LEARNING THE KINGDOM

Jesus in the wilderness

- painting by Ron Di Ciarni -

THE GREAT TEST

When Jesus faced His old adversary out in the Judean wilderness, Satan unfurled his master blueprint for the captivity of mankind’s soul. The deceiver unleashed with a fallen brazenness his brash and spectacular strategy to take centre stage and grab the attention of the world. In the guise of offering the Son of God advice as to how to achieve His mission, the father of lies reveals the underbelly of his own diabolical scheming. The showy and pompous serpent arrayed in combat before the Lamb of God, their very essences irreconcilable, their purposes in this world opposite. This wilderness showdown would determine the fate, not just of the two protagonists but of the earth itself and all life upon it. Satan, presenting a firework display of egocentric machination…turning the limestone rocks to loaves of bread (1)…defying the laws of physics (2)…and offering earthly kingdoms as his poisoned currency (3).

HIS TRIUMPH

These devilish schemes were offered to the Incarnate God in exchange for a little acknowledgement, just the slightest bending of the knee and will to the adversaries sinister intent. Jesus rebutted the liars words, His clear voice cutting through the scorched desert air, He hurtled three supreme truths to silence the tempters hellish tirade. As we eavesdrop on the Saviours words we can take them for ourselves…1)…We are to live according to the Word of God(4)…2)…We should never test God (5)…3)…We must worship God alone, and serve Him (6). The Truth echoed through the sun-baked hills of Jeshimmon as Jesus turned to the enemy saying “Get out of here, Satan”(7) This was a defining moment in the life of Jesus, here he nailed his colours to the mast and indicated the Way He would proceed in the task of spreading the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Not according to the vacuous and spectacular agenda set by man or devil, but according to a plan long ago conceived in the very heart of God. A plan that would eschew the rich and powerful and instead embrace the poor and weak. As Mary noted in her Magnificat prayer…

“ His mighty arm has done tremendous things !
He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.
He has brought down princes from their thrones
And exalted the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
And sent the rich away with empty hands.” (8)

This was to be God in action at his most sublime, moving quietly almost covertly at times to accomplish His ultimate purposes for His creation.
Henry Ward Beecher the abolitionist preacher said it well…
“ Ten million roots are pumping in the streets: do you hear them? Ten million buds are forming in the axles of the leaves : do you hear the sound of the saw or the hammer? All next summer is at work in the world: but it is unseen by us. And so ‘the kingdom of God comes not with observation’”

A NEW WAY

Herod Antipas summoned the Nazarene to his courts hoping that this local curiosity would do a miracle or two to entertain the despotic Galilean ruler and his friends. Jesus did not oblige.(9) The Roman procurator Pilate attempted to engage the Saviour in a philosophical discourse when he asked “What is truth?” Jesus did not respond.(10) Even the mob who arrested Him,spat at Him and beat Him as they jeered “Prophecy, who hit you?”Their invective was met with a stony silence.(11) Jesus would not play the game according to the ‘normal’rules where the rich and powerful are kowtowed to and the poor are ignored. This was not Gods way of doing things, no matter how ingrained it was in the culture or psyche of that time or any other time. Jesus was on a radical path that would bring Him, and by faith His followers, to a place unoccupied by human beings since the Garden of Eden. The coming of the Kingdom. “on earth as it is in heaven” (12).
Entering the village of Nain he was met by a mother leading the funeral procession for her son. His heart was moved with compassion for the distraught woman, and He raised her son from the dead (13) . After Jesus teaching on the Mount concerning the Kingdom of God , He descended and was approached by a man with leprosy ,who cried out “ If you are willing, you can make me well .” Jesus touched the man and the leprosy disappeared (14). Simon's mother-in-law was already hopelessly ill when Jesus entered the house and a group of neighbours and friends pleaded with the Master “ Please heal her”. Jesus touched the woman, the fever left her and she recovered. Later that evening the crowds clamoured to see the Lord and He healed the sick and delivered those who were possessed by demons (15).

THE KINGDOM

As Jesus went from place to place He was in constant communion with the Father, and moved by Divine love and fellow-feeling for those afflicted, He tenderly administered the rule of Gods kingdom. This was the world Jesus moved in most easily, not the world of imposing marble columns or gilded palaces but along the dusty highways and byways where suffering humanity flocked to His call. They came to drink the New Wine and taste for themselves the Glory among them, amazed at His teaching and awed by His power. This was power as they had not seen it, a strength clothed in weakness, an authority borne of meekness, in fact what lay before them was God veiled in the flesh! Here in the busy market places and little streets Jesus found His own, and rooted the love of God deep in the hearts of those who believed and followed Messiah. Jesus wept as we weep (16) , He thirsted as we thirst (17) , He tired as we tire (18). Like us in our humanity, tempted as we are tempted, yet unyielding to the Tempters lies, thus unlike us, free of sin. Truly it has been said “Almighty must be that power whose sufficient strength is weakness.”
Truly this is the Upside-down Kingdom where all our cherished wisdom is stood on its head and the power of God breaks through at the cry of a newborn Infant, in the blood of a crucifixion and at the mouth of an empty tomb! Surely His ways are not our ways (19). Our reasoned schemes are petty and forever sidelined by the awesome purposes of our Father as He moves towards the creation of a new heaven and a new earth(20).
Ralph W Stockman once observed “The hinge of history is on the door of a Bethlehem stable”
This Kingdom life which Jesus taught has two vital elements, a love for God and a love for one another (21) , especially the oppressed and downtrodden. And we who wish to be disciples of the King must be prepared to go the Way He went, even to the Cross. We can expect no more plaudits than He as we follow the path from death to life. Do we consider the student will get better treatment than the Master? (22) .May Gods grace enable us to continue on the Kingdom road until that day when His rule will come in all its splendid fullness. Till then we wait and hope remembering that wilderness confrontation between the Son of God and the Prince of darkness, when two very different roads were laid before us, one of which every man and woman must choose. May God in His mercy, lead us all to a firm and true resolve ,to follow the Way of Jesus Christ our Lord and Master.

Gerard O’Shea

KEY TO SCRIPTURE
(1) Matthew 4:3...(2) Matthew 4:6...(3) Matthew 4:8,9...(4) Matthew 4:4...(5) Matthew 4:7...

(6) Matthew 4:10...(7) Matthew 4:10...(8) Luke 1:51-53...(9) Luke 23:8,9...(10) John 18:38...(11) Matthew 26:67...(12) Matthew 6:10...(13) Luke 7:11-16...(14) Mark 1:40-42...

(15) Matthew 8:14-17...(16) John 11:35...(17) John 4:7...(18) John 4:6...(19) Isaiah 55:8...

(20) Revelation 21:1...(21) Mark 12:28-31...(22) Matthew 10:24