JESUS’ MINISTRY of healing and casting out demons is a key part of our New Testament study today. We discuss the healing of the centurion’s servant, the paralytic lowered through the roof of the house in Capernaum, and the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda, and we read Matthew’s account of the Gadarene (or Gerasene) demoniac(s). (More on that story still ahead in Luke and Mark.)
But even more important, and the purpose of these miracles, is the clear message that Jesus did, in fact, claim to be divine, and those claims were the motivation for the plots to take Jesus’ life.
TODAY WE encounter the Devil as Jesus is led into the desert for 40 days and then tempted — or, more accurately, tested. Thankfully for all of us, Jesus resisted the snares of physical gratification (bread), public acclaim, and earthly power.
TODAY WE begin our study of the New Testament, which we will follow in chronological order just as we’re doing with the Old Testament. Our readings today begin the story of Jesus, the Christ.
