Lent 1: Temptations of Jesus: Matthew 3.13 - 4.11

The Context of temptation: 
The work of The Spirit.  

Bernini: "Descent of the Spirit" Image Dnalor, Creative Commons license

The temptations follow an intense, spiritual 
experience

Jesus has just made a public declaration of his willingness to identify with fallen humanity – by taking on a baptism that in every other case was “for the forgiveness of sins”.  His cousin, John, had said “You  should not be coming to me for baptism, you should be baptising me.”   Jesus did it, not  as an act of “repentance from sin” but “to fulfil all righteousness”  (v 15). His baptism was “part of his life of obedience” (Green)  By submitting to baptism, Jesus acknowledged God's right to demand “total consecration of life and holiness of character”. As the sinless Son of God he was setting his face on the journey towards the Cross, right there and then in the river Jordan.

And when he had taken that step, the Holy Spirit had come upon him, seen like a dove landing on him.  And the voice from Heaven had said “this is my Son in whom I am well pleased.”  What an amazing moment.  Incidentally it was a  moment of Trinitarian blessing.  God the Son, committed to his earthly ministry, is empowered by God the Spirit, and affirmed by God the Father.  

I want us to have our encounters with God: the be filled with the Holy Spirit; to know that our Heavenly Father is pleased with us; to be like Jesus, set upon doing what we are called to do.  I want us to have these moments of intense spiritual blessing. In fact Paul says (Eph 1. 3) that “God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”  But you know what? These times come with a health warning.

The Spirit led Jesus into the desert. 
 
Jesus' journey into the desert was the work of the Holy Spirit. Matthew Mark and Luke all agree about this, although the language they use is subtly varied.  Mark says the Spirit thrust Jesus into the desert; Matthew says the Spirit led him into the desert, to be tempted.  Luke says the Spirit led him in the wilderness.    The desert – the place of solitude, silence, self-discipline and even struggling – is just as much a place where the Holy Spirit can work as the river or the mountaintop. The Holy Spirit will take you to places of solitude and lonesomeness, where you can learn to discern the difference between hear the voice of God, the voice of the enemy and the voice of your inner heart desires.

We need these times of solitude – even after such a difficult time of testing, Jesus never lost his taste for time alone with his father.    Michael Green says “The desert is the place where we meet God.”  In Revelation 12.14  the woman (who represents the Church) is sent into the desert to be taken care of.

So let's not be afraid of the “Desert”.  We can be tempted anywhere. Jesus was also tempted when one of his followers told him that suffering and death could not happen to him – so much so that he said to Peter “get behind me, Satan!” (Mt 16. 23) Let's not be afraid of those times when everything is hard work and the fruit is limited.  Let's not be afraid of the times of solitude and silence.  The Spirit leads us into that place, and in that place.

And when we experience temptation, let's not imagine that somehow we have lost contact with God's Spirit or are outside of God's will.  Part of the experience of the spirit, is the experience of being vulnerable to the enemy's temptations.  Indeed, as we shall see, there are particular temptations that present when we know the power of the spirit in our lives and that have to be overcome in our own minds, if we are to be safe and ethical handlers of the dynamite that is the true power of the spirit.   Michael Green notes, “Temptation builds spiritual muscle.”

The cause of temptation
The reality of warfare.  

The temptation was a Spiritual experience not just a psychological one.  Now the enemy can use people (Mt 16. 23) and he can use the processes of our own minds – so much so that James said “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1. 14).   But let us not run away with the idea that temptation is simply a matter of recognising our own weaknesses and “desires”.  We have an enemy who wants to destroy us – just as he wanted to destroy Jesus – physically, spiritually, emotionally, morally.  And that enemy is no gentleman.  He will exploit our weaknesses.  He will pervert our strengths.

The core of temptation
Let's look at the temptations in detail: what do they mean?  

1. Wilderness bread:  “Turn these stones into bread”

Many rabbis believed that when Messiah came there would once again be “manna in the desert.”  So the enemy comes along and suggests to Jesus “Hey, Son of God – you don't need to go hungry; do the 'manna in the desert' thing now.”  The temptation is to take the quick and easy way.  To get personal  comfort through the power of God and by cashing in on the old promises. Christians who have had times of blessing and dramatic answers to prayer can be tempted to feel that the power of God is there to be used for their own comfort.  We can all be tempted to pray selfish prayers, simply askign for things that will make us feel good. 

