John the Baptist Passes the Baton to Jesus--Luke 3

After relating the account of Joseph and Mary losing Jesus in the Jerusalem temple at the age of 12, Luke spends the rest of his gospel describing major events in the life of Jesus from the beginning of his public ministry to his death and resurrection. Luke 3 reports the ministry of John the Baptism, the baptism of Jesus, and the genealogy of Jesus. This chapter falls into three parts.

I. John the Baptist passes the baton to Jesus and is thrown into prison. Luke 3:1-20.
a. Luke dates the ministry of John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus. John the Baptist and Jesus were born in 4 BCE. The fifteenth year of Tiberias was August-September 29 CE [AD]. Pontius Pilate was prefect of Judea 26-36 CE [AD]. Herod Tetrarch of Galilee was Herod Antipas, the younger son of Herod the Great and Mlathace who ruled from 4 BCE to 39 CE [AD]. Philip ruled from 4 BCE to 34 CE [AD]. Herod the Great died in 4 BCE, showing that Jesus was born between 6 and 4 BCE according to our modern calendars. God came to John the Baptist in the wilderness south of Jerusalem, where he proclaimed "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." This was in fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3-5. John the Baptist proclaimed God's message in preparation of the coming and ministry of Jesus. This message was not for the Jews only but for "all flesh," as 3:6 emphasizes. Josephus, Life 2. 10-11 states that John the Baptist spent some time among the Essenes. This is where John learned about baptism as a development of the ritual washings of the Essenes. But his message was from God. 3:1-6.
b. Luke relates the kind of preaching John the Baptist proclaimed. This falls into three parts. Luke 3:7-20.
1. Eschatological Preaching. John confronted his "crowds" at "brood of vipers," a symbol of repulsive and destructive people. See Matthew 12:34; 23:33. Because of this, God's wrath will fall upon them. The term "God's wrath" comes from the Hebrew Bible--see Isaiah 13:9; Zephaniah 1:14-16; 2:2; Ezekiel 7:19. John declares that "the children of Abraham" are not physical descendants of Abraham, but rather spritual descendants of Abraham. The "ax" is a figure for discrimination between productive and unproductive trees, like the winnowing fan described in Luke 3:17. 3:7-9.
2. Ethical Preaching. When many in the crowds ask John what they should do to repent. John responds: (a) Share your clothing and food with others; (b) Be honest in collecting money in buying and selling; (c) Do not extort money from anyong by threats or false accusations; be satisfied with your wages. 3:10-14.
3. Messianic Preaching. When many in the crowds asked John is he was the Messiah, John strongly denied that he was the Messiah, and points forward to the coming Messiah [Jesus]. (a) John baptizes with water, but the Messiah will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. (b) The coming Messiah is more powerful than John. See Luke 7:19, an allusion to Malachi 3:1; 4:5. Every true Christian knows that he or she is merely a servant of Jesus, while Jesus alone is the leader and master. (c) John is not worthy to untie the thong of the coming Messiah's sandals. Hence, John portrays himself as a SLAVE of the Messiah. The Messiah will divide the hearts of people on the basis of their hearts and lives. John proclaimed this message to the crowds. 3:15-18.
c. Herod puts John the Baptist in prison. Herod, the half-brother of Herod Antipas, put away his first wife, the dauther of King Aretas IV of Nabatea, to marry Herodias, whose affections he had alienated from his half-brother Herod Antipas. Philip the Tetrarch was married to Salome, the daughter of Herodias. John the Baptist criticized Herod for doing this based on Leviticus 18:16, and Herod cast him into prison. Josephus, Antiq. 18.5,2. 119, relates that John was taken to the fortress Machaerus in chains. Originally built by Alexander Janneus on a precipitious, solitary peak on the east side of the Dead Sea between the Wadi Zerqa Ma'in and the Wadi el-Mojib, it was magnificently restored by Herod the Great. Luke 3:19-20.

