The Angelic Health Care Plan.

And he led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, to guard thee: and, On their hands they shall bear thee up, Lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God. (Luke 4:9-12)

During Jesus’ last temptation in the desert, Jesus is offered an Angelic Health Care Plan in which he would be protected from all worldly harm by an army of angels. This same temptation will reoccur during Jesus’ ministry right before his Crucifixion and yet Jesus turns down the offer yet again, but why?

If Jesus would have taken up the offer for a safe passage then he would have missed out on the most important teaching that the desert had to offer; the teaching that at times in this world bad things happen to good people and at times horrific things happen to perfect people like Jesus. The entire desert orated this message as loud as it would be yet we always miss it. Why was Jesus brought out to the desert to be tempted, he did nothing wrong. Why did he thirst and has hunger pains, he seemed to be a hard worker. Why did Jesus die an early death, he wasn’t reckless with his life. This world isn’t safe, not for good people, and especially not for the perfect person. Protection by the angels was unnecessary because the Gospel, the message of Jesus Christ, the reason for life is much greater than being too cautious to jump off a temple, or being radical and reckless with our life to the point we wind up on a cross. Protection by the angels is unnecessary because the Gospel, the message of Jesus Christ, the reason for life is much greater than life itself.

Jesus turned down the jump and the angelic protection. Jesus turned down being cautious and reckless. Jesus turned down death and yet embraced death when it approached him to display, to enact in, to be a part of the Gospel, to be a part of the Love unstoppable and incorruptible.

In the name of the Great Physician who heals the soul and the body,

The walk into the Desert

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness (Luke 4:1).

After Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, he proceeded out into the uncompassionate wilderness[1] being led by the Spirit. Jesus was not being forced into the desert by the demons, nor led astray by the world into the desert, nor was it the deceptions of the Devil that made the Lord leave his comfortable home to enter an alien land. Jesus was led out in to this harsh, dry, unforgiving environment by none other than the Holy Spirit. Why would the Spirit led Jesus into the wasteland? Could it be the things Jesus learned and experienced in these forty days molded and formed the rest of Jesus’ ministry?[2] Was God testing Jesus? Was God testing himself? Was God demonstrating to the Devil the strength and perseverance of the miraculous ability of Jesus, the God-Man incarnate who would save the world? Was God, was Jesus trying to live in solidarity with man-kind?

For many of us we have went through times of our lives where we were pushed to our limits, tried, and refined by the harshness of the world around us. Yes, refined. Do you remember a time when you were in the desert, a time that has already passed and that has made you a better person, a time when you were so low that you could taste the dirt? You know the time when you felt like you hit rock bottom, and there was only one way to go, UP? The time when your faith walk no longer looked like a walk, but a crawl, and in fact the word “crawl” was an over exaggeration. Do you remember this? Looking back, many situations that the dirt of our lives still tastes like raw earth, however other events this taste of dirt stops being the surplus of dry dirty earth and starts to become the preamble of honey.

In the Grace of Christ Almighty,

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[1] The word for wilderness is the Greek word ἔρημος (eremos). According to Strongs’ Concordance ἔρημος (eremos) means lonesome, waste, desert, desolate, solitary, and/or wilderness.

[2] Could it have been that Jesus had to let Satan know who he was? Could it have been that Jesus needed to allow God to see who is? Could it have been that Jesus had to prove to himself who he was going to be?