2. The roof of the temple; “Throw yourself down”

Another belief about messiah was that he would “stand up on the roof of the holy place”.   So the enemy takes him up to the pinnacle of the temple – and suggests that Jesus jump off, claiming the angel protection promised in  Psalm 91. 12.   He tempts him to do something really spectacular that will draw a crowd. The Church can so easily be tempted to find a strategy for filling the pews, attractig a crowd: so we sometimes resort to pulling "Stunts" of one kind or another. Of course we don't call them "stunts" but "profile-raising activities".  Now there is a place for special events, but they must be undertaken in a spirit of wervice to our community, not simply to draw attention to our ministry. 

3. Striking a deal. “Bow down and worship me”

View from the top of Schiehallion. Image by G Lilly

In the end the enemy shows Jesus the kingdoms of the world and promises to hand it all over to Jesus... if he will bow down to Satan, just once, just for a second.  The bait isn’t' so much about getting wealth and power: it's about achieving what he came to achieve: it's about establishing God's rule – over all the earth.  The temptation is to achieve this by compromise with the very enemy Jesus had come to remove. “If you worship me, I'll go away...”  Michael Green sums it up brilliantly:  Satan tempts Jesus “to gain universal dominion back from the usurper Prince,  but to do so by striking a bargain with him rather than by striking him through the heart with the wood of the cross.”  God's word says “Worship the Lord young God and him alone!” 

The temptations to be selfish, to opt for the sensational and to compromise come to all Christians but they are recorded here so that we may witness the testing of god's son .  He was tempted to bypass the cross, to short-circuit the path of obedience, and to adopt the role of Son and King without stooping to the role of the suffering servant.  And that sums it up.  Whether it's temper, sex, money, lying, temptation is always about bypassing the cross.

The cure of temptation
Well, there isn't one! Temptation will always be there. It may change as we get older and our bodies, minds and circumstances change.  But always we will experience that pull to “bypass the cross”. 

But we can triumph over temptation, and Jesus shows us how.

1.  Get committed.  

Settle your mind on submission to God.  Jesus had already fixed in his mind which way his life was going to go.
  
2. Get equipped. 

Three times, Jesus responds to the temptations “it is written...”  The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.   Do you know where the three quotations Jesus used come from?  
Dt 8. 3 man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord
Dt 6. 16 You shall not put the Lord your God to the test
Dt 6. 13  Fear the Lord your God, serve him only
It looks as if Jesus was particularly steeped in the book of Deuteronomy at this point: he may even have been reading these chapters – which for Jesus would probably involve regular visits to the synagogue.  The Spirit took the words that Jesus had stored up, and used them against the enemy.  The way to victory is to know the Bible well, and to know it freshly, through regular reading, listening, and study.  We need to use the Spirit's sword, to avoid the traps of selfish, sensational or compromised living. And there is one last thing to encourage us. If we resist, he will flee. 

© Gilmour Lilly February  2015

Luke 7. 36-50

In my first church – I was in my twenties, easily embarrassed – we had an occasional visitor; she came from Yugoslavia I think; she had a lined face, always wore a headscarf and spoke no more than a couple of words of English.  When she came to church she always brought a bunch of flowers; she usually arrived a wee bit late, walked to the front, laid her bunch of flowers on the Communion Table, and kissed my hand, before taking a pew near the back.  The flowers worried me: what would the dear lady who had been there on Saturday, and spent time arranging flowers in a vase, say about this addition to her display?  But it was the kiss that made me cringe. It's not the way Baptists greet their pastors. Should I receive this as  though I was someone special? I wanted to say to her, "I'm no better than the person you will sit next to at the back."  It seemed so out of place.

A Pharisee invites Jesus in for a meal.  It's all pretty routine; a cold lunch after the service in the synagogue.  Jesus enters and takes his place, reclining on a low couch at the table ...  and then the story really gets going.  “Look!  A woman of the city, a woman with a bad reputation, either a prostitute or an adulteress, walks in, with her long-necked jar of ointment.”  No doubt one or two people are thinking to themselves, “What's she doing here?”