II. The Baptism of Jesus. Luke 3:21-22.
a. Luke's account of the baptism of Jesus is much shorter than the account of the baptism of Jesus in Matthew (3:13-17), Mark (1;9-11), and John (1:29-34). Luke makes five points. First, John baptized Jesus just as John baptized everyone else who submitted to baptism.
b. Jesus was praying when he was baptized. Luke emphasizes Jesus' prayer life.
c. When Jesus was baptized, the heaven was opened.
d. When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. It is amazing that the Holy Spirit appeared in bodily form. All four gospels state that the Holy Spirit was like a dove--see Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; John 1:32.
e. God spoke to Jesus directly to Jesus: "YOU are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased." This statement based on Psalm 2:7 portrays a special love relationship between God the Father and Jesus the Son. See Luke 1:32, 35; 9:35. The last expression, "with you I am well pleased," is an allusion to Isaiah 42:1.

III. The Genealogy of Jesus. Luke 3:23-38.
a. The genealogy of Jesus is very different from the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:1-17. There are no such genealogies in Mark or John. Luke lists 78 individuals including Jesus and God the Father.
b. Jesus was "ABOUT" 30 years of age when he began his public ministry. This would have been not earlier than 29 CE [AD], and Jesus was born in 4 BCE, so Jesus was at least 33 years of age at this time. 3:23.
c. Luke's genealogy works backward. It begins with Joseph [the text makes it clear he was not the real father of Jesus; rather God was], and goes all the way back to God the Father himself. This includes 77 generations.
d. 3:27 gives the first known names of Zerubbabel and his father Shealtiel--this appears in 1 Chronicles 3:17, 19.
e. 3:31-32 extend from David back to Boaz. See Ruth 4:18-22.
f. 3:33-38 extend from Hezron back to Adam, based on Genesis 5; 10; 11.
g. The whole purpose of this genealogy is to emphasize: (1) the real Father of Jesus is God the Father, and thus Jesus is divine; and (2) God sent Jesus to save the whole human race going all the way back to Adam, not just to the Jews going only back to Abraham.

Share YOUR daily concerns and feelings. Let me hear from YOU.

John Willis

The Great Sin--Part II

In this blog, we continue Chapter 8 in Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis from the previous blog on "The Great Sin." Again, I will be doing a little ad-libbing as we move along.

The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. Other vices may sometimes bring people together: you may find good fellowship and jokes and friendliness among drunken people or unchaste people. But Pride always means enmity--it IS enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.

In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that--and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison--you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as youare looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

That raises a terrible question. How is it that people who are quite obviously eaten up with Pride can say they believe in God and appear to themselves very religious? I am afraid it means they are worshipping an imaginary God. They theoretically admit themselves to be nothing inthe presence of this phantom God, but are really all the time imagining how He approves of them and thinks them far better than ordinary people: that is, they pay a pennyworth of imaginary humility to Him and get out of it a pound's worth of Pride towards their fellow-men. I suppose it was of those people Christ was thinking when He said that some would preach about Him and cast out devils in His name, only to be told at the end of the world that He had never known them. And any of us may at any moment be in this death-trap. Luckily, we have a test. Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good--above all, that we are better than someone else--I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil. The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether.

It is a terrible thing that the worst of all the vices can smuggle itself into the very centre of our religious life. But you can see why. The other, the less bad, vices come from the devil working on us through our animal nature. But this does not come through our animal nature at all. It comes direct from Hell. It is purely spiritual: consequently it is far more subtle and deadly. For the same reason, Pride can often be used to beat down the simpler vices. Teachers, in fact, often appeal to a boy's Pride, or, as they call it, his self-respect, to make him behave decently; many a man has overcome cowardice, or lust, or ill-temper by learning to think that they are beneath his dignity--that is, by Pride. The devil laughs. He is perfectly content to see you becoming chase and brace and self-controlled provided, all the time, he is setting up in you the Dictatorship of Pride--just as he would be quite content to see your chilblains cured if he was allowed, in return, to give you cancer. For Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.

