Following Jesus into the Desert Luke 4:1-13
Introduction
Well how is it going for you so far? Four days down 36 to go – how is your Lent going? Is it something that has passed you by? Certainly at the hospital where I work one is more likely to be aware of the Muslim fast than our Christian one. This is partly because the keeping of Ramadam is more public and proscribed. Our own practise of fasting is much more discreet, taking the words of Jesus seriously “When you fast do not look sombre ..” Matt.6:16ff and also much less proscribed. It is up to the individual to decide how they should observe the fast.
In our consumer society the whole concept of voluntarily going without is very alien. We understand about dieting and detoxing but these are very different from the spiritual discipline of fasting. The aim of dieting and detox is to improve our physical well-being, the aim of fasting is to improve our spiritual well-being. Fasting’s chief benefit is a closer relationship with God. It is not surprising then to find that when our Lord himself fasted it resulted in spiritual conflict. Satan always opposes any activity which draws us closer to God. Let’s see what we can learn from our gospel passage about fasting, conflict and victory.
Fasting
I was reading a Lent study book which asserted that “Jesus chose to go into the wilderness”. Whilst this is true he chose to do so within the context of being full of the Spirit and at the Spirit’s prompting. “Jesus full of the Holy Spirit...was led by the Spirit” Luke 4:1. For our fasting to be effective it should be at the prompting of the Spirit. According to Richard Foster in his book Celebration of discipline, one of the reasons that fasting has fallen into disrepute within the Christian church is the substitution of human compulsion for divine prompting. “With the decline of the inward reality of the Christian faith, there developed an increasing tendency to stress the only thing left, the outward form...hence fasting was subjected to the most rigid regulations and practised with extreme self-mortification and flagellation”. Having said that it is easy to excuse ourselves from fasting by claiming that the Spirit has not led us to this discipline. I would venture to suggest that anyone who is genuinely wanting to be led by the Spirit will sooner or later be prompted to fast. The Sprit will want to draw us into a closer relationship with God and one of the means of grace is the practice of fasting.
Conflict
In both Matthew and Luke’s gospel we have a summary account of the temptations Jesus faced when he was fasting. These must surely be as related to the evangelists by Jesus since he was alone in the desert. The three recorded temptations are the culmination of 40days of tempting. Again from Celebration of Discipline Foster asserts “fasting reveals the things that control us”. This is seen in the temptations Jesus faced. Would he be ruled by his physical needs? No! Would he be ruled by satan who sought his worship? No! Would he be ruled by a need for affirmation? No! Jesus faced these and no doubt many more temptations yet came out victorious. What was the key to his victory?
Victory
The key to Jesus’ victory is so simple and so obvious that it is often overlooked or ignored: Scripture. “It is written...” is how Jesus successfully combats the onslaught of Satan. If we wish to be similarly successful then we need to read mark learn and inwardly digest the word. It is helpful to have a few key verses up your sleeve, specific for the sorts of temptation that you yourself face on a regular basis. (examples)
Conclusion
In preparing this I have been reminded of the words of the American philosopher and poet Waldo Emerson “Sow a thought and reap an action, sow an action reap a habit, sow a habit reap a character, sow a character reap a destiny”. In dealing with temptation it is easier to strike at the beginning, in the realm of our thinking, than anywhere further down the line. The best way of maintaining healthy thought-life is through meditation on the Word.