What she intends to do is simply a generous, loving response to the fact that Messiah has come, and that Messiah has accepted her and forgiven her sins.  She wants to bring her precious ointment and anoint Jesus with it.  Jesus is facing the table and she comes up behind him; as she does, she is overwhelmed with emotion, with gratitude and love.  Tears flow; not the kind of wee tears that you can wipe away from the corner of your eye with a tissue, but floods of tears.  Jesus' feet are soaking wet.  The woman becomes confused, embarrassed; what is she to do? Without thinking she pulls away the pin that is keeping her hair up and dries Jesus' feet with her hair.  She kisses his feet, and at last with shaking hands breaks open the bottle of perfume and pours it on Jesus' feet.
 
To the dinner guests it's all a bit much; a bit embarrassing.  It seems so out of place... is she... a friend of his?  Or is he just stupid?  The generous host is thinking “If this Jesus was any sort of prophet at all he would surely know what sort of woman this is.  And if he was any sort of prophet he wouldn't let her touch him!”   The issue is Jesus' identity. Who Jesus is.  And this is a recurring theme in the incident.

You know what it's like when you have the first meal with your kid's new boyfriend or girlfriend.   The boyfriend starts eating before you have given thanks and you think “he's a complete heathen then!”  Then you bow in prayer and he thinks “The parents are complete religious nuts, then!”  It seems that as far as as Simon the Pharisee is concerned Jesus was being checked out and has just failed the test.  Silently, the Pharisee makes his judgement.  Nothing is said: at most, a raised eyebrow might have betrayed his thoughts.  But Jesus answers the Pharisee!  “Simon, I have something to say to you!” and Simon replies “Go ahead, Rabbi!”  He is polite enough and recognises Jesus as a teacher, but that's all.  He's not seeing Jesus as a prophet and not ready for discipleship, for following Jesus.  “Rabbi” is polite but it's not the full story.  It’s not “Lord”. 

What Jesus wants to say, is one of his ridiculously simple parables.   “One guy was forgiven £3,000; the other was forgiven £30,000: who loved the bank manager more?”  The answer is obvious, but the Pharisee feels he as to go along with Jesus, so kind of grudgingly he answers “The guy who was forgiven £30,000.”  He knows he has been cornered.   It looks like this prophet does know what's going on inside people's heads.  And this prophet is up for  challenging people's sins and blind spots. 

“Good call” Jesus says.  He doesn't mean to imply that the woman really was a bigger sinner, with more to forgive, than the Pharisee.  In fact he gives no assurance that the Pharisee has been forgiven at all. He is simply adapting to the parameters of the Pharisee.  And he proceeds to draw out the contrast between the Pharisee and the Prostitute.  Now, it is sometimes said that that Simon completely failed to offer Jesus the commonest courtesies of hospitality.  That is not true.  As a good Jew, the Pharisee would have expected his guests to wash their hands before eating and would have provided a bowl and towel for that purpose.  Washing feet was a nice luxury; a kiss was a faitrly common form of welcome; anointing oil was a recognition of a really special guest.  But none of these was really essential.  In inviting Jesus to his home Simon had treated Jesus with the “ordinary” courtesies for having people round for a meal but not as the guest of honour at a banquet.  It as the difference between saying “the bathroom is just upstairs” and giving the guest their own towel, bar of soap and hand lotion.  The contrast couldn't be more stark and plain.  The Pharisee, who thinks he had not too many sins, feels he is doing Jesus  a favour by having him round for a few sandwiches after the synagogue.  The woman, who knows her life is full of embarrassing moments she doesn't enjoy re-living,  who knows that this man Jesus has accepted her and made her clean again – even if she doesn't fully understand how – she is “overwhelmed by love” for Jesus.  Her very best seems inadequate.  She wants to pour out her ointment, for Jesus. In today's money you could say it was worth about £17000.  What did it matter if she had earned that money through prostitution: it was all she had.   So she pours out her tears, lets down her hair to dry Jesus' feet; kisses his feet and anoints Jesus not just with oil but with her precious ointment.

Then, horror of horrors, Jesus tells the woman, “your sins are forgiven!”    Again, the issue is “Who is this guy?”  He obviously is  a prophet, he can hear people's thoughts; does he really have the authority to declare people’s sins forgiven?  Maybe some are thinking it is blasphemous to make that claim (as they had before: see Lk 5. 21).  Luke simply reports the question and leaves us to figure it out for ourselves.  Who is this guy?