[These thoughts of C. S. Lewis dominate scripture. For example:
Yahweh punished Israel, Judah, and all nations because of their PRIDE. Read through Isaiah 13-39 as one portion of scripture where this theme is central. Here are a couple of examples:
Concerning Israel and Judah--Isaiah 2:11-17:
"The haughty eyes of people shall be brought low,
and the pride of everyone shall be humbled;
and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
For the Lord of hosts has a day
against all that is proud and lofty,
against all that is lifted up and high;
against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up;
against all the oaks of Bashan;
against all the high mountains,
against all the lofty hills;
against every high tower,
against every fortified wall;
against all the ships of Tarshish,
against all the beautiful craft.
The haughtiness of people shall be humbled,
and the pride of everyone shall be brought low;
and the Lord alone will be exalted on that day."

Concerning Babylon--Isaiah 13:9-13:
"See, the day of the Lord comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the earth a desolation,
and to destroy the sinners from it.
For the stars ofthe heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
the sun will be dark at its rising,
and the moon will not shed its light.
I will punish the world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogan,
and lay low the insolence of tyrants.
I will make mortals more rare than fine gold,
and humans than the gold of Ophir.
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger." (Isaiah 13:1 identifies this as an oracle of Babylon).

Turning to the New Testament, one thinks of James 4:6-7:
"'God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.'
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee
from you."]

To be continued.

Share YOUR thoughts and reflections to others. Let me hear from YOU.

John Willis

An Adolescent's Most Important Choice--Luke 2:41-52

Luke contains the only Gospel reporting the account of Jesus doing anything between his birth and the beginning of his adult ministry at about age 30. That event occurred when Jesus was an adolescent, age 12. Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the Jerusalem temple at the annual Festival of Passover. The account is in Luke 2:41-52. This falls into six sections.

I. The Background. Luke 2:41-42.
a. Luke briefly and pointedly states that EVERY YEAR Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem for the Festival of Passover. Jewish people celebrated Passover at the sundown marking the beginning of 15 Nisan, the first month in the Jewish calendar, which is March/April, the older name of the month, Abib. In this festival, the passover lamb was slain in the late hours of 14 Nisan, was roasted and eaten in a family circle of at least ten people at sundown--Leviticus 23:6. Everything leavened (prepared with yeast) must be removed from the house before slaying the passover lamb--Deuteronomy 16:4. The family had to eat unleavened bread for seven days--the Festival of Unleavened Bread--Exodus 12:8, 17-20; 23:15; 34:18. "Passover" symbolized the "passing over" of the Lord to spare the Hebrew firstborn during the deliverance of the Hebrews from Egyptian bondage. Exodus 12:13. Those who came to this festival appeared in Yahweh's presence and not without an offering--Deuteronomy 16:16; Exodus 23:15d; 34:23. 2:41.
b. Luke tells his audience that on this occasion, Jesus was 12 years old, and Jesus and his parents attended the Festival of Passover every year "as usual." In the later tractate m. Niddah 5:6, Jewish Rabbis declared that a Jewish boy was obligated to observe the Torah at age 13. Later, this came to be called Bar Mitsvah. From age 13 on, that individual was obligated to take part in the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It is possible that devout Jews prepared their sons to do this at age 12. This is similar to the practice of the young boy Samuel at the temple at Shiloh according to 1 Samuel 3:3. The account in Luke 2 contains details about the story of Elkanah and Hannah going up yearly to the Shiloh sanctuary--1 Samuel 1:3, 21; 2:19. 2:42.

II. Joseph and Mary Lose Jesus. Luke 2:43-45.
a. After the festival of Passover, which lasted seven or eight days, was over, Jesus remained in Jerusalem, but his parents Joseph and Mary did not know this. It was common for people to travel in large groups to have good company and to be protected against dangers like wild animals and robbers. Luke 10:30. To travel from Nazareth to Jerusalem and to return, these people had to pass through the region of the Samaritans, the descendants of North Israelites--see Luke 9:53. After traveling for a day (one thinks of Numbers 11:31; 1 Kings 19:4)and not seeing Jesus, Joseph and Mary went among their friends and relatives to try to find Jesus. This shows the genuine care of parents in such a situation. 2:43-44.
b. Joseph and Mary could not find Jesus, so they returned to Jerusalem to try to find him. 2:45.

