🇬🇧
Christ Was Baptized!
In the Jordan river!
From the Apostle it was read about the full armor of God against the devil and the spirits of malice in the heavens.
From now on put on (become strengthened, strong, get strength) in the Lord and in the strength (dominion) of His might
– everywhere Paul describes how to fight and defeat the evil one through grace and one's own efforts. The image resembles (by design) legendary warriors and victorious heroes.
From the Gospel, we read about the fasting in the desert of Jesus after the Baptism before the beginning of the sermon (from which we have Great Lent), as well as about the temptation by the devil (tempter). Is in all synoptic Gospels. The Lord overcomes temptation as a man (and God cannot be tempted). He does this humbly, hiding His God-manhood. There is more about it in the article at the link in Ukrainian:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/uk/Bazhannya.html
I would like to point out that the Lord quotes the words of God's commandments and teachings not in an imperative mood, but as a simple indicative future tense (I will remind you, on December 30, 2022, I wrote about the desire for primacy). At the same time, in this context, these words are commandments (manifestations of God's will). And the desire for primacy — no, but rather a prophecy. Why so? For understanding, let's look at the Lord's prayer. There is a request in the imperative form (this is a proper request), i.e. do!
. Imperative mood, because these requests also reflect the desires of the person himself / herself, deep needs and aspirations. Instead, the simple indicative future tense, when it names a commandment, reflects a state of independence from one's own desire – you shall (well, very similar to 'will' though differs in mood and modality) serve, worship, live
– and this even when you want to or not. Here there is more power, more objectivity
, on the other hand, there is more subjectivity
in the imperative mood. The Lord, defeating the temptations of the evil one, uses the simple future tense, showing that He is fulfilling God's will as a servant, and it also allows the evil one to continue the trials (permitted by God). When the Lord wants to stop them, He uses the command (imperative mood) Get away from Me!
— also expressing His human will (as well as God's). And the devil, defeated, retreats.
Regarding primacy, the simple future tense ultimately indicates that the Lord does not want us to seek primacy as Christians. If it were His will, He would have used the imperative mood. Instead, He emphasizes – you will be the last and the servant of all.
The Lord does not give a way (a mean) to become the first among Christians
, but He teaches not to look for it. Yes, if a person humbles himself / herself, then he / she will be exalted, but what kind of humility, if the person secretly wants to be first at the same time? And what would happen if he / she did not humble
himself / herself?
At the same time, if somebody is the first, then there is nothing wrong with that.
See also more in depth to the topic the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!