples were elsewhere doing errands. They were sent grocery shopping. We then must consider that this story was likely found present in John’s telling simply because of local witness and legend. It surely comes from an independent Johannine source… and not from direct observation of the disciples.

 Thus told by word of mouth by the followers of Jesus who kept the occasion in remembrance, possibly the very citizens of the area in Samaria, the story told of Jesus arriving in thirst to the historically-important well. Jacob’s well had indeed supplied precious water for centuries

The place was recorded as thus…

“Then Israel said to Joseph, "Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you, and will bring you again to the land of your fathers. Moreover I have given to you rather than to your brothers, one mountain slope which I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow."  (Genesis 48:21-22)

 The well, therefore, had sustained community life for a separated people and flocks of that area for hundreds of years. The problem was that the woman our Lord found there was one who her own society shunned. As a Samaritan, she was shunned also by the Jews as they even rumored that the women there were perpetually in menses. In totality, she was a scorned woman of a scorned people. As well, it seems she was not thought of highly because of her own lifestyle, whether placed amid social squalor by circumstance, life choices, or acts of survival. Therein was the door-clanging heat of condemnation for her as Jesus approached the well. She was scorned so thoroughly that she had to physically go to the fountain during the high heat of the day. She went to the well while being scorched by the world… trying to refill her empty vessels. At the time, therefore, Jesus seemingly baited her..., in using authority that seems to have been a haughty tone.., “Give me a drink.”

 We note the absence of the word, “Please”. Then, somewhat like a disgruntled congregant who was called to supply water or wine on short notice for an unplanned churchly baptismal thanksgiving dinner, she reacted sarcastically. Some might say the answer bordered on the demonic. She challenged Jesus with a “Why should I?” attitude. Somehow we fathers today might sense these words as echoed by an obstinate teen-aged daughter. In other words, it seems she retorted… “Why? I am not a Jew! I am not your daughter… one of yours!

 

Are You Good Enough to Get to Heaven? Pack of 25

 

  This retort in our reading is where Jesus spiritually breaks the earthen vessels in which she carried sour and brackish water. He almost scolded her. He told her of “living water”. He related that he knew her station of living in a town that had rejected her, and he knew that she led a life with questionable path.

 This was revealed as true… but even so he would give her some wondrous, lively water if she only asked. Now, for those of us who are uninformed… water bubbling with the Spirit was surely scriptural. We read from many places describing this enlivening water… such as…

“Behold, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” (Isaiah 55:1).

 The water which Jesus, as the Son of Man and Son of God provides to us is water empowered by the Spirit… the eternal Spirit of God. The spiritual water offered by Jesus comes from the deep well of God’s love which never goes dry. That water is never withheld from those who seek. That water and Spirit cannot be constrained by any container. When desired by a believer, no person, town, nation nor church can stop its flow.

Baptismal Imagery in Early Christianity: Ritual, Visual, and Theological Dimensions - eBook By Robin M. Jensen

 

  We note here that this revelation was made by Jesus, who was an itinerant Jewish rabbi… and he was speaking to a rejected woman. We remind that she lived in a rejected town, in a backwater province of an earthly empire. In modern times surely we who should know more of our position at the universal watering hole may marvel the wonder that this love poured out. We spin on a minor planet of a second rate star… in a universe that science now claims as a miniscule speck in the infinitely expanding creation of God. Such is the magnificently focused love of God that was poured out to this singular and lowly woman… and so also to us.

 

Welling Up!

You see, to feel as you are without God’s love poured out is something the woman had experienced. She had endured the loss of several husbands. The woman was likely considered as spent marital property. Tossed aside, she sought a man’s companionship but did not marry. She was ostracized and scorned by her own people. Thus I believe for John, she indeed represented the early church.

 To further this point, note that the Samaritan woman received the Spirit over against the high powers of Jerusalem and Rome. The woman and her people had existed as outcasts for centuries, yet had survived by the grace of God. But note, the woman was gracefully offered not just her sustenance water for the day, but had she asked… she would have received living water forever!