III. Joseph and Mary find Jesus at the Jerusalem Temple. Luke 2:46-48.
a. After three days (the day they left, the day they realized Jesus was not with them, and the next day--see Luke 9:22; 18:33; 24:7, 21, 46; Acts 10:40; 25:1; 28:17), they found Jesus in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening and asking them questions. Jesus was in the hall or portico of the outer courts. Like a genuine pupil or student, Jesus carefully listened to the teaching of the teachers at the Jerusalem temple, and asked questions concerning the Torah and its place in Jewish life. 2:46.
b. Joseph and Mary realized that all who heard Jesus were amazed at his questions, his understanding, and his penetrating answers to the teachers. 2:47.
c. Joseph and Mary were also astonished when they saw Jesus among the teachers. Mary kindly rebuked Jesus for treating them in leaving them without knowing where he was, not comprehending what was taking place. Joseph and Mary had been terribly worried, in mental torment and anguish (see Luke 16:24, 25; Acts 20:38), because they could not find their son Jesus. Mary's rebuke implies that a responsible son would not behave in this way. 2:48.

IV. Jesus's Response. Luke 2:49.
Jesus responds to his mother Mary by rebuking her in response. Surely her parents would know that Jesus would be at the Jerusalem temple. The Jerusalem temple is God's house--Luke 19:46. Jesus declares that he MUST be in his FATHER's house. Here there is a very important lesson for all human beings. We are to love our parents deeply. But our HEAVENLY PARENT is even more important than our earthly parents. Often, God our Father summons us to leave our parents to serve our Heavenly Father. This theme returns often in Luke and elsewhere in the Bible. It is a major mistake for parents to demand their children to submit to them rather than to submit to our heavenly Father. This is a supreme lesson for all.

V. The Response of Jesus' Parents. Luke 2:50.
When Jesus responded in this way, his parents, Joseph and Mary, did not understand what he said to them. Like all human beings, we come to real understanding by a gradual process. This is the same thing that happened to Jesus' disciples--Luke 18:34. It is significant that after the resurrection of Jesus, Mary his mother becomes one of the first believers of her Son, Jesus Christ our Lord--Acts 1:14.

VI. The Story comes to a Significant Conclusion. Luke 2:51-52. [Luke makes three points about this story].
a. After this conversation with his parents, Jesus returned with them to Nazareth and was obedient to them. Jesus put his heavenly Father first, and under his heavenly Father he was obedient to his earthly parents. 2:51a.
b. Mary the mother of Jesus treasured all these things in her heart. She was gradually growing spiritually to become the women she would be. 2:51b.
c. Jesus increased or grew in four dimensions: (1) in wisdom; (2) in stature;
(3) in divine favor; and (4) in human favor. This is the same language as 1 Samuel 2:21, 26; Luke 1:80; 2:40. [As a side thought, it is very difficult for us to understand how Jesus could grow in wisdom, since he was from everlasting and is divine. We cannot comprehend all that is going on].

Share YOUR insights and reasons with others. Let me hear from YOU.

John Willois
b.

The Great Sin: Part I

One of the greatest Christian thinkers is C. S. Lewis. I highly recommend that everyone read his works. Many know his children's works about The Tales of Narnia.

In Chapter 8 of C. S. Lewis' Book, Mere Christianity, he wrote eloquently about "The Great Sin." I will be quoting much of this chapter, but will take the liberty of doing a little ad libbing as well.

Lewis writes:

Today I come to that part of Christian morals where they differ most sharply from all other morals. There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, expect Christians, every imagine thatthey are guilty themselves. I have heard people admit that they are bad-tempered, orthat they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have every heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no faulty which makes a man more unpopular, and no faulty which we are more unconscious of ourselves. Andthe more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.

