Dear Truro Family,
In Matthew 4, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where he fasts for 40 days. At the end of the fast, the enemy tempts him: first to transform bread and eat, second to prove that he is the Son of God, and third to claim the world as his own.
In each instance, the temptation isn’t to untoward ends, but rather to untoward means. He is tempted to exercise authority he has every right to exercise, but to do it in the devil’s way.
How Jesus transforms bread, how Jesus is lifted up, and how Jesus exercises dominion matters.
The way of Jesus isn’t just a way of ends, but a way of means. He could have stayed at the right hand of the Father, waved his hand, and forgiven us; instead, Jesus chose to take on flesh and to die on a cross. The how mattered to Jesus.
How we live our life together in Christ ought to be of immense importance to us as well. Our life together ought to be marked by a how that is different from those around us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These fruit of the Spirit describe a way of living together in Christ — the ways and means – an invitation for us to the “still more excellent way,” the way of Jesus, our crucified and risen Lord.