 Certainly, like those who had come to John the Baptist for ritual cleansing and would need to return again, she instead received the good news of impending eternal cleansing. Therefore, I believe that this telling related to the readers found in the time of the writer, that they too could receive the gift of faith. Subsequently, through baptism, faith had been given by Jesus through the Spirit of Pentecost. That faith would bubble up and spill forth in them… overflowing even to the ends of the earth.

“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" (John 7:37-39)

 Prophetically bound together then, the woman represented the early Christian church… congregations that were just beginning to know of the grace poured out. That power revealed was yet to grow and would be fulfilled upon the last day.

Understanding Four Views on Baptism By Edited by John H. Armstrong

 

Her Cup Was Full…

Jesus stayed in that place for a time, ministering with the woman and her people. He stayed and delivered the Word of God. I have little doubt that he built great faith among those who had been rejected, for this very story is evidence. He then continued his mission toward Jerusalem in answer to prophecy. Jesus went from that humble and despised place to Jerusalem on high. There he was to be lifted up, just as had been planned from the beginning.

 In Jesus’ actions at the well, therefore, we see that an exchange surely took place. In Jerusalem he was rejected and set apart. He was persecuted. Though innocent, he accepted for himself that woman’s place in the community of man. There in Jerusalem, the rabbi was beheld as a forever unacceptable outcast.

 Consequently, the man Jesus, who prophetically thirsted at the well of Jacob, thirsted finally upon the cross. The Son of God received the woman’s human plight and gave his eternal life both for her and for us… in a blessed exchange that pleased his Father.

 Take note! Jesus died for her there upon the cross, for her people, and even we today who accept his gift. We who read the story need only try to grasp the fullness of this meaning.

 We who need also to receive water from the spiritual cup and be baptized, need to individually or corporately drink deeply of the living water offered. When we accept the wondrous gift, we are redeemed. Then we may as the body of Christ, offer the living water to others.

 

 I say to you that we should not depend on the dry wells of religiosity, earthly governments, or the popular progressive opinions within this world. We know these earthen, dry pits shall fail. Instead, let us more certainly grasp the baptismal cup in the knowing that we have been eternally set aside for mission in the world, by immersion in the Spirit at the eternal well of love that does not fail.

 As the Church, let us realize that we receive forgiveness for our separation from God and one another. We note from scripture that in spite of first misgivings (see Matthew 10:5) through which we thought we are determined as separate, we now emerge from the waters joined as baptized and empowered. We are joined together though sinners to become the Sent Ones. This empowerment comes to us amid the furious heat of the day.

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 Remember! The grace of God can cool our sinfully parched and argumentative throats… so that we may speak blessed words of salvation to others. Like the woman at the well, we may run to tell the village. In this way, the watery blessing becomes a gift that wells up in the world even unto eternal life. So it has been revealed to us. That is precisely how the blessed enlivened water coming from God flows! May it bubble forth by the power of the Spirit on into our future… even unto the end of the age.
 For messages based upon scripture, click for videos below....

May the Lord bless and keep you!

Out Of The Dark?

FOR THE Second Sunday in Lent, we read our lesson from the Gospel According to Saint John. The writer revealed God’s plans for redemption through this well-known, telling lesson. The discourse related the created order’s transition from sinful darkness into divine light patterned for those who would believe. God promises reconciliation through his only begotten Son.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him." 

 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 

 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" 

 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.'  The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit." 

 Nicodemus said to him, "How can this be?" 

 Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand this? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen; but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

 No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." 

 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 

                                                                                              (John 3:1-17)

 

 

Easter Tomb Display

 

Just Curious!

We note that today’s lesson begins with a visit to Jesus from a representative of the Sanhedrin, which was a college of religious politicians. In a wonderfully skilled telling, our author related that the man came at night to see Jesus. He was a member of the Pharisees, with privileges granted within that very high council on religious matters and civil rule. He was a respected teacher of the Law. We wonder why did he inquire? Was he coming to Jesus on his own? Was he sent by others? Or was he driven there by the Spirit of God?

 We might also consider why Nicodemus approached at night. Did he not want to be identified? Was he ashamed of being seen with Jesus? Was it a desired time for an uninterrupted, at-length discussion? Or, in today’s vernacular, was he just an over-zealous liberal among conservatives?