Jesus is not just a teacher, a Rabbi. We can be respectful to Jesus but not connect with who he is.  He is Lord, Messiah, the One who was wounded for our transgressions. He is the one who has a right to forgive our sins.  What Jesus does as he receives this woman's gift, what he had done as he showed her grace, is  the character of God on display, not simply being guessed at by a teacher however great.  God looks at all the embarrassment, all the failure, all the brokenness, all the wrong choices, all the deliberate grabs at what is not ours; all the times when we have put the boot in all the hurts we have caused. All the rebellion, all the times when we have not cared two hoots what God or anyone else wants.  Now if you're happy like that, OK.  But if you're embarrassed, ashamed, feeling cut off from God by it, and longing fro something better, then know that God wants to welcome you home and forgive you; that God the Son has already dealt with the wrong stuff in your life; he has died for it; that God the Holy Spirit wants to fill you and give you the strength to live for Jesus, so you can with confidence know God the father.  Connecting with Jesus, connecting with the trinity, connects us with grace.  Jesus is the grace bringer and grace giver.

Let's be quite plain, Jesus is not forgiving the woman her sins because she has shown such extravagant love; she has not earned her forgiveness by what she has done. Jesus is talking in past tense terms here.  “He who has been forgiven much, loves much.  Your sins have been forgiven”.  There has been some earlier encounter with Jesus – either directly or through hearing Jesus preach or maybe even hearing a report of things he has said. She is responding to something that has already happened.  Her faith has already connected her with God's salvation.  From Jesus, “Go in Peace” was a genuine blessing – the shalom the wholeness and peace of the Kingdom of God surrounding the woman as she goes on to live the rest of her life.  No wonder she loves so much.

There is not one person in this room who doesn't need that grace.  There may be one or two who like Simon, don't think they need it.  There may be one or two who think that somehow God chose you because you are the kind of person God likes. There may be one or two who don't know if that grace can reach them.  Maybe you've been following Jesus and you still struggle with guilt. But God's hobby is collecting broken people.  Putting them right.  That is how God deals with us.  Forgiveness, salvation, peace, isn't something we have to earn.  It is given because of who Jesus is, because of his sacrifice for us; we don't have to earn forgiveness. We just have to receive it; we simply hand over our lives, our brokenness, our failures and even our successes to God.  And in faith we receive from him.  He saves us; he makes us whole, in every part of our being; we are able to journey on from here in peace.  And we pour out our response, at Jesus' feet.
© Gilmour Lilly February  2015

Acts 28. 11-31: The Final stage of the Journey - part 1.

Appian Way by "Longbow4u" Creative Commons License

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The Story
This is the final stage of Paul's journey:  they took a ship called the “Castor and Pollux” from Malta to Syracuse, (the most important city in Sicily) and after three days headed to Rhegium (now Reggio, de Calabria, on the toe of Italy) and after waiting overnight – possibly for a favourable wind to get them through the Straits of Messina to Puteoli (the port that received Alexandrian grain ships, now Pozzuoli).  They stayed there for a week.  Julius must have had business to attend do in the area, so Paul was able to have fellowship with the local Church –  travelling Christians had already brought the gospel to this port. And then they headed by road to Rome.    There was already a Church. or rather a fascinating collection of house churches, in Rome: Paul had already written to them three years before, trying to arrange a visit. What an encouragement as somehow the Christians in Rome heard of his arrival (either the church in Puteoli had sent a message to their Roman friends, or because one or two church folks were actually in positions of authority in the army or government) and set out to meet him on the way; it was almost like an official welcoming party, and it encouraged Paul to know he had real friends in Rome.  (Verses 11-16)

As always, Paul started in Rome by contacting the Jewish community.  They were still god's people, who had a historic covenant relationship with God. One of the big themes in the letter to Romans is that relationship and it connexion with God's Grace.  In his initial contact, Paul was satisfied simply to establish his innocence of any offence against God's Law and his Pharisaic Jewish credentials.  The Jewish leaders, for their part, had heard nothing bad about Paul but a fair amount of criticism of “the Jesus way” of living. These guys had probably had some experience of Christians already.  They wanted to avoid any trouble.  Jews had been thrown out of Rome a few years earlier because of a dispute of riot proportions about the issue of “who is the messiah”?    Presumably the Jewish Christians in Rome walked a tight  line between loyalty to their Jewish background and commitment to their Christian faith. (Verses 17-22)  So they arranged a time to meet in Paul’s house to discuss what Paul believed.  And when they met Paul's theme  was not his own authority but the Gospel.  He preaches to the Jews about the Kingdom. Some were convinced by Paul's arguments.  Others were not, and Paul told those guys that even their rejection of Christ was something prophesied (Isaiah  ).  And as he had done elsewhere, Paul announced that he would go to the gentiles.  “They would listen”. (Verses 23- 28.)

