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While today’s reading is the same story from yesterday in Matthew, there were a couple of observations I made in the first part of this chapter. The first is at the end of verse 2 where it says “He was hungry”. This struck me today because this clearly shows the humanity of Jesus. It is why He was able to be tempted in the first place. The second observation is in verse 6, “And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.” Make no mistake when you read the phase “all authority and splendor… has been given to me”, the devil is 100% correct in saying this world belongs to him. We can not take for granted that, while God has full control, this world is the devil’s playground. To further my thought, the second part of verse 34 it says, “…I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” The evil spirit who has possessed the man in this passage knows exactly who Jesus is. In the end, I have to be honest and say that Satan having so much authority over this world makes me a bit uneasy. However, there is a lot of comfort in knowing that God has the ultimate power over any evil I may ever face.
Daily Devotion 
My thought is on one simple verse in the middle of the reading, “They were astonished at His teaching because His message had authority. (Luke 4:32 HCSB)” I love listening to gifted teachers today. We’re fortunate to have the internet that enables us to listen to so many gifted teachers across the world. As good as they are, I can’t imagine what it must have been like to hear Jesus teach. I’m sure it was captivating to hear someone so filled by the Spirit.
Confession, maybe its because I’m super exhausted right now, but I am having serious trouble following v25-27. What do these verses have to do with Jesus announcing his ministry here on earth? And why would these things make the people so angry they ran him out of town. Aside from the obvious that he’s in his own town, I’m just having trouble connecting the dots here. Maybe I need to find these stories in the Ot, read them and see if I can make sense of it then.
I will say that up until a couple of years ago, I never really understood the significance of v17-21, and now this story is one of my favorites. If you’ve ever felt brokenhearted, poor in any sense of the word, blinded or oppressed… Christ has come to reverse those human states. I just love it; hope. And not a future hope, a fulfilled hope. V21 “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”.
That confused me, too. These websites shed a bit of light on it. http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/luke/0227-wjd.html
http://www.drbilllong.com/Lectionary/Luke4III.html
Take from them what you will 🙂
One thing that makes Jesus so attractive is His humanity. The Holy Spirit purposely led Him out into the wilderness for 40 days. Wow, I pray that never happens to me! He was without any type of physical comfort (like shelter or food) to keep His mind sane. And He was alone, without anyone to encourage Him or remind Him why He came to the earth to begin with. Not to mention, the Devil was lying in wait for every opportunity to pounce on His weaknesses. Wow, the fact that Jesus even had weaknesses is mind-blowing! It’s comforting to know that if He, a human like me, can resist satan for 40 days straight using Scriptures alone, maybe I can too! This story definitely makes Jesus more tangible as a human being. It also makes the Scriptures seem quite powerful! Interestingly enough, the Word is the only offensive weapon of the full “Armor of God,” whereas everything else is a defensive piece of armor.
Up to this point in my life, I’ve relied on my own human willpower to resist temptation. I’ve won some battles and I’ve lost some battles. But the dangerous part about using your willpower is that it instills in you a false sense of righteousness, which only leads to self-idolizing pride. That’s a sin too. You just can’t win. So I’m going to try to start using Scriptures!