Good Morning, Siblings!
Today’s readings are Luke 4-5
Read today’s Bible readings at BibleGateway by clicking here.
Rabbit Trails
I need to warn y’all about something in my writing. As I’ve been working on these notes I keep typing “Mark” when I mean “Luke”. I hope I catch them all but if a Mark slips in there, just mentally read it as Luke in your mind and we’ll all be good.
I want to talk a bit about satan temping Messiah. Notice that it says He had not eaten for forty days and He was hungry. Satan often tempts us when we are at our weakest with what we’d love the most. But YHWH allowed this, knowing that Messiah was strong enough not to give in. We, too, are strong enough to resist any temptation that comes our way IF we are drawing our strength from the Father. How often do we slip into a habit of not doing that, though? More often than not, this directly lines up with our neglect of His Word. In the Word = in relationship! Drifting away the Word = drifting away from the relationship.
Messiah quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 in response to this temptation.
And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of YHWH. Deut 8:3
We can only feed our eternal soul with eternal food and that is the Father’s Word.
Spiritual malnourishment plagues our land.
My people perish for lack of knowledge – Hosea 4:6
And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”
Messiah is quoting Deut 6:13 here and Deut 10:20. The Bible could not be more clear that we are only to worship YHWH but how often do we worship other things? Even further, how often do believers bow down before statues, pray to deceased people, make requests of angels, etc? We immediately dismiss that by saying we aren’t worshipping them because, according to our own definition we are not. But our opinion is not the straight edge. YHWH’s Word is. The question to ask ourselves is, does He see it as worship?
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as was His custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read. Luke 4:16
As was His custom. That makes my heart smile. Messiah was in the habit of walking in obedience to the Father. All that He did brought honor to His name.
Read Luke 4:16-17 – You know how we’ve spoken of different traditions, how some of them are rooted in the Word and seek to honor the Father while others tend to go rogue and actually end up contradicting the Father?
Today we see Messiah taking part in a wonderful tradition that is still, to this day, taking place around the world. It is the oldest, continuous, worldwide, Bible study. Known as “The Torah Cycle”. This is a reading plan which reads certain portions of Scripture each week in order to have read the entirety of the first five books of the Bible in either 1, 2, or 3 years, depending on which cycle you are reading on.
Today in our reading, we see Messiah in the synagogue on Sabbath reading that Week’s Torah Portion. We know this because the Bible tells us what portion of Scripture He read and it lines up with the ancient cycle still in use today.
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn… –Isaiah 61:1-2
These days, there are Torah cycles that include the traditional readings from Scripture and also readings from the rest of the Bible as well, so that each year (or every two or three years, depending on which cycle you use) you are reading the whole Bible, but you are still reading the Torah Portions each week along with the rest of the world that is on that cycle. This is a really neat way to read because each week people post their notes in blogs, on forums, in videos, etc. I usually do this reading cycle and the traditional Torah cycle as well, rather than the one that covers the whole Bible, because it is slower, more focused, digs into the foundational Scriptures, and I’m already reading the whole Bible with y’all.
Make sure you read Luke 4:29-30 slowly so you don’t miss the miracle.
Last year, Debbie Ingle shared a wonderful thought with regards to Luke 4:38-39:
I am comforted yet again by something in our reading. I noticed it first in Mark, then again in Luke. When Yeshua heals Peter’s mother-in-law, she immediately gets up and begins to serve Yeshua. In the context, I believe this means that she meets his physical needs. Perhaps she prepares a meal or provides Him with water or even washes His feet. I am comforted by this as a woman. Why? Because this took place on the Sabbath. While I enjoy resting on the Sabbath, I also see that (esp for women) some work must be done in order to keep the family going. Women with young children must be willing to change diapers on the Sabbath. Families must eat on the Sabbath, etc. It is something I have struggled with, as I do my very best to set up my home and situation to be restful, but…there is always some “work” to be done so that my husband and family can enter that rest.
And Alesha Villalta shared this video, as well, last year. It illustrates a wonderful point that will serve as a wakeup call to each of us.
I’ll close my notes out there for today.
We serve a mighty King. Let us, then, serve Him with our whole hearts.
Test everything, hold tight to what is good.~ 1 Thess 5:21
We are saved by Grace alone: Obedience is not the root of our salvation, it is the fruit!
May YHWH bless the reading of His Word!