So arguments continued among the Jews about Jesus.  That's no bad thing.  As with Paul himself, the Holy Spirit was still speaking and convicting people .  We can be content if as a result of our witness, there is a debate happening, a big discussion about Jesus.  And Paul's ministry, among the gentiles, continued unhindered for the next two years. (Verses 29-32. )

The point:  
Luke gives a number of details – some simply providing local colour; some that we can no doubt learn from.  But Luke wants to leave us with answers to a couple of important questions:
1. What is the Gospel?  That was a question he had sought to answer in his letter to the Romans. Luke says Paul was “testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the law of Moses and from the prophets”   He wanted to show them that he message of Jesus was what the Old Testament was unavoidably, inexorably, leading to.  He explained from the Old testament that Jesus was the Messiah, the Kingdom Bringer.   That means he is “Immanuel, God with us"; it means he brings a new age of peace and hope to the world; it means he is the Suffering Servant who was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our sins.  Now it is interesting that when we went to the Gentiles, he was once again speaking about “The Kingdom”  and a the whole Jesus story.   For Gentiles as well as Jews, Paul's Gospel was about the Kingdom of God.  Do we know what the Gospel is?  Can we sum it up in a few short sentences?  Does our way of talking about the Gospel agree with Paul’s: is it about God's kingdom or just about our ticket to Heaven?  
2 Who is it for?  It is for everyone!   Paul began with the Jews because they have an historic covenant with the Lord.  God wants them to be his people.  He doesn't want to turn his back on them: he doesn't want to turn his back on anybody!  But when the Jews had their opportunity to hear and respond, Paul went to the Gentiles, as he had been called to do.  “This salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles.” (v. 28)The fact is – whether it offends Jews or not – this message has to go to the nations, and Paul knows that the gentiles will listen.  The message is for all who will hear it.  And today, that message is for a  who will hear it.  The message of Jesus is for you – if you will listen.  Do we as beleivers sometimes forget that and think the Gospel is only for people like us.  We are the type that God prefers.  But it is for everyone.

The point Luke is driving home is that we proclaim An upside-down Kingdom about God establishing his rule in the world through the death of Jesus for our sins, that is for gentiles as well as Jews and that has a transforming effect, building a community of love and encouragement.

The problem.  
It seems there are a number of loose ends as Luke finishes Acts.  What happens to these Roman Christians, as they are never spoken of again?  And what happens to Paul at the end of those two years which should have been long enough for his accusers to get a case together if they dared?  Was he tried and executed? Was he set free?  Is Luke writing as the two years draw to a close, without himself knowing what was going to happen to Paul?  It looks like Paul had a period of freedom after this imprisonment when he wrote the later letters – to Timothy and Titus. But we simply don’t know.  The whole narrative seems to end so abruptly.   But Luke who begain writing   an “orderly account” for Theophilus  finishes with what F F Bruce calls an “impressive and artistic conclusion”.

