Faith without religion.
Facing Temptation in the Wilderness: The Calling of the Disciples
Temptation, Calling, Identity
In a recent episode of “Dell and Dad’s Talk Doctrine,” Shawn and Delaney dive into Matthew chapter four, exploring the events following Jesus’ baptism. Shawn, who is reading the Bible for the first time, poses questions to his dad, Delaney, who humorously refers to himself as a “cult leader.” They discuss the significance of Jesus being led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil after fasting for 40 days and nights. Delaney explains that this event mirrors the temptations faced by Adam and Eve, with Jesus succeeding where they did not.
The conversation also touches on the calling of Jesus’ first disciples, Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John, who immediately follow him. Shawn questions why they would do so, and Delaney suggests that they might have been familiar with Jesus or guided by the Holy Spirit. The duo also discusses the potential awareness of Jesus’ identity before his baptism, with Delaney noting that while John the Baptist was tasked with identifying the Messiah, the specifics of Jesus’ early life remain largely unknown.
Throughout the discussion, Shawn and Delaney emphasize the importance of understanding the spirit of the biblical text, even when translations differ. They conclude the episode with a light-hearted acknowledgment of the time constraints, promising to continue their exploration in future episodes.
Podcast Transcript:
hello hello welcome to Dell and Dad’s
talk Doctrine
I’m down I’m dad
I am Christian raised in the church
never read the Bible reading for the
first time asking my dad questions about
it
I’m a cult leader
okay
oh we do we have a website called
check it out check it out all right 20
minutes we’re on Matthew chapter four
so Jesus just had the Spirit come upon
him
whatever that means I wrote that you
just described it in the past all right
just to let you know so you know we’re
not contriving any of this we recorded a
whole show prior to this on the previous
chapter but we lost it so we have to
redo that one we’re moving ahead so we
might reference that but it’s not uh
some kind of uh manipulation
um so immediately he has the spirit
guide him to be tempted by the devil
that’s the first thing that happens
after he’s been washed and anointed
receives the anointing yes he is fasting
so he’s weak in his flesh and he’s taken
out by the spirit to the Wilderness
again yeah his Spirit doesn’t mention
that he’s fasting here yeah he’s been
fasting 40 days and 40 nights and you
read that from another uh Source it
might be one of the synoptic Gospels it
says that but it’s after he was taken to
the spirit leads into the Wilderness to
be tempted of the Devil he’s there 40
days 40 nights and hungered
uh Jesus led up of the spirit Into the
Wilderness to be tempted and when he is
so yeah so he’s led to the Wilderness
he’s in the wilderness fasting yeah and
then he’s tempted and then he’s tempted
what can you just do you know why this
was necessary as the first thing what
your speculation is and why is the first
thing that happens after his baptism
okay it’s the it’s kind of uh there’s a
number of answers uh and and the I mean
there’s a number of components to my
answer okay okay so the first thing is
uh Jesus life is an ark for us okay and
so
we too we believe we’re born from above
we too are then anointed by the Holy
Spirit and that’s when we are tried
relative to our commitment to what what
we believe okay and that’s kind of the
picture for that okay the other thing
for this is there’s Jesus is called the
second Adam by Paul or the last Adam
okay the first Adam who is Adam and Eve
the first couple
they were tempted to
uh and by the very same things that
Satan is going to attempt Jesus with
okay so this is a him fulfilling and
completing everything of what happened
in the past on behalf of the world and
for that Nation but actually succeeding
in the Temptation right and the three
things are I didn’t realize Adam and Eve
were tempted in all all of these ways
yeah okay men shall live by the word of
God Alone no that’s Jesus response to it
or Turning Stone into bread yeah so Eve
the first thing that uh Genesis says is
that she saw that the fruit that was
forbidden was good for food okay so
Jesus he’s tempted by Turning Stone he’s
been fasting hey feed yourself okay so
she saw it was good for food okay okay
and then he says cast yourself down I
don’t really get that Temptation yeah
um is that the second one yeah cast
yourself down and the response is man
shall not make trial the Lord thy God
yeah so Eve saw the second thing that
was good for food it was pleasant to the
eyes okay okay
so uh I don’t know if it’s chronological
cast yourself down uh what’s the third
thing all the kingdoms of the world yeah
and so uh that is what was uh the cast
yourself down was give us a show
uh give us a show of who you are come on
do a flip Jesus in the air and prove it
okay so it was pleasant to her eyes this
fruit was give us a show pleased our
eyes Okay and then the third one was all
the kingdoms of the earth I’ll give you
and he says
yeah and so if I will if you will Bow
Down and Worship me he showed him all
the kingdoms of the world is that what
it is yeah he took him up to the hi
Pinnacle yeah and showed him all the
cities all the right right and so uh for
Eve it was if you eat this fruit it’ll
make you wise oh okay yeah so this is
appealing to her Pride okay he Satan
says hey you know feed your pride I’ll
give you all of this okay yeah those are
the connections okay
um okay so then
we’re told that Jesus left the
Wilderness came to Capernaum after he
heard that John was delivered up
what does that mean delivered up
it means it was arrested wow it’s like
they delivered him up to the hands of
yeah heron
okay sorry A lot of these are like
clarifications out of the blue we’re
told a line that confuses me after that
okay
um
so what does deliver that mean and then
Jesus goes to the program says the
following line
people the people that sought in
darkness saw a great light and to them
that sat in the region and shadow of
death to them light did spring up that
was the line and I don’t know where that
came from it came from the Old Testament
okay and this is remember we remember
from a few episodes ago that Matthew’s
point is to get the Jews to believe on
him so Matthew is citing Old Testament
passage of Prophecy of what Jesus was
doing okay he was bringing light to the
people who sat in the darkness okay okay
so
um the one thing that might help you and
our viewers is because uh lines like
delivered up trip you up yeah you don’t
get it you might consider another a
Bible okay yeah another version okay I
thought I mean I’m choosing the easy one
right now that’s a King James
I mean and this program is easy as it
seems oh do you have a do you have a
suggestion on which one I should be
reading oh I don’t ESB is good
yeah I don’t think it’s in that uh RSV
is more plain
okay uh the literal translation is good
for learning but it’s hard to read yeah
that’s
yes so but you might read from the RSV
instead of the uh of the ASC yeah maybe
okay it just depends on what you can
understand yeah I don’t want to waste
time on those things but
but that end up in and of itself shows
you that we aren’t word for word because
the translations are different so it’s
the spirit of it
okay
um so now
the message of John repent you can give
a kingdom of heaven is at hand is now
being said by Jesus around town yeah and
it talks about him meeting just very
quickly talks about him coming across
Simon Peter and Andrew fishermen calls
them they immediately follow same thing
with James and John Nanny their nuts
calls them they immediately follow
what
like why would this happen is it because
Jesus just had a presence about him did
they know about Jesus
like why would they immediately follow
him would you say yeah
um I might not be able to answer that
exactly because there are different
accounts on the calling of the Apostles
and bottom line
um we could say
they had heard that the Messiah was born
because a star associated with his birth
perhaps people had identified him as
that one when he was younger this is all
from the same neighborhood we could say
same county same cities so they might
have been very familiar with him uh and
then the back uh
is that the Holy Spirit
told them to do it okay yeah so it’s
really kind of hard for us to understand
because it doesn’t say and Peter what
God said to him in his ear do this I
mean we don’t get any of that so all we
can do is make conjecture but I guess I
wondered where does it talk more about
anywhere
the pre-baptism Jesus and his like the
awareness of him
at large like what was he known of for
30 years it has potential yeah I I we
don’t know we don’t know I don’t know
okay yeah that’s the best answer to it
we don’t know there there is another
um
retelling I’m not sure which one it is
might be John
or that is not in chronology with the
synoptic gospels so it it has him
calling some before doing the miracle
and then they saw the miracle or
whatever so it’s kind of tough that’s
why I’m stumbling over this because you
just can’t make it fit perfectly but we
don’t have any clear answer it seems
like we have one passage that describes
it he grew in wisdom stature of man and
that he was liked by men in those 30
years okay well that’s okay if there
isn’t an answer I think that’s why I’m
asking but to bring it to home it would
be like
um you being Jesus and you calling your
disciples and you’re calling them all
from the Huntington area
yeah because at one point I feel like
you’ve said that like Jesus was is
Joan’s cousin yeah my big cousin Mary
and Elizabeth they’re Jesus mom and
we’re we’re cousins they’re cousins
their cousins yeah so people know of
Jesus they know that there’s just wise
men talking around yeah
he just got baptized and the Spirit came
down did people witness that well people
followed John and John was the one to
prepare the way for him so John could
have could have identified him after
that too that’s another possibility that
John after baptizing said this is the
guy did John this is done but did John
know it was Jesus specifically or did he
just know something was coming we read
that John says I had to baptize people
so that I could find the Messiah whoa
because the spirit would fall upon the
one who is him
but he says beforehand I know I’m not
equipped to baptize you yeah well I mean
he he knew he was the lamb Behold the
Lamb of God but it was the verification
of the Holy Spirit falling that so he
maybe suspected that Jesus was the one
but it was the verification of Holy
Spirit well and said he is the one we
here and at that point John uh decreased
however there’s another glitch in this
story because you would think that Mary
and Elizabeth would have talked and John
would have known the identity but
perhaps they lived far away and never
talked I don’t know it’s a troubling
little uh clink because it doesn’t allow
it to sit on all four legs yeah yeah
you’re a good reader because yeah yeah
we’re not sure if he knows or doesn’t
know and it really can’t be answered
yeah it’s one of those things
well it clearly doesn’t need to be
answered
that’s according to these people
okay well that’s all I have for chapter
four oh how would we do on time I’m sure
there’s a lot we have eight minutes left
oh well I’ve got nothing to say
summer longer some are shorter but 20
minutes will always be the cap so until
next
bye bye
