Let’s take a look at what Jesus said, the circumstances surrounding his statements, and perhaps a more personal meaning in what He said. I don’t believe Jesus spoke without a specific purpose; there are no idle words from Him, regardless of how mundane the circumstances.

And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?

While living at Nazareth with Joseph and Mary, a trip was made to Jerusalem each year at Passover. In His twelfth year, Jesus stayed behind when His parents returned home. After three days, they found Him at the temple in Jerusalem, talking with the elders and scribes. When questioned by them, Jesus replied with His own question. Typical adolescent; yet, very aware of His relationship with God. And, He did obey His parents and returned with them to Nazareth. The first question was rhetorical: why did you look for me?; and, He answered that question with another that explained why He had stayed in Jerusalem, and what the cost of His ministry would be to them. That price is the price we all must pay. The working of the Spirit is as varied as we are as individuals. His leadership separates us from our nearest, dearest family; just because each of us, individually, are the only one that knows for sure what the Holy Spirit directs in our life. Things that are totally misunderstood by others, in fact, may seem totally wrong to them, are revealed and expected. Nothing is recorded in the Gospels about Jesus’ life after this, until He was about 30 years old. 　

When about 30 years old, Jesus went to see John the Baptist, and requested to be baptized. John objected, knowing who Jesus was, but Jesus then replied: Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus, knowing the scriptures regarding himself and John, the Baptist, hereby acknowledged John’s ministry and methods by being openly baptized by John, and giving the Father the opportunity to acknowledge Himself, as scripture required. In order to prove He was the Messiah, Jesus had to fulfill the prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, and He knew all of them.

This event is significant by virtue of being an experience not witnessed by any of the recorders thereof. Quite obviously, Jesus related this experience to them; and, as is the case with listeners, the accounts vary from general to specific; and the specific ones vary in their conclusions. While we can accept the experience as described literally; and, while the specific temptations were directed at the Son of God; let’s look at what Jesus was teaching His disciples.

(St. Mark 1:12,13) And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.

When we have made public our conversion; which can be described as that time when we cease to be like everyone else in the world, and have turned our affections and interests towards God (by virtue of His intervention in the person of the Holy Spirit and the grace of the Son), we find ourselves in very unfamiliar territory (a wilderness). We have experienced the power of God in bringing us to an acknowledgement of our sin, an acknowledgement of our inability to satisfactorily deal with that sin, and, the revelation of His redemption in Jesus Christ. We have experienced the fullness of God through the Holy Spirit’s baptism in love, peace, and joy into the family of God. More than at any other time in our life we know that “all things are possible with God”.

And, then……the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Our old friends (those beasts), looking for a sign; and when we cannot produce one…doubt and confusion. But, then, we know that our new life is in God, a spirit-centered life; no longer bound up in the physical, so we can say, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” By demanding the miraculous, Satan, and the world, are simply trying to belittle our experience, and to cast doubt as to its validity. The conversion experience is no little achievement. Few attain to it, and fewer still are those who really understand what has taken place. The church, itself, tries explaining it in Biblical language, which, more often than not, is not readily understood by the new convert.

And, then, they say……“If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” We most surely know that God will take care of us; that absolutely nothing can harm us without His permission, except……..“thyself”; the old self, that old man with all his prejudices, ideas, and desires. But, we are a child of God, so we must say, “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Yet, so many times do we try God, to see how far we can go……“just a little of this”, “just a little of that”. How many times do we obligate God to make other arrangements to accomplish some small task, just because “it cannot hurt too much”?

And, then, when we think we can get by with a little, we get our eyes on “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them”; and, our beastly friends sing along with the devil, “All this power will I (we) give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me (us); and to whomsoever I (we) will I (we) give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.” But we don’t just hear it from our beastly friends. How many so-called preachers are preaching that we should have everything our little hearts desire: not just a home, but a mansion; not just a car, but a limousine (and a chauffer); not just food, but the most exotic; not just clothes, but the very finest; and, stop working for a living, just vacation your life away? Just turn over your life and livelihood to them, thereby purchasing God’s favor. We need to be screaming at them, “Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve”!!

Then, and only then, can we know that “the devil leaveth him (us), and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him (us)”.

How can we expect the Creator of all things, who “so loved the world”, who has given us “power to become the sons”, to condescend to our wishes and whims? Just a glance, at the most consecrated life you may know first-hand, will reveal to you His longsuffering -- to say nothing about mankind in general. Short of what we really need for survival, which He provides to all mankind; how can we expect Him to bless us for our diminutive efforts to follow His leadership through His Holy Spirit? We scarcely make it into the Family. Our running to God could be more appropriately described as a running away from sin; and, that only because of its consequence, death. Have we yet to figure out that we, individually, live in Him, only to the extent we allow Him to live in us? How can we expect health and happiness when we have forgotten the love, joy and peace we once knew in Him? Have we forgotten who we are in Him - He hasn’t; and every second of our life is another opportunity for us to remember.

St. Matthew 4:17

From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

St. Mark 1:15

…“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

This is the beginning message of Jesus; its instructions were carried out on the cross. The Jews had lived under the Mosaic Law for 2000 years. In addition, during the years between their incursion into Canaan and Jesus’ incarnation, the priests had added law upon law to those Moses had provided. The time had come for Jesus to reveal the true nature of God’s kingdom. And, it most certainly was not an earthly one; nor is it today even if Christians and the general public try to present it as such. “Repent” means to “turn around, turn about”; that is “to face in the opposite direction”. Jesus’ message is telling us to “stop trying to make a kingdom (and, especially, a kingdom of God) on this earth, and turn our attention to the Creator.” The gospel is the message that God had come to bring mankind back into a true knowledge of Himself. Not only was Jesus the messenger; He was the example for us - not a moral example (we still cannot live up to its ideals), but an explicit example of the means of attaining that true knowledge. As stated before, “what would Jesus do?” is an irrelevant question; rather, “what did Jesus do?” should be our concern.