The difference.  
What we do know – and what I think Luke wants us to realise, is that
1.  The Gospel is more important than Paul.  Paul knew that.  Luke knew it.  We need to learn the lesson that the Gospel and the Kingdom of god are more important that us.  The Gospel is more important than me or Pam or Allan or Ruth.  The Gospel is more important than Lighthouse Kids or Gateway or Rosyth Baptist Church or for that matter the Baptist Union of Scotland.  The Gospel is more important than CLAN or Faith Mission or Street Pastors.  A few years ago we sometimes talked about churches or organisations as “Causes”.  The Union might talk about a “new Cause in Rosyth.”  But we are not causes. We are effects.  Our life together as churches is the result of Gospel preaching and Kingdom living.  In the end, it is not a matter of what happens to us or our Church.  It is what becomes of this gospel and this kingdom,
  2.  Whatever happened to Paul later, in these two years, the Gospel is the power of God.   Jesus is the Victor.  Luke shows us Paul, proclaiming the Jesus message, “openly and unhindered”.  This message that Theophilus had been informed about, was not some dangerous, subversive thing.  Yes it could “turn the world upside down” but it was not seen as a  threat.  Paul spent two years, in constant company of a Roman soldier, his activities no doubt reported to the higher authorities, and nobody said a word of complaint!  This is the power of the Gospel, the triumph of the Kingdom, the victory of Jesus in Rome!  The Gospel is still the Power of God.  Jesus is still the victor.  The Kingdom still advances.  We are not meant to be living in defeat.
3.  So Luke leaves us with a springboard for that Gospel to go further than ever.  The loose end isn't a loose end.  Luke has already hinted at this when he tells us that Paul said “salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles,” because Paul is not just taking about the local, Roman situation; he is talking about the mission and shape of the Church for the rest of time.  Luke has told us about the way the Good News travelled from Jerusalem, round Asia and Greece, to reach Rome. But Rome isn’t the final destination; as in the writing of the letter to the Romans, it is only a stopping off point.  There is Spain, Gaul, that dark and wild island called Britannia. And from that island, mission to India, China, America, Africa.  And from our lives, to people round about us we can't really imagine would ever trust in Jesus.

© Gilmour Lilly February  2015

 Acts 28. 1-11 Paul and the supernatural

Snakebite
Having survived two weeks being blown about in a storm, Paul's ship was driven onto a sandbank and began to break up.  Everyone on board survived, and they ended up, shivering on a beach (now known as St Paul’s Bay) on Malta.  The locals made a fire for the shipwrecked travellers, who helped by scavenging for twigs and bits of wood to make a fire.  Paul, putting wood on the fire, was bitten by a viper, but shook off the attack and survived unharmed. Luke was an eye witness.  But there's a problem with the story: it sometimes said that there are no venomous snakes on Malta. That's a slight exaggeration: there are no snakes with sufficiently strong venom to kill someone. 

So what’s going on?  

Did Luke make up the story? That's simply not his style. If he had been making up the story in order to validate Paul's ministry he could have put it in much earlier in the narrative . 
Did he exaggerate a story about Paul being bitten by a less dangerous snake?  The Black Whip Snake will bite and hold on, and (although not strictly classed as venomous) it can cause swelling and neuro-motor problems, but that's all. So maybe the bit about the locals expecting Paul to die was a bit of a misunderstanding. After all, the Maltese should have known what snakes existed in their own island.  But they weren't Greek speakers (that's what “barbarians” means) and Luke may have not understood what they were saying.
As a doctor one would expect him to be able to identify venomous snakes ; that was part of the knowledge base of the first century medical profession. The behaviour Luke describes, a Viper biting and holding on, is typical of the Levantine Viper which is common today in North Africa, Cyprus and Turkey. It may be that the Levantine Viper was found in Malta two thousand years ago. The Levantine Viper is frequently find around small trees and Malta has very few trees today. So it could be that the loss of habitat combined with persecution, caused the snake to become extinct in Malta. We used to have wolves and bears in Scotland (wolves as late as the time of Cromwell). There are no lions or deer today in the holy land though clearly there were in Bible times.
 
So why does Luke include this story? I believe he does because it happened pretty much as he describes. I believe he does because it's an example of God at work.

For the Maltese like other people in the Roman world, justice was see not just as a principle but as a goddess.  “This man escaped drowning but Justice got him in the end.”  The Luke tells with a satisfying sense of irony, how the people changed from thinking he had been caught by a god, to thinking he was a god.  In particular, for Christians, it illustrates the point that Paul experiences God's victory in Christ over the forces of evil as symbolised by the snake; and were a fulfilment of Jesus words in Mark 16. 18.

But Luke doesn't labour the point. He simply tells the story and leaves us to draw our own conclusions.  And that is how we should handle the supernatural. We should expect God to be at work. When he is at work, there will always be an alternative explanation from somewhere. When he is at work, it is not an occasion for hype or exaggeration; it doesn't prove anything; it simply happened. That is how we should tell it. Let people draw their own conclusions.

