GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 4:1-2
The Devil Tempts Jesus
(Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13)
4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where he was tempted by the Devil for forty days. He did not eat anything during those days, and when they came to an end, he was hungry.
This desert was the Desert of Judea (Matthew 3:1), also known as Jeshimon, the mostly uninhabited region surrounding the northern shore (both northeast and northwest) of the Dead Sea. It is a narrow space, just a few miles across, but the land descends from Jerusalem, 2,500 feet above sea level, to the surface of the Dead Sea, 1,300 feet below sea level. That’s nearly a mile downward in less than five miles of walking (20% grade, which not so much a “grade” as it is a “hole”). And the walk isn’t easy. It’s a rocky salt desert tumbling down toward the Dead Sea among towering cliffs and almost no life at all apart from scorpions and flies, although there have been exceptions. Lions, jackals, poisonous snakes, and other predators would sometimes hunt in the rocks and ravines, following the winding tracks taken by shepherds brave enough to drive their small herds of goats through such a terrible shortcut to the grasslands around Bethlehem and Tekoa.
Humanly speaking, Jesus was alone in this wilderness. But the Holy Spirit was with him. Mark tells us that there were wild animals around him, as well (Mark 1:13). For forty days the Lord stayed here, a day’s hard march from safety. He stayed there in order to fast, and this is something we need to examine carefully, because fasting is so distant from the American mind, whether Lutheran, Catholic, Baptist, or any other denomination. In some cases this is because true fasting is unknown. It’s been replaced by a good work by the same name, which is not godly fasting at all.
On Fasting
Fasting is excellent in two forms. The first kind of fasting is brought about when a person doesn’t have the means to get food. This might be because of a disaster, a war, a famine, or poverty, or even certain kinds of diseases that don’t allow a person to take nourishment. A great many people are forced into this kind of fasting in their final hours or days of life. Luther calls this kind of fasting, whatever its cause, more precious than the other kind, because “we must observe and bear (it) until God himself changes it and satisfies us.”
The other kind of fasting, which is intentional, is what Christ underwent here. This kind of fast is done to bring the flesh under subjection to the spirit. Paul says that it is one of the ways we commend ourselves to God, “in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger” (2 Corinthians 6:5).
This doesn’t mean that fasting is something we should immediately put on the agenda. Most Christians think of fasting as a means of weight loss, which is never, ever, the reason for any fast in Scripture.
Fasting is not about weight loss. Its purpose is to give God glory.
Fasting is not about punishing the flesh. Its purpose is to subject the flesh to the will.
Fasting is not about punishing sins. Christ was punished in our place.
Fasting is not about gaining glory. Its purpose is to give God glory.
Fasting is not about seeking an ecstatic state. Whoever among us wants to know the will of God should run to the Scriptures (δράμε ταῖς γραϕαῖς)
Fasting is not about seeking visions from God. God speaks to us in his word; we must not attempt to summon or command him the way ordinary people summon or command animals or the way fools attempt to summon or command demons.
Should we fast at all? First of all, we should never force someone else to fast. A father or a pastor should never command anyone that they have to fast on such and such a day. God blesses us with his gifts, including food and drink, to use with thanksgiving. If someone wants to fast, it should only be done as a voluntary act of worship, like the voluntary sacrifices in the Old Testament like the burnt offerings, grain offerings and fellowship offerings, none of which were commanded by God, but only regulated by him. The only sacrifices God demanded were the sin offerings and the guilt offerings, to atone for sin—and those were fulfilled forever by Jesus.
Why did Jesus fast? To bring his flesh under the dominion of his will. To eat is not a sin. To control the desire to do a sinless thing like eating is an act of the will. To control the desire to eat after weeks of fasting is a greater act, even a tremendous act of the will. Jesus undertook this act to demonstrate his will over all things, and even over all actions. By this act, he put to rest foolish questions about whether he could have done this or that. Could Jesus have fallen in love with a girl? Could Jesus have tripped over a stone? Could Jesus even have gotten a cold? Could Jesu sever have disobeyed or disagreed with his mother Mary? Could Jesus ever have done this, that, or the other thing? The answer to all of these questions and ten thousand more is this: His body was subject to his will even in things apart from sin. His body was certainly subject to his will with regard to any and all temptations. The Devil hurled temptations at Jesus, and Jesus stood up to each and every one of them. He simply did not allow the Devil to tell him to do anything at all. Nor should we.
Fasting, for us, is a matter that is neither commanded nor forbidden by God (an adiaphoron). If it were ever to be done, it should be done only with exactly the right motive, and for exactly the right reason. Does it glorify God? Is it done from faith, and not from any command? Is it to be done only for a certain time, and then to be ended? Do not do it in conjunction with a vow, so that you will not break the Second Commandment in what should be a way to give praise to God. Some people fast before they take the Lord’s Supper, or before other things. This doesn’t need to be done. What’s most important here is not what we might do, but what Jesus did. He placed his flesh under his own will, his will which matched his Father’s will in every way. He did this for our sakes, for our benefit, and for our eternal good.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota