Notes
For special blog over this
week’s teachings go to
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more at
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Read this article over how
to read the gospel of Luke
http://revealhim.com/
luke-resistance-literature/
October 3, 2015 #3
Upcoming Teaching
October 10
Justice is Mercy
Temptations
What did these mean for the Jews?
For the Jewish people during this time period, Jesus
and his temptations signaled a much larger theme than
simple sin management. For many they’d like to see
this scene in the desert as Jesus overcoming the devil
for the world to understand how to overcome sin like
Jesus. To the Hebrews this would have meant
something far more profound.
Jesus was considered the next Messiah by many, the
next king that would bring in the reign of God to his
people. The kings before him struggled much like their
people with three main temptations.
Solomon, David, Moses, they all struggled with their
appetites for more, more fame, more land, more
control. God called His people to desire His
compassion, mercy, and love. Jesus overcomes this
struggle.
The kings and people before Jesus also felt that their
heritage as God’s chosen gave them special privilege
and power. God’s people and their kings used that
power to exploit for selfish gain- Jesus does not.
God’s people often turn to worship powers of violence,
greed, and oppression. They worship self. Jesus
chooses not to worship these powers or emulate them.
Jesus chooses to value God’s kingdom over self. These
are the main themes of the temptations that a Hebraic
individual would connect with.
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Willy Wonka andThe Golden Ticket
Kingdom Reign
The story of Willy Wonka
was written with
kingdom of Heaven in
the forefront of Dahl’s
mind.
Each one of the characters
in Willy Wonka represent a
temptation Jesus
overcomes. He overcomes
these not in order to gain
a stamp of approval as
messiah or to earn
perfection. He does this to
flip the idea of rule and
kingdom upside down. By
viewing each of these
characters it becomes
apparent that Dahl
understood right rule in a
similar manner that Jesus
did.
Augustus Gloop/Violet
Beauregarde:
Augustus is a gluttonous
kid who simply lives to satisfy his cravings. Violet obsessively chews gum competitively always needing
more fame, more victory.
They both hunger for
things that simply don’t
fully satisfy. One needs
trophies while the other
desires more dessert.
When touring the empire
they see all of it’s riches
and immediately are
drawn to exploiting it for
themselves despite the
warnings of what it may
cause. They allow their
cravings to blind them to
the fullness of the kingdom before them and end
up losing out on experiencing this kingdom to it’s
fullness.
Verruca Salt:
She is a greedy, power
hungry little girl that feels
her money and position
have given her privilege
over others. She buys her
way into this empire viewing and demands that she,
because of her well-to-do
parents and
position, be
given the
empire.
Her downfall happens
when viewing the nut sorting room which is all sorted by trained squirrels.
She decides that her privilege should allow her to
have one of these cute
creatures. She screams, “I
must have one! All I have
at home are two dogs, 4
cats, 6 bunnies- I want a
squirrel. I deserve one!”
She takes what isn’t hers
and ends up falling down
the garbage chute.
Mike Teeves:
Mike is a violent kid who
hates authority, dressed in
a cowboy outfit with pistols and other weapons all
situated around his waist.
He is forceful and threatening- often causing people to feel bullied.
He chooses violence and
force which causes him to
not just demand like Verruca but to take what he
felt was his. He ends up
getting stuck in a television screen and becomes a
very tiny person- as if Dahl
is making the point that
forceful power is really a
rather wear way of attempting to rule.
Dahl gives this kingdom
not to the exploiting
obese boy, the position of
power, or the violent boy.
Dalhl gives it to the humble, meek boy with a loving heart.
The connections to Jesus and the Old Testament prophets are obvious. Moses and
Elijah spend forty days in the wilderness abstaining from food and water. Moses
travels with his people for forty years in which his people are given an opportunity to
remember their story and their kingdom under God.
David is forced to flee into the desert and his soul is described as tired and purged (1
Samuel 16:13) and Saul is given manna from the priests after his time there (1 Samuel
21:3-6).
What these connections did for 1st century people is remind them that Jesus was the
deliverer of Israel. He came to free his people from oppression. The way in which Jesus frees them however is what
makes this the most compelling story ever written. It is not through military might or perfect law keeping - it is
through love.
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