Jesus spent 40 days in the desert being tempted by the devil, yet we’re often led to believe that he was tempted in a five-minute ordeal during which he was magically whisked around Palestine and bombarded with instantaneous temptations.

What if, instead, we think of Christ’s temptation as an ongoing struggle during the 40 days? What if “the devil led him to the highest point of the temple” means “he walked up to the highest point of the temple,” where he was tempted? What if the three mentioned instances of temptation were but a few examples of the many struggles Jesus faced during his time in the desert?

Do you prefer to think of an Aladdin-style magic-carpet temptation, or a slow, mundane type of temptation?

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

Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit, and returned from the desert full of the power of the Spirit.

We don’t generally go to the desert much, except by car. What is the spiritual/social equivalent of the desert in our world? The desert was said in the ancient world to be the haunt of demons, who were afraid of water and thus thrived in the desert. This is not irrelevant to Luke’s description of Jesus’ temptation as occurring in the desert.

So, Jesus went into the realm of demons under the guidance of the Spirit, endured temptation from Satan, and came out of the desert full of the Spirit and proclaiming the Kingdom of God, for which he quickly gained widespread popularity. (see Luke 4:14-15)

Jesus was also fasting while in the desert, as if being alone with the demons wasn’t bad enough.

The 40 days are also a parallel to the 40 years of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness.
HEB 2:10 In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. [11] Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. [12] He says,

“I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.”

HEB 2:13 And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again he says,

“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”

HEB 2:14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil– [15] and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. [16] For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. [17] For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. [18] Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

HEB 3:1 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. [2] He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. [3] Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. [4] For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. [5] Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. [6] But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

HEB 3:7 So, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you hear his voice,

HEB 3:8 do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the desert,

HEB 3:9 where your fathers tested and tried me
and for forty years saw what I did.

Josh has an update on his Iditarod Dogsled Race coverage. He gets a front-row seat on the grueling historic race.

Since Aaron the birthday boy is reading the archives, I though I’d see what I wrote last February, and I came across this post called Bite-Sized Gospel, in which I trash Purpose-Driven Life rather ungraciously (I accidentally just typed “purpose-drivel,” but figured I’d better change it).

Another year into being a part of a small postmodern church, I’m starting to appreciate bite-sized things, because they are edible. String cheese is edible; a Buick-sized chunk of mozzarella isn’t. Now, forgive the fact that the Gospel is represented by cheese in this little analogy, but I’m starting to think that, in asking for the whole gospel, all at once, not broken into little bits, I may have ordered more than I can chew.

My reaction to the gospel these days is often something like what Michael Horton (in Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives) calls a “hopelessly indeterminate” gospel. There is room for awe when we stand before God and the Gospel, but that awe must not leave us walking around with our mouths hanging open all the time, wondering what to do next.

We talked about evangelism a bit at church today, and, while the discussion didn’t get too far before it was time to go, it raised the question for me: how should we think of people with whom we are attempting to share the Gospel? What should our attitude toward non-Christian friends and acquantainces be? Some popular choices:

• Pity
• Disapproval
• Sadness
• Disgust

I’m not very satisfied with any of these options. Is it two-faced to treat people well when you’re with them, but secretly disapprove of them and hope they change and become Christians? On the other hand, though, it would be (is?) equally bad for Christians to walk around expressing disapproval to everyone they meet. But neither is an “I’m OK, you’re OK” attitude the solution, because I know I’m not OK, and I’d be surprised if everyone else was a whole lot better. The evening news should tell us that much. We need a reference point beyond ourselves.

So there are two perspectives, if I may be allowed to simplify things for a moment. The Christian sees non-Christians as incomplete, in need of Christ and of changing their lives to conform to Christ. The non-Christian sees Christians as people who have a problem with everyone that isn’t a Christian, yet doesn’t think of Christians as being all that much better anyway. Clearly, this leaves a gap that will not easily be crossed, making dialogue (much less conversion) much less likely.

So, to my non-Christian friends who may read this, I hope the best for you. I hope that I and the other Christians in your life treat you with respect, and honor friendship, and not use it for coercive or manipulative religious tactics. I hope that I and other Christians can live out the gospel the way we were meant to, righting the wrongs which history reminds us were perpetrated by Christians as much as non-Christians. I hope that we will not look down on you for not being a Christian, but I hope that we will continue to hope that you will come to trust in Christ. I hope that our words and actions will demonstrate that we’re at least partially justified in thinking that faith in Christ is a better way.

I also hope the best for the world we live in, and this hope, together with my hopes for each of our lives, converges on what I perceive to be the good news of Christ. I believe that when individuals commit to Christ and live out his good news, the world benefits (rather than being left behind with the dregs after the Christians take off for a better world, which I don’t see as part of the good news of Christ at all). I hope that more and more people will become followers of Christ and do what he intended for them to do, which involves doing a great deal of good for the world.

I do not expect, nor even secretly wish, that you will come to me for neatly packaged answers to life’s questions, or that you will come to have exactly the same beliefs I have. I do hope, however, that your inquiry into the meaning of life (and into finding meaning in life) will lead you in the direction of Christ, and that your experience with Christ and Christianity will lead you into commitment to Christ, and in turn that your commitment to Christ would be greatly beneficial to yourself and those around you. I respect your right to make your own decisions and to come to different conclusions about life’s important questions, though, so I will understand if you do not end up as a follower of Christ. I will of course not think this is the best outcome, but neither will I use it as an excuse to treat you badly or think badly of you. I will simply think that you are missing out on something very, very good.

As for myself, I suppose I will continue to my attempts at living out the good news that Christ came to present and make possible. And I probably will need to approach the gospel in bite-sized chunks, because I’m not that good at dealing with such a complex subject all at once. But sometimes I like to step back and take it all in, standing in awe of the beauty of creation, the wisdom of the scriptures, the goodness of God, the emotion and meaning of life, the capriciousness and danger of the physical world, the joy of relationships. The gospel touches all of these areas of human existence, and I - I can only take in so much at a time.

Long posts like this tend to not get much discussion, but feel free to dissect what I’ve written. I’m interested in teasing out some of these ideas more. –Justin

I recently went back in the archives to read the first post Justin ever wrote on Radical Congruency (a great post by the way). To my delight, I discovered that it was written on February 27, 2003 — my birthday! So, in essence, RC and I have the same birthday. Cool.

Aaron O. - age 25
Radical Congruency - age 2

Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Aaron and Radical Congruencyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Happy birthday to you!

I am enjoying Jurgen Moltmann’s In the End - The Beginning: The Life of Hope, but not in the ways I expected. Moltmann always has a pleasant surprise in store.

The early chapters discuss childhood, hope in general, and some examples of ways hope was expressed in the German youth movements after the devastation of WWI and before WWII (Moltmann is German; this book was translated extremely well by Margaret Kohl).

Here are a few tastes of Moltmann’s lucid theological prose:

The biblical apocalypses are not pessimistic scenarios of a global catastrophe which merely disseminate fear and terror so that human beings are paralysed by the corresponding belief in their doom. These apocalypses are messages of hope in danger, an encouragement to see the danger clearly and to resist it. They keep alive hope in the faithfulness of God: “But when all these terrors of the End-time begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21.28) p. 51

This book is very much about eschatology, but not the kind with a rapture or a remnant or a beast. It is about, as the title says, the life of hope, encouraging us, as the biblical apocalyptists do, to stand firm.

I became really impressed when I reached the chapter entitled “Deliver Us from Evil.” Moltmann does not treat evil as something to be merely defeated (if it’s from an enemy) or forgiven (if it’s from us). Instead, he takes a broader perspective on the effects of evil, considering the perpetrator’s need for healing and restoration as well as the victim’s, and the victim’s need for justification as well as the perpetrator’s. In doing this, he is by no means soft on evil.

Justice must be done on both sides: the victims must receive justice, and the perpetrators must be put on the road to justice - must be set right. The way this happens through what God does is the subject of the theological doctrine of justification. Unfortunately the only question asked in the Church’s tradition has always been how the guilty offenders can be set right. The fact that there must also be justice for the victims has received little attention….In experiencing the deliverance from evil, we recognize the creative goodness of God. His justice-creating righteousness allows us to acknowledge his justice, and that makes us free for the new beginning. p. 53-54

Moltmann points to the inner sense I have had for a while now that evil is both a force within us and a force beyond us, but not a force that can’t be overcome with some help:

…evil as “the power of sin” crosses moral bounds, spanning the guilt of the perpetrators, who have become the slaves of evil, and the suffering of those who have become evil’s victims….Sin is a shared “sickness unto death.”

…it is quite inadequate to reduce the power of sin to the guilt of the perpetrators, to limit the force of divine righteousness to the forgiveness of their guilt, and to confine justification to the position of the sinner before God…

The God of Israel does not lay down what is right and wrong in order to repay good with good and evil with evil. He brings about what is right and justice, where there is wrong and injustice. p. 61

When I encounter passages like this, sometimes I find myself praying instead of reading.

Here are more books I’m giving away for the cost of shipping. There are a few books remaining from the first batch.

Peoples of the Old Testament World, Hoerth, Mattingly, & Yamauchi; paperback; academic; 0718829883

Urban Tribes, Ethan Watters, hardcover, 1582342644

Rediscovering Church (Willow Creek), Lynne & Bill Hybels, hardcover, 0310593204

Starting Right: Thinking Theologically about Youth Ministry, Kenda Creasy Dean, Chap Clark, Dave Rahn, hardcover (YS Academic Press), 0310234069

Reaching a Generation for Christ, Richard Dunn & Mark Senter III, hardcover, 0802496483

Point Man - How a Man can Lead his Family, Steve Farrar, paperback, 0880706430 (Steve is a powerhouse of a guy. He’ll make you wish there were an evangelical brand of beer and tools.)

The Teeter-Totter Equation - Tractates on Liberty, Brian Bex, hardcover. I think this book is a conservative econ/capitalism book - I haven’t read it. It looks interesting.

DSL modem - Efficient Networks Speed Stream 5260 Ethernet ADSL Modem. It says its port number is 060-5660-003, whatever that means. If you are currently renting a DSL modem, and this one will work for you, email me and I’ll send it to you for shipping costs.

My friend and former co-worker Josh runs radio station KICY in Nome, Alaska. The Iditarod dogsled race is coming up soon, and he is media grand central for the event. Keep an eye on his blog for race info. Some cool factoids from the Wikipedia article:

The ceremonial start of the 33rd annual Iditarod race will begin at 10 AM Alaska Standard Time (UTC-9) on March 5, 2005. After arriving in Eagle River, the teams will be shipped by truck across the Knik River to the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla, where the race will restart on Sunday, March 6, at 2 PM and continue to Nome. A purse of $300,000 US will be split among the top twenty finishers, with the winner receiving $50,000 US.

As of February 9, 2005, every winner since 1990 is scheduled to race. There are a total of 82 mushers entered in the race, including 20 from the Continental United States (the “Lower 48″), 9 from other countries, 17 women, and 28 “rookies” who are competing in their first Iditarod. A total of 20 entrants have withdrawn. Gary Paulsen, the prolific author of many young adult books on the Iditarod including Winterdance and Woodsong, is returning after a 20 year absence. link

How cool is that? Josh also got to cover the Presidential inauguration and hang out with Alaskan bigwig politicians in DC with VIP press passes.

Claim it at justin dot baeder at gmail period com. More Info

The Purpose-Driven Church, Rick Warren, Hardcover, 0310201063 (Oops, I said it was PD Life, but it’s PD Church).

Purpose-Driven Youth Ministry, Doug Fields, hardcover, 0310212537

The Community of the King, Howard Snyder, Paperback, 0877847525

What Has Archaeology to do with Faith?, James H. Charlesworth & Walter P. Weaver, paperback, 1563380382 (warning: high snooze factor - this is an academic text)

The Soul of Science - Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy, Nancy R. Pearcey & Charles B. Thaxton, paperback, 0891077669

Is the Holy Spirit for Me?, Harvey Floyd, paperback, 0890984468 (warning: the answer to the question in the title, according to the author, is NO)

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Jim Cymbala, hardcover, 0310211883

UnLearning Church - Just when you thought you had leadership all figured out, Michael Slaughter (of Ginghamsburg UMC), hardcover, 0764422979

A History of Christian Education, James E. Reed & Ronnie Prevost, hardcover, 0805465863

Planting Churches Cross-Culturally - North America and Beyond, David Hesselgrave, 2nd ed., 0801022223

The Cultural Church - Winds of Change and the Call for a “New Hermeneutic”, F. LaGard Smith, paperback, 0890981310 (warning: C of C specific)

Church Multiplication Guide - the Miracle of Church Reproduction, Patterson and Scoggins, paperback, 0878084479

To claim these books, see this post.