Luke's interesting Commentary on Jesus' Return to Galilee

Luke 4: 14 states, "Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside."


I find this a curious commentary on the status of the Savior following His submersion in  the flowing banks of the Jordan river under the appointment of John the Baptist, and then the forty days of fasting in the wilderness, having successfully faced the wiles of the Tempter. The words catch me in that they seem to indicate some change of state, as if it were something new. He left Galilee without the power the Spirit (please bear with me here as I just ramble a bit in my thought pattern), He then met with His divine appointments, He now returns in the power of the Spirit and so it is now that news about him spreads. 


Being in very nature God, how is it that he was not in the power of the Spirit previously? I don't understand how He could divest Himself of that power, and yet He did for this period. 


As I sit and consider this situation I must admit that this is not without its parallel. For on the cross Christ suffered separation from the Father. 


The application of this passage is simple, for the divine modeled for us how ministry should be conducted, not in our own strength but in the empowerment of the Spirit. I wish I could give myself to prayer and fasting in such dedication as my Savior; I grumble when I miss more than two meals let alone a day or forty days. But obviously this preparation was important for the start of this ministry period, for the selection of the twelve, for the declaration of the kingdom of God.It is just as vital for me. -- D

How I Began My Journey as a Christian

With Harold Camping's misguided doomsday prediction looming over us, this week I have noticed an increase in interest in spiritual things, however in most cases it has been mainly for ridicule and not for reason or rationalization. To be fair, I cannot say that I blame people for wagging their fingers and laughing, or mocking at the notion of doomsday coming today, May 21, 2011.
   This has led me to write this morning concerning what is true and right in light of what is misguided; and the best way to begin this writing is to simply state how my journey as a Christian began.
    Yes, my journey as a Christian as a beginning. I was not 'born' a Christian. I was not raised in a Christian family or anything like that. It dates back to 1979, when I was 13 years old. It was a bright August morning and I was visiting with my grandparents in Perry, Maine; who were also visiting from Westbrook, Maine. They would come down two times each summer, once for the week of the 4th of July, and once for a week in August, usually on the week of my birthday. I would look forward to their visits and for my Aunt Winnie's visits, who was more like an older sister to me than an aunt as she was only three years older than me.
   On this particular day in August I was upstairs in my great grandfather's house in Perry reading from Mark Twain's book Huckleberry Finn. Winnie and my younger sister Michelle came up the stairs and Winnie was talking to Michelle about Jesus and asked me if I wanted to come and listen. I told her that I didn't want anything to do with that. However they went in to the room next to mine and I ended up listening anyway. Winnie was talking about things that I had read about earlier in the week in some small comic books my grandfather had brought with him. The one thing that stood out to me that day was the concept that Jesus said 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one can come to the Father but by Me'.
   After they talked for a few minutes my sister prayed with Winnie to ask Jesus to forgive her of her sins and to be her Lord and Savior.
   I remember after they had gone down stairs sitting there on the bed and thinking for what seemed like an hour about this. I knew that this was serious stuff and that if I made a decision to accept Christ that my life would be different, I did not know how or in what way at the time but some how I just knew it would be different. In the end though, I knew that I am a sinner, that I have done things wrong and that after this life is over, I would much rather be in heaven than hell. If Christ says I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; and no one can come to the Father but by Me, then I need to give my life to Him.
   By that time I had forgotten what my sister and Winnie had prayed but I had remembered that these little comic books that my grandfather had in his room contained a sample prayer in the back that sounded like what they had prayed. So I went to my grandfather's room and found one of those comic books.
    I remember praying and asking Christ to forgive me for my sins, to come into my life and become my Lord and Savior. I thanked God for sending Jesus to die for my sins and that he raised him from the dead. I then thanked him for forgiving my sins. That moment in time was the beginning of my walk as a Christian. The following verse is the evidence for this.
    "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." Romans 10:9-10
   There is no baptism, tongues of fire, catechism, sacred ritual, or membership class that one needs to attend to become a Christian. Sometimes the reality of true Christianity becomes marred by humanity and its myopic and misguided self-interests. True Christianity is about re-establishing a right relationship that was broken in an idyllic garden in the beginning, it is restoring our relationship with the living God. It is nothing more, nothing less. 
   If anyone has any questions about my faith, I am more than happy to address those questions. One of the approaches I have always had in life is to be fair, firm and consistent with all my friends and family.

Job's Dilemma and our Delight

In Job 8 Bildad suggests to Job that perhaps the suffering he is facing is due to sin on his part or his children's part and that he should address the sin in order to stop the suffering. I am sure Bildad is responding out of deep concern for his friend and out of a pure motive here. He wants to see his friend to stop suffering, as any of us would want for any of our friends in crisis.
Job in chapter 9 responds that even if he were righteous he would not no what to say, how could he argue with God. The saddest verses come in verses 32 - 35.
32 "For He is not a man, as I am, That I may answer Him, And that we should go to court together.33 Nor is there any mediator between us, Who may lay his hand on us both. 34 Let Him take His rod away from me, And do not let dread of Him terrify me. 35 Then I would speak and not fear Him, But it is not so with me.
Job's response is sad in that he wishes that he had someone to act as an advocate for him, to stand between him and God as a mediator to help argue his case for him.

Here is Job, who with all his heart has tried to worship God with sincerity all his life. God even testifies to his character when talking with Satan. He is a man who offers sacrifices for himself and also for his children. He is responsible, hardworking, and well liked in the community.

Yet, in this hour of distress he senses a chasm in the relationship between him and God, he desires to come before God, to plead his case before the almighty, but he knows he cannot without a mediator.

Compare this to our relationship we now enjoy with God because of Christ who ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). He stands as the one mediator between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5), arbitrating our cause before the throne of heaven. And when we sin, he is our advocate before the throne of grace turning away the wrath of God (1 John 2:1-2). Now we do not need to fear to come before the throne of God, but are told to come boldly before the throne of grace to find help in the time of need.

How many of us take Him up on that offer? How many times do I take that offer too lightly? Do I treat prayer with the dignity and honor it deserves? When I enter the sanctuary of prayer, I enter in with the King of Kings, the one who masterfully created all things and by whom all things are held together. Yet sometimes I just rush in and throw my list down and run back out like a court jester in the palace court, looking like the fool for it too. It is only by His grace and mercy and of course much patience with me that I am not consumed like a firebrand in the underbrush.

The Emmaus Road Feast

This morning I was reading the events following Christ's resurrection in Luke 24 and was thinking about the interaction between Christ and the men going from Jerusalem to Emmaus. In verse 27, the spiritual feast begins,

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Later the men urge this stranger on the road to Emmaus to stay with them. When Christ came and broke bread and blessed the bread it was then that their eyes were opened. It is the following verse that I found compelling.

They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

Here on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus these men had dined on a spiritual feast and had not appreciated its delicacies until much later. 'Were not our hearts burning within us' should be my heart cry when I sit and dine at the dinner table with Christ and enjoy the feast from His word. However, it is not often that I can say this. Many times the words of the page just tumble across my brow and barely light upon my soul. Perhaps they catch there unknowingly to me and are set to be harvested later by the Holy Spirit, I can only entrust that work to His holy hands. I know that my God is faithful. All I know is that I wish I had a deeper and closer walk with Him and that I desire to honor Him in all I do and say.