Luke 4:1-30 Ezekiel 44-45 Isaiah 64
“O that you would tear open the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 64:1). So prays the prophet Isaiah on behalf of his people. “Stop hiding! Reveal yourself! Dramatically. Powerfully. Make mountains quake and adversaries tremble! Now!” . . . Perhaps you understand the desire. Perhaps you have prayed in much the same way . . . And, as Ezekiel witnesses “the glory of the Lord” filling the temple (Ezekiel 44:4), we see that sometimes God’s presence is, indeed, dramatically known. Yet, it is in Luke’s reporting of the initial movements of Jesus’ ministry that our more common experience of God-with-us is revealed: as a strengthening presence in the midst of wilderness and temptation (Luke 4:1-13), or as an unexpected challenger of our assumptions, easily missed or quickly rejected (4:14-30).
“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). The claim? In Jesus God has, indeed, torn heaven open and come down (Luke 3:21,22). Yet, rather than quaking mountains and trembling adversaries, the signs of his coming are a hometown boy declaring that God loves all people — even foreigners (v.25-27)! The response is a rattling rage and outright rejection (v.28,29) . . . And there it is: God present and unrecognized. I wonder how many times it has happened to us? We seek God . . . ask for God’s help . . . cry out for strength . . . and, failing to recognize God-with-us, also fail to avail ourselves of God’s presence . . . It doesn’t have to be this way, beloved. There is another way. It is the way of Jesus in the wilderness.
“It is written” (Luke 4:4,8). So Jesus responds to the temptation to doubt his sonship. So Jesus availed himself of the power and presence of God in the wilderness. Prayer . . . solitude . . . fasting . . . silence . . . and God’s word already given . . . These are the resources Jesus drew upon. There was no need for more than this. God was already present with Jesus. As God is with us. Drama, or no. Is this not the heart of the story we have been reading? The challenge isn’t in convincing God to show up, the true challenge is to tune in and recognize God-with-us. This we do through intentionality and discipline, following the model of Jesus himself. Read God’s word. Listen in prayer. Be quiet and attentive to God present. Stop assuming and pay attention . . . May you know God with you always. May you be open and receptive to the Spirit’s guidance. And may you always remember that God “works for those who wait” (Isaiah 64:4). Amen.
“Yet, O Lord, you are our father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.”
— Isaiah 64:8
