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.
Thank you Pastor for writing these! Jedd
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