Day 11, Luke 4
We return to the testing in the wilderness. As usual, Luke provides more detail than his fellow evangelists. He wants us to truly see the humanity of God as Jesus reveals it. Luke’s good news is for the whole mass of humanity who were previously outsiders. Now we are insiders.
Today we see how offensive this inclusion was to the “insiders” in the synagogue: they tried to kill Him by throwing Him off a cliff, but His authority negates their enmity and He walks away, leaving them stunned.
Luke records multiple cases where demons confess the truth about Jesus: the accuser’s minions are frightened and seek to distract and disrupt. But they are already defeated, and Jesus allows none of it.
This power caused many to be drawn to Jesus, but He doesn’t respond the way we might (by extending the ‘revival’ and staying to draw a bigger crowd) - instead He pursues solitude with His Father and continues to move around to take the hope of God’s Kingdom to every place.
That is our commission too. Our Father wants His kingdom to come through us. Let’s cooperate with His desires and lead people into encounters with Him.
Have a great day!
Mark.