Publius' Father
The celebrity guests were welcomed in the home of Publius, the “Chieftain” (literally first man) of the island, where they stayed for three days.  He was a local landowner, and probably functioned as a “puppet king” under Roman authority.  Paul heard that Publius' father was ill; the combination of fever and dysentery still happens and is known as Malta fever; it probably comes from a germ that is carried in goats milk.  Luke's medical interest is showing here!   Paul responded by bringing the healing of Jesus to the old man.  The sentence in Greek reads like this: “coming to him, praying, laying his hands on him, Paul healed him.”  There are four verbs, and each one describes a simple, complete action. None of them are long, drawn-out actions.  The last one, healing him, isn't a long drawn out process involving the other three.  It is three simple actions leading to a fourth simple outcome.    These three complete actions that were part of the process are worth looking at in detail.  

He Went.  God can heal from a distance, and we can pray for people at a distance, knowing God hears.  But the Jesus way to engage in the supernatural, is generally through presence, going there; being with people.  It makes sense.  In counselling, we are taught to be “fully present” with the person we are helping.; that is, fully engaged, listening, feeling what they are feeling.  The very experience of “presence” can be a healing thing in itself. 
 
He Prayed.  All healing, whether medical or miraculous, comes from God.  The doctor or other health worker who wants to bring healing from God, will not rely simply on their medical skill but will pray for those they work with.  And similarly, the person seeking to minister healing supernaturally, will also remember that the source is God himself, not us; so we will pray, as we seek to be channels of God's healing.  We will pray for the person we are ministering to, for grace, for an encounter with father’s love, for healing and strength.  We will pray for ourselves, for power, for wisdom, for faith, for guidance: “Lord, what do you want me to say, what do you want me to do, what are you going to do in this person's life?”

He Laid hands on him.  Someone once said “Jesus didn’t' send us out to pray for the sick but to heal the sick!”  That is a slight overstatement, but I think I know what they mean.  It is good, having prayed, and having received some sense of direction from God, to lay hands on the sufferer, as a sign of passing something on from God to the person.  Jesus used many forms of contact – spitting, mud, touch, as well as speech – speaking to the sick person.  Laying on hands says “I believe God wants to do something for you; reach out and receive what God has for you.”  God will use us if we will use that simple example: go, pray, touch.

Crowds.
As a  result of what happened, led to a flood tide of people, coming and seeking healing.  This time, the verbs are imperfect, which means the coming and the curing kept on happening.  The island would take about 6 hours to walk from one end to the other. Some may have heard and arrived almost immediately, but it must have taken at least a day or two for word to get all round the place, possibly longer as many people would probably be in scattered villages.  I imagine that over the next three months while people were wintering on the island, Paul, Luke and those with them had regular visitors.  He says when they left “we were honoured.”  Paul's ministry got others including Luke involved too, and the healings may have been partly miraculous and partly medical.

So what does Luke tell us?
The whole story, from Publius' father to the crowds, is very similar to that of Peter’s mother-in-law (Lk 4.  38ff) so what Paul is doing is very much the Jesus' way of ministering.   Here, at the end of he Acts of the Apostles, Jesus is still in business, healing the sick.  The kingdom continues to operate through the Church. 

Luke takes one verse to describe the old man's disease and how Paul sorted him. He takes one verse to sum up the ministry to the crowds.  As in his telling of the story of the snake, Luke is calm, matter-of fact, and scientific.  There is no place for drama, exaggeration or hype.
Luke says very little about what happened afterwards. He doesn't specifically say that people believed in Jesus. or that a church was planted.   The only hint is that they honoured and rewarded Paul and his friends.  And there is a tradition that Publius became the leader of the Church on the island.  It's possible that the gospel had already come to Malta as it was a stopping off point for shipping to Rome.  Luke doesn't tell us.  We shouldn't make too many conclusions from Luke’s silence. He leaves a number of things unsaid.  For example, the islanders decided Paul must be a god when he shook off the viper.  Can you imagine Paul letting that go unchecked?  But Luke doesn’t' mention what Paul said.  As ever, Luke tells the story without labouring all the details.  In the end, it's the same picture of Paul, as in the last chapter,, practical, pastoral,  caring for those around him, in the power of the Spirit.

Maybe we need to engage in Kingdom ministry and not worry too much about the loose ends.   We encounter evil in the world – Satan, sickness and the false gods of the paganism around us.  We challenge that in the name of Jesus – not for the sake of he spectacular, but simply because presenting that challenge is the right response of the Kingdom of god.  And then we need to leave the responses to the people and to God.

© Gilmour Lilly February  2015