Alvin M. Molito - Filipino Community Church, Ottawa
Luke 4:1–13
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here.10 For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
The Power of the Spirit in the Liminal Space
The term “liminal” basically means “in-between. It’s like a threshold, a doorway, or a point of transition. It is a place wherein a person is neither here nor there. The experience of being in an in-between place can be unnerving because of the lack of stability. A sense of insecurity arises when one is transported to an unfamiliar environment and exposed to harsh, even life-threatening realities.
Hence, the experience of liminality is often described as being in a desert, wherein a liminal person (or community) experiences some sort of deprivation, displacement, and even death. In anthropology, experiences of liminality are rites of passage for people who are transitioning from one stage or social status to another.[1]
On the other hand, being in a liminal space can be an opportunity for growth and transformation as an individual or community transitions from one state of being to another. In other words, aside from being a place of ambiguity and darkness, liminal space can be a place where life can evolve and flourish through reflection and self-discovery.[2]
Jesus, being transported by the Spirit into the wilderness, enters a liminal space, or a rite of passage in the life of the hero of this epic drama of salvation.
After Jesus was introduced and baptized as the Son of God in the previous chapter, he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where he spent forty days enduring isolation and hunger. Some see this as a reenactment of Israel’s Exodus experience in the desert, in which their relationship with God was also tested. Israel, however, failed many times. Nonetheless, the Lord remained faithful to them and finally sent his Son, Jesus, to accomplish what the Israelites in the desert had failed to achieve.
In his encounter with the Devil, Jesus absolutely won the battle.
Three times the Devil tempted Jesus to doubt his relationship with the Father and take matters into his own hands, first by transforming stone into bread in order to satisfy his longing for food (v. 3); second, the Devil tempted Jesus to take the kingdoms of the world by worshipping him (v. 6-7); and third, he tried to convince Jesus to doubt God’s promises, and test him by throwing himself off the roof of the Temple (v. 9-11). In all these temptations Jesus did not obey the voice of the Devil. He remained faithful to God.
Instead of using his power prematurely to satisfy his cravings for physical bread, Jesus claimed that people do not live by merely satisfying superficial pleasures (symbolized by food, v. 4).
Instead of desiring to acquire power over all the world’s kingdoms, Jesus rebuked the lies of the Devil and asserted that true power belongs to the Lord, who alone deserves proper worship (v. 8). Finally, Jesus refused to succumb to the same mistakes of the Israelites who doubted and tested the God’s word in the desert of Meribah and Massah (v. 12 c.f., Deut. 6:16; Ps. 95:9).
After his victory in the desert Jesus went to Galilee and began his public ministry with the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14). Apparently, this desert experience of Jesus proved that he is indeed the Messiah, the Son of God, who came to save God’s people after he prevailed against the temptations of the Devil.
While facing the enemy in the desert, Jesus was confronted by the possibility of death, either through hunger or by turning away from God and surrendering to the Devil’s schemes (like what happened to Adam and the Israelites). However, Jesus was able to overcome. Therefore, Jesus did not die in the desert. Rather, he was able to come out victorious with the power of the Holy Spirit. This is actually a foreshadowing of the cross when Jesus finally overcame the power of the Devil, sin, and death through his sacrifice and resurrection.
It was in his experience of being displaced, deprived, isolated, and marginalized, that Jesus discovered God’s true power that helped him overcome the evil one. In other words, Jesus also experienced the ambiguities and dangers of being in a liminal space as a rite of passage before his messianic role was established. It was in this liminal period of his life that his identity as the Son of God was confirmed.
In one way or another, like Jesus, we have experienced isolation and being in a place of uncertainty. In some moments of our life we might feel that we are lost in the desert, searching for a place we can call home, where we can feel safe and warm. Some of us might feel like we are living in exile, displaced, and searching for a place where we can find security, rest, and comfort. We may be so eager to get out of our liminal spaces. But let us not rush. Rather, like Jesus, let us look at our desert experiences as opportunities to grow and flourish through the power of the Holy Spirit. It could be that in our experiences of exile we discover new ways and opportunities to see God’s face (Genesis 32:30). Here, I find the words of Franks and Meteyard to be most reassuring.
Journeying in the wilderness offers the idea of finding God in new ways in the emptiness and dryness that is present after leaving the old and before the new is reached… This involves the need to let go of, leave behind or even be forcibly expelled from old ascendant forms of self-definition and identity so that God can be found in ways never before experienced. It is thus in the places of liminality, when stripped of all structures of support and security, that the pilgrim and God are free to encounter each other in new and life changing ways.[3]
Reflect:
- What is your personal experience of liminality?
- How are you discovering God in your wilderness experience?
- Prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to journey with you as you walk through the wilderness.
Author Bio
Alvin M. Molito is the Senior Pastor of
Filipino Community Church in Ottawa. He was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. He finished his Master of Divinity in Biblical Studies at Asian Theological Seminary (Quezon City, Philippines). He is also working as Language Advisor for the BibleProject (Tagalog) in YouTube. He is married to Genesis Joy and they have three kids, Aleph, Zayin, and Dalet.
Filipino Community Church – Ottawa (fccottawa.com)
Filipino Community Church - Ottawa | Ottawa ON | Facebook
Luke and Acts taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®
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[1] See Arnold Van Gennep,
The Rites of Passage (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1960); and Victor Turner,
Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-structure (New York: Cornell University Press, 1991).
[2] Claire Gillman,
Learning to Love the Spaces In Between: Discover the Power of Liminal Spaces (London: Welbeck Balance, 2022).
[3] Anne Franks and John Meteyard, “Liminality: The Transforming Grace of In-Between Places”,
The Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling 6 no. 3 (Fall 2007): 220.