Why did Jesus go into the desert? I know that in verse 12 it says that the Spirit led him out there, but why on God's green earth did he NEED to go out there? What's in the desert? God's out there. OK. Now Jesus is out there. OK. Good. Now we have God and Jesus out in the desert. What's NOT in the desert? Distractions. Alright, Jesus went out to get away from distractions. So, he just wanted some alone time with God. Why? Was he trying to figure out what his ministry was? Well, in Luke 2:49 Jesus states that God is his father, which would imply that he already knew that he was the son of God. OK, so God wasn't revealing to Jesus that he was divine...we already had that news flash. Was it more of a one man pep rally? "Alright, Jesus! Who's the God?" "I am!" "Who's the God?" "I'm the God!" "What'cha gonna do?!" "Save the people! Save the People!"
Maybe not exactly like that, but possibly God set Jesus out in the middle of nowhere in order for him and him (which is just him) to run over the details, pray, fast (obviously), and just meditate on what he had to do.
But Wait! Verse 13 of Mark 1 says that he was out there and Satan was tempting him! What the heck are you doing out there? Leave him alone! He's studying! Quiet hours! Holy cow!
Not only did it say that he was out there it says, "and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan." Now maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to imply that Satan was on Jesus the entire forty days! I know why Satan would want that, but why did Jesus and God allow it? What was the point? At any point in those forty days Jesus could've said, "Satan, get outta my face!" and that would've been the end of that. But he endured it...not only did he endure it, he withstood it. Hmm... Why? Well, maybe he was trying to prove to us that he was indeed perfect. I mean, really that's the only account of Jesus being tempted. If it weren't for that (and other records of the same instance) we would not have seen how human Christ really was. He faced temptation just like we do. Not only did he face it, he opposed it, which proves his diety as well. Sweet. What a fantastic example of Christ's humanity and deity in one 40 day sitting.
Good job, God.
Alex H
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3 comments:
I loved the image you gave of Jesus giving Himself a pep-talk. Never thought of it like that...haha. Don't know that it's the way it happend but it's a fresh way of looking at it. Often it's too easy to see Jesus as dry and humorless. I don't see God being that boring.
I have often wondered about this passage as well, and have asked some similar questions, like why would Jesus/God allow himself to be tempted for forty day? It does not make since to me why he would not do like you said and just tell him to go away. Also I agree with Aaron, good pep talk. It is good to have passages like these, for us to able to say, wow Christ went through this too. Good post.
Matt Justice
Jesus’ temptation is helpful in understanding the humanity of Christ. In light of this, what kind of example would we have if Christ was NEVER tempted? He WAS the Son of God. God could have kept him free of temptation to ensure his perfection. It’s kinda like God took a chance and allowed him to be tempted anyway. Good thing God doesn’t need luck.
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