Lenten Reading Saturday February 13th

Reading Guide for Lent

Each day read the Gospel passage for the day and the Psalm passage for the day (you can read them all at once or do one reading in the morning and one in the evening) and use the reflection questions to help process the passage.

The 4th day of Lent

Saturday February 13th 

Gospel Reading:  Luke 4

4      Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, ²where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

³The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

⁴Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘People do not live on bread alone.’”

⁵The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

⁸Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

⁹The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. ¹⁰For it is written:

“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you

to guard you carefully;

¹¹they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

¹²Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

¹³When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

¹⁴Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. ¹⁵He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

¹⁶He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

¹⁸“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

¹⁹     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

²⁰Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.

²³Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ ”

²⁴“Truly I tell you,” he continued, “prophets are not accepted in their hometowns. ²⁵I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. ²⁶Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. ²⁷And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

²⁸All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. ²⁹They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. ³⁰But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit

³¹Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. ³²They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.

³³In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, ³⁴“Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

³⁵“Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.

³⁶All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!” ³⁷And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.

Jesus Heals Many

³⁸Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. ³⁹So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.

⁴⁰At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. ⁴¹Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.

⁴²At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. ⁴³But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” ⁴⁴And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

The Holy Bible : Today's New International Version. 2005. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Reflection Questions:

1. In Verses 1-13 Jesus is tempted by the devil with three different temptations.  What did Jesus use to respond to each temptation?
2. How can you use the Bible (when Jesus says it is written he is referring to the Scriptures) to avoid temptation?
3. In verses 18-19 Jesus quotes Scripture and then in Verse 20 he says that these scriptures are fulfilled in Him.  What does that tell us about what Jesus has come to do?  How did the people there respond to Jesus saying this passage is fulfilled by Him?
4. How does the rest of this passage show Jesus doing the very things that verses 18-19 say he will do?  (How does he fulfill these things?)
5. Make a list of everything said about who Jesus is in the passage.  After seeing Jesus in action and after hearing Him quote Scripture about Himself, who do you think he is?

Psalm Reading:  Psalm 61

.For the director of music. With stringed instruments. Of David.

¹Hear my cry, O God;

listen to my prayer.

²From the ends of the earth I call to you,

I call as my heart grows faint;

lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

³For you have been my refuge,

a strong tower against the foe.

⁴I long to dwell in your tent forever

and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.

⁵For you, God, have heard my vows;

you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

⁶Increase the days of the king’s life,

his years for many generations.

⁷May he be enthroned in God’s presence forever;

appoint your love and faithfulness to protect him.

⁸Then I will ever sing in praise of your name

and fulfill my vows day after day.

Reflection Questions:

1. This Psalm was written by David at a time that he was struggling.  Where does he find his hope?
2. What are the descriptive words that David uses to describe God and his hope?  What difference does it make in your life that God can be these things for you?
3. In Vs. 2 David says “lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”   In the Bible Jesus is often called the “Rock” (see 1 Peter 2:4-8 – stone is used for Rock).  How does what we have seen about Jesus in our readings on the gospel of Luke help us call to Jesus as our “Rock that is higher than I”?
4. Take some time to pray to Jesus and call upon Him for help.