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At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them.\xa0But he said, \u201cI must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.\u201d And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. (Luke 4:42-44)\xa0

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Jesus took his rest in solitude.\xa0 And that break from the regular fit and flow of life was what, time and time again, Luke shows us to be the decisive transition moments of his ministry.\xa0

After all, Jesus\u2019 popularity was growing exponentially: everyone was raving over him, the news was spreading, and people were flocking for healings and words from Jesus.\xa0

But instead of doubling down to consolidate his popularity by building a shop front or a little empire based in the pulpit of the local synagogue, Jesus withdraws.\xa0 The place he withdraws to is a \u201csolitary place\u201d reminiscent of the wilderness where Jesus was tempted by the devil at the beginning of this chapter.

If you recall, one of those temptations was to do something spectacular that would win a crowd\u2019s approval, like jumping off the temple to be saved by angels to the applause and belief of all.\xa0 Another was to bow to the devil to win an earthly kingdom.\xa0 Jesus spoke the word of God and turned away from both these temptations.\xa0 But here they arise again.

The crowds are flocking: they are looking for him.\xa0 They want the kingdom to come as their very own possession.\xa0 \u201cWe love you, Jesus, keep the pain and evil of this world and the devil far away from us forever!\u201d\xa0 But Jesus, in the restful clarity of his solitary place, turns away from the temptations to be loved by a crowd and to set up a permanent storefront for the Kingdom in Capernaum.\xa0 The scope is too narrow: he came for all the world and so his ministry cannot stop here.

It is here in this place, that Jesus mentions the Kingdom of God for the first time.\xa0 A kingdom which is not an earthly kingdom with a particular, geographical residence.\xa0 But rather a kingdom that is for the whole world, first for the Jews in their synagogues, and then for Samaria, and on out to the ends of the earth.\xa0 \xa0\xa0

The fact that we are a part of Jesus\u2019 church today, is a direct consequence of the fact that he did not bow to the devil\u2019s temptation to set up an earthly Kingdom in Capernaum that day.\xa0 Sure: he could\u2019ve kept them demon- and fever-free forever, but without the cross and his ascension, the Spirit and the church: what kind of Kingdom would that have been?\xa0 Surely not the Kingdom of God that is for all people and that transcends all ages and places.\xa0

Jesus continued to turn away from temptation.\xa0 For him, that included the very earthly practice of withdrawing from his success, from his work, and from the social demands of people (for us that would include withdrawing from our technology).\xa0 In the clarity of that solitary place, he was able to see and turn away from the temptations to power and chasing the approval of others.\xa0

If Jesus needed a practice of withdrawing to rest and be alone for clarity in order to fight the temptations of his life and ministry: how much more so do we?\xa0 Thankfully, when we withdraw, we\u2019re never quite alone.\xa0 Jesus meets us there in those solitary places when we do brave the wilds to clearly face nothing but ourselves and our temptations.\xa0 And in those places, Jesus continues to invite and enable us to follow him: out of temptation and into his Kingdom.

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