 We can only guess at answers to these many questions since we cannot look into the inner motives of the man. As well, we cannot assign to him the suspicious political motives of his court. We can only guess! But think of this…“Was it simply that the questions posed in the reader's mind stand as a scribal tool? I offer that the author is using the man's questions as a conversational tool to relate a tension… one that was formed by Jesus presence. John’s emphasis on ignorance and darkness is dramatically setting the stage for the reader as to what is to be illuminated.

Cross: The Vindication of God By D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

 For me, the man’s approach at night is very interesting. His name’s meaning in the Greek is brightly defined as ”Victory among the People”, yet he first went to our Lord at a dark time. It is night as told of in the days when persons needed candles, hearths and bright companionship. Night was and still is... a time when vermin, scavengers and bandits roam. Night is a time when the vulnerable among us often need light and friends to guard them safely along their way. A master of the written word, it seems John set for us a threatening stage.

 Nicodemus addressed Jesus with collective respect… “We know…” he said. This tells us that in spite of his singular appearance... unless he expressed leadership using the royal “we”... he was representing more than himself. The question arises, “Does this mean he was there for himself, just a few persons, or the whole seventy in the Sanhedrin?  Or, by being one very interested in “victory among the people”… was he truly noted in John’s writing as a person far more than we can fathom? We see, as we read... the night gets even more mysterious.

 Nicodemus treated Jesus with respect. He called him “Rabbi” and acknowledged that Jesus was “sent from God.” He spoke that the “signs” he performed were evidence of his station. But, by the question asked we must also understand, that Nicodemus was lost in the darkness.

The Switch Goes “Click”

Jesus spoke and the Truth came to Nicodemus. With the statement “Truly, truly (amen, amen…), Jesus established authority even while the man was still mired in darkness. John highlighted that when God... speaks darkness is cast away. We cite…

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.  (Genesis 1:2-3)

 Jesus' words enlighten us. They broke through darkness to gather both Nicodemus and John’s listeners.., both then and now.  However, like Nicodemus... we who walk now in modern times still struggle with these meanings. For example, we of the Church yet grapple with one another over the meanings of one specific word of this reading. The word we wrestle in the darkness with is “again”... which comes from the Greek word., “anothen”. This Greek word may mean either that you must be "born from above”… or you must be “born again”. Given that the usage confused Nicodemus, even as a wizened sage of the Law… should make us feel a bit better. But it doesn’t. We still remain in the dark. Thus Jesus clarified the statement further by adding… “what is flesh is flesh, but what is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

No Reason to Hide: Standing for Christ in a Collapsing Culture By Erwin W. Lutzer

  According to the worldview of that day, the Spirit comes to us from “above”. Also, as the gospels attest, the Spirit descended and rested upon the shoulders of Jesus at his baptism. Sent from “above” therefore, God comes also to us so that we may be spiritually “born again”. For John then, the power for spiritual redemption comes to our finite beings from above (ref: John 19:11). The result is that we are born again. The first is the cause, while the second is the effect.

 Nicodemus most likely shuddered a bit in the darkness, grappling with demons of preconceived notions… and Jesus was astounded that he still could not see. Our Lord admonished the man’s unbelief. We recall that the scriptures of the day which recorded words of the prophets, spoke of the spiritual illumination that can suddenly occur…

Then the spirit of the Lord will come mightily upon you, and you shall prophesy with them and be turned into another man.  (1 Samuel 10:6)

And most certainly, the power of God from came from above to bring Light. Again from the days just before the exile of Israel comes this….

But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my Law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  (Jeremiah 31:33)

In that moment, Nicodemus was being enlightened and called by Jesus to believe. He was asked to look at things with new light, and to… “turn around”... which also means “repent”. He was to turn around and return to Genesis... and begin to see anew the eternal Light of God’s love poured out.

 Nicodemus and the people of the Law were being invited to see that the Light had entered the world and was placed right there before them. Nicodemus was called to immediately step out from the darkness. The Son of man and “only begotten” Son of God was revealed. Light was sitting before him amid a dark and hostile world.

Life Changing!

