Jesus Begins His Vocation

Matthew 4: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+4&version=NIV

            In His baptism at the end of chapter 3, Jesus takes up His vocation as Messiah. Being identified as God’s Son means being identified as Israel (Exodus 4:22); Israel’s calling was to bring blessing to all the peoples of the earth (Genesis 12:3); and Jesus takes up that calling in His person “to fulfill all righteousness: (Matthew 3:15).

            Jesus’ time of temptation in the wilderness builds on this calling. Israel had their 40-year testing in the wilderness, and Jesus’ has His 40 days. Israel made a lot of mistakes in the wilderness, complaining about the food; doubting the Lord’s Word, putting Him to the test. Jesus did not: He is perfect trust in the Lord.

            More than that, Jesus’ temptation echoes Adam’s temptation in the Garden, with allusions to the fruit that was good for food, and doubts about what God’s Word really said, and questions about whether one could be god for himself. And again, Jesus endures and is faithful in a way that Adam had not been.

            Jesus will take up Israel’s vocation and He will do it on behalf of the whole human race, all of Adam’s children.

            And take it up He does in the second half of the chapter. 4:15 marries both themes: Jesus works in a space that is still clearly Israel (the land of Zebulun and Naphtali) but right on the border with the nations (Galilee of the Gentiles). And He embraces His calling in three ways First, He preaches the nearness of the reign of God, that is, the nearness of the time when God will assert Himself in the world. One of the ways Jesus shows the nearness of that time is through a ministry of healing. Finally, He calls disciples, which will become His work of reconstituting Israel around Himself, although that doesn’t become clear until chapter 10.

            The comfort here is clear. First, when temptation engulfs us—when we are tested by doubt and pride assails and we are on the same road as Adam and Israel—we know that we have a Savior who walked this road already and whose perfect faithfulness is counted as ours. That’s not to say that our choices don’t matter; it is to say that this is what forgiveness look like: when we are weak, He is strong in our place. Second, wherever Jesus is, there the reign of God is breaking in. When we ponder His Word, when we eat His Holy Supper, we are assured that God is near. And, third, when Jesus is near, there is light—even for those who live in the land of the shadow of death.