Jesus’ Mission and Ministry
Each time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we ask that God’s kingdom comes among us and God’s will is done among us, here in our presence as it is in heaven. How surprised we might be, though, when God answers our prayer and comes among us.

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he gathered with his hometown people for Sabbath worship in the synagogue. They asked Jesus to read the passage from the prophets and to comment on it. He found the passage where Isaiah had written:

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he instructed us to pray the heavenly Father not lead us into temptation. It’s probably the most puzzling petition in Jesus’ model prayer, begging the questions, Why would need to ask that? Would God lead us into temptation.

In the story we just heard from Luke’s Gospel (Luke 4:1-13), we find Jesus after he has been led into temptation. Following his baptism, the Holy Spirit that has filled Jesus now drives him out into the wilderness where he is tempted by the devil. Yet, these temptations are not what we would ordinarily think of as temptations.