Though it was likely that Nicodemus tried to walk farther in faith according to the Law, like the rest of us today who still stand with one foot in the darkness and the other in the Light, it is historically recorded that after the death and Resurrection of Jesus… Nicodemus did follow Jesus. He did so by proclaiming the faith. He eventually did come to believe.

 Maybe the words of prophecy reminded Nicodemus that Jesus had predicted his being lifted up, to be displayed like the healing snake held by Moses on a pole. In this, the cross must have become a sign of victory for the victoriously named. Consequently, Nicodemus was witness to the crucifixion, and was present to help take our Lord from the cross of Calvary to be buried. To Nicodemus it may have seemed that his own light had gone out. However, the Truth was soon revealed… the eternal Light of the world had come and even the darkness of death would not overcome him.

 We might wonder, “Why this high drama from John?” I believe that blessed John could not help but be emphatic here. This gospel was to be told before his community as a marvelous illumination of the Truth. This wonderfully interwoven story unfolded before the newly formed Church and called them to not be cast aside, (apoletate = perish).
 Subsequently, all who have been gathered by the Spirit in all times to read and hear these words… are to realize that we have eternal life through faith given from above. Like our predecessors, we are called from above to repent and be born again. We the hearers of this gospel then and now… are the readers… the receivers... who are called from darkness into Light. We are in many ways... those who walk in the footsteps of Nicodemus.

 

Please be invited to watch our personal witness videos...

 

 May the Holy Spirit Guide You Today, Tomorrow and Forevermore.

People Driven By?

WE READ from the Gospel According to Matthew for the First Sunday in Lent. In this lesson we are taught by the author of the writing that just as the Son of God builds our faith, there are powers in this life that would challenge our earthly walk.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." 

 But he answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" 

 Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will give his angels charge of you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'" 

 Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'" 

 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." 

 Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! for it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'" 

 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.

                                                                                             (Matthew 4:1-11)

 

Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ - eBook By Russell D Moore

Led Beyond Temptations

A reading previously presented in Matthew stated that Jesus was baptized by John, and was declared by the Spirit to be the Son of God. As that scene closed, in continuing the faith witness... the next scene found our Lord being driven into the wilderness by that same Holy Spirit. Jesus went there for prayer and fasting. We emphasize the word “led” used in today's reading (from the Greek- anechthe). This use attests that Jesus went not by independent action, but we may considered him fully as a human being directed by another entity… i.e. the power of the Holy Spirit!

 Originally the witness in the earlier written gospel by Mark’s community related the wilderness trials only briefly. Only two verses told of the time spent there (see Mark 1:12-13). Why is this so, we may ask? I consider that either the knowledge of what had occurred in the wilderness was not fully known by the community of Mark, or the story was not relevant to the primary theme of the writer. Also, we may entertain that Mark simply omitted the account due to the shortness of that earlier gospel scroll. The incident may have simply been relinquished to the cutting room floor.

 We see in comparative gospel research, that Matthew agrees greatly with the Lukan account (Luke 4:1-13). We may subsequently conclude that because Mark was very brief... and both later-written gospels related the event with greater detail… the information found in the later gospel witnesses came from a separate, common revealed source. This means that these two witnesses offered the story from that second source... so to increase the guidance needed in the respective communities of Matthew and Luke.

 This being true, we can focus upon this needed guidance and ask certain questions. First, “Who was physically there in the wilderness to record what happened?”  As we read, we see that only Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the countryside. The Devil challenged him there.
 Given this as fact, we further ask, "If they were the only ones there, how then did the Church receive the story in order to write it down?" It is unlikely that our Lord's adversary would highlight the encounter, since that power was cast successfully aside. Hence we must conclude that the story came to the early Church directly from Jesus. If so, the account was told to the Church later by a disciple through the power of the Holy Spirit, in order to accomplish a certain purpose. I believe that purpose was to strengthen those who were part of the early Church.

 

 

A Short History of the Early Church By Harry Boer / Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. For readers who want a brief yet reliable introduction to the history of the early church as well as for those who are looking for a quick review of the period, this volume furnishes a concise overview of the key events, figures, controversies, and councils essential for a proper understanding of the first seven centuries of the Christian church. Harry R. Boer provides background on the world into which the church was born, surveys the life of the church from the ministry of Jesus until 600 A.D., examines the effects of persecution and heresy on the church, explains the role of several key church leaders, and focuses specifically on the church's ongoing struggle to formulate proper doctrines of the Trinity and of Christ. Each chapter is clearly outlined and concludes with several discussion questions that enhance the book's use as a study guide for church groups or as a text in courses on early church history.

