Day 40
The
Master Plan: transition
Read:
Luke
4:1-2, 13-20; Acts 1:1-11
Today is Day #40 of
our “40 days with Jesus.” The 40th day is not
an ending day; it’s a day for transition. With Luke and other biblical
biographers, forty is a number of completion, not ending; “40 day/year biblical experiences lead to purposeful missional
transitions.” After forty days, rains end, earth enters a new moral spring;
after forty days on a mountain with God Moses comes down, a new law and
relationship are established; after forty years a nation leaves the wilderness,
the land of inheritance entered . . . it goes on.
Twice
in Luke’s Gospel/Acts Jesus’ biography public ministry transitions through a
40-day window. The first is
from temptation in the wilderness into the Nazareth synagogue where reading
Isaiah’s declaration the “Spirit of the Lord is upon me” his mission commenced (4:1ff).
The second is from his
resurrection to the Mount of Olives where he ascends back to His Father (Acts
1:3-11).
The “Front Forty” transitions from temptation to proclamation.
Like Jesus how we face pressures influences our commitment to
proclamation-mission. Temptation and temptations are tests to rise or fall;
they are not opportunities to “stay the same.” For us, just like Jesus’ own
experience, our dependence is to be on the leadership, presence and power of
the Holy Spirit.
The “Back Forty” transitions from new beginnings to renewed
responsibility. Over a period of forty days Jesus spoke to his
disciples, showing convincingly he was alive. He talked of God’s kingdom,
the Holy Spirit’s promised coming, their missional framework, and declared they
were his witnesses.
Ponder Point
(reflect)
- Jesus does not leave his
disciples, he transitions them
Consider
(respond)
- Is my current transition a “front
or back forty?”
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