 

 We know that Christians began to struggle mightily under severe persecutions in the unfolding decades of the first century. Thus when we consider the source of the fully developed story, from a reconstructed writing that we now call the lost “Q” document… we find its unfolding was likely developed very early. The time of origination from Jesus first ministry (c. 30 A.D.), and its being told further during following decades... brings the date to be in concert with the claimed time of Mark's writing (c.68-70 A.D.). Thus, “Q” was subsequently added later to the contents of the other two gospels... Matthew and Luke, which were written down in final form by about 85 A.D. Thus the account is presented as a story directly stemming from Jesus teachings.  The account found its way into the two synoptic gospels.

 If we accept this premise and outcome, using form criticism we can now note that this text seems to be a stand-alone story skillfully woven into that earlier document.  For this reason, we may ask... “What were the Matthean and Lukan communities encountering at the time… that the Markan community was not contending with in earlier days? What spurred the inclusion of this expanded narrative with the account from Mark?

 

The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian Origins By Joseph A. Fitzmyer

 

 I consider that since the later gospels related increased tensions between Christians and the firmly entrenched traditional Judaic faith expressions, we may conclude that much greater isolation was occurring for the early Church. Also, persecutions had been pressing hard upon the Christian communities. However, being those who certainly were convicted by the Law of Moses, but yet pardoned for the sake of Jesus Christ… the late first century Christians were provided by Jesus with a new law! That new law set them free for service in the growth of the kingdom. Therefore the wilderness story was written as a new guidance to help those communities. The teaching we find here was a method for their dealing with both the historically entrenched Jews and the Gentile. Both worlds were aflame with evil. The lesson speaks also across several millenia to us as we live in a world that is becoming even more hostile to our salvation and ministry message.

Christianity and Wokeness By Owen Strachan

 

Lenten Discipline…

Our path as Christians, like that of this faithful ancestral community, should unfold as we are led by the Spirit. We need to go forward just as our Lord was led into that wilderness. Consequently, we are especially called by the Spirit to engage in prayer and fasting during the coming forty days of  Lent. By doing these ancient rituals we shall gather discipline by restraint, through such as this gospel's message which reminds of our Lord’s tribulations in the wilderness.
 Remember! Word through the power of the Spirit strengthen us. Where Jesus was tempted by Satan; so we too are also tempted. The words that Jesus spoke in answer to evil are a prescription given that strips us of fear. They strengthen our own resolve as we work plodding through this often hostile, modern world. Therefore, in the challenges of the coming Lenten season we know surely Satan shall whisper again to us that all is vanity. We shall be tempted to fall away and lessen our seriousness and witness. Consequently, know that to ward off these attacks, only prayer, discipline and a knowledge of Holy Scripture will suffice to strengthen and guide us.

 Note that we have been given an advantage! The community of blessed Matthew did not have all that we have. The early Church did not have the New Testament. They were writing it! So blessed ones, note that our Lord quoted from scripture that which was available during his time upon earth. And indeed we are called to do so as well. However, now we have a far wider foundation than our historical predecessors… thus as Jesus prophesied we may be empowered into the doing of even greater things! We can cite as witness not only from the Law and prophets, but also from the Gospels and the letters preserved from the early Church. With this great storehouse of God’s Word provided, we most certainly speak of Jesus Christ with great resolve.

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 Note that we are called as the Church to witness in the world, and in this God shall empower and defend us. As we tread forward in witness this season, know by the Spirit’s revelation that we are not giving in to the temptations of building our world in our own sinful image. We are brought safely down from that dangerous precipice. We are kept from taking that road paved into hell laid out by the luring, undulating switchbacks of social acceptance. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we have our feet firmly planted on solid biblical ground. Temptations shall leave. Messengers of God shall minister to us. Let us be guided only by scripture rightly interpreted and proclaimed. Thanks be to God!