The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit [I would add Self-Centeredness, Egotism, and thus Ingratitude. Sorry, we human beings are not GENUINELY grateful for all that our Creator and Master and Shepherd has done for us]; and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility. You may remember, when I was talking about sexual morality [this is Chapter 5 in Mere Christianity], I warned you that the centre of Christian morals did not lie there. Well, now, we have come to the centre. According to Christian teachers, the essential vice,the utmost evil, is Pride. [See Proverbs 16:18:
"Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall"].
Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice; it is the complete Anti-God state of mind.

Does it seem that you exaggerated? If so, think it over. I pointed out a moment ago that the more price one had, the more one disliked pride in others. In fact, if you want to find out how proud you are the easiest way is to ask yourself, "How much do I dislike it when other people snub me, or refuse to take any notice of me, or shove their oar in, or patronise me, or show off?" The point is that each person's pride is in competition with every one else's pride. It is because I wanted to be the big noise at the party that I am so annoyed at someone else being the big noise. Two of a trade never agree. Now what you want to get clear is that pride is ESSENTIALLY competitive--is competitive by its very nature--whilethe other vices are competitive only, so to speak, by accident. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only of having more of it than the next person. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If every one became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the please of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone. That is why I say that Pride is essentially competitive in a way the other vices are not. The sexual impusle may drive two men into competition ifthey both want the same girl. But that is only by accident; they might just as likely have wanted two different girls. But a proud man will take your girl from you, and because he wants her, but just to prove to himself that he is a better man than you. Greed may drive men into competition ifo there is not enough to go around; but the proud man, even when he has got more than he can possibly want, will try to get still more just to assert his power. Nearly all those evils in the world which people put down to greed or selfishness are really far more the result of Pride.

[To be continued]

Share YOUR feelings and thoughts with others. Let me hear from YOU.

John Willis

Jesus' Circumcision, The Manifestation to Simeon and Anna--Luke 2:21-40

After Luke relates his account of the birth of Jesus in Luke 2:1-20, he relates the account of the circumcision of Jesus and the manifestation of Jesus to two old Israelite people: Simeon and Anna, preserved in Luke 2:21-40. There are numerous similarities between this account at Old Testament texts, especially the birth and growth of Samuel in 1 Samuel 1-2. The account in Luke 2:21-40 falls into four parts.

I. The Circumcision of Jesus. Luke 2:21-24.
a. The Law of Moses in Leviticus 12:2-8 gives three instructions in conjunction with the birth of a male child. (1) When a woman bears a child, she is unclean for seven days. On the eighth day, the male child must be circumcised. (2) The time of blood purification of mother of the new male child is 33 days. (3) After the time of 33 days of blood purification, she must bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb for a burnt offering and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. If she is too poor to bring a sheep, she may bring two turtledoves or two pigeons. Then she shall be clean from her flow of blood. 2:21.
b. Joseph and Mary named this child Jesus, following the instruction of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. See 1:31. 2:22-24. [Note: 1:22-24 is very similar to the story of the presentation of Samuel by his mother in the sanctuary at Shiloh. 1 Samuel 1:22-24].

II. The Manifestation to Simeon. Luke 1:25-35.
a. There was an old man named Simeon in Jerusalem. He was righteous and devout and looked forward to the consolation of Israel. One who is devout is one who stands in reverence and awe in the presence of God. 2:25.
b. The Holy Spirit came upon Simeon to reveal to him that he would not die before he has seen the Lord's Messiah, the Anointed of Yahweh--see 1 Samuel 24:7,
11; 26:9, 11, 16, 23. The Holy Spirit guided Simeon into the temple. Joseph and Mary had brought in Jesus to do for Jesus what the Law of Moses had commanded. 2:26-27.
c. Simeon put Jesus in his arms and and praised God [just as Zechariah did in 1:64] in the Nunc Dimittis. Simeon addressed God as "Master," and himself as "servant." He praised God because God is dismissing Simeon to die in peace according to his word, because Simeon has seen the newborn baby Jesus, God's "salvation." This is an allusion to Isaiah 40:5, and recurs in Luke 3:6; Acts 28:28. Simeon proclaims that God has "prepared" Jesus "in the presence of ALL PEOPLES." God's concern is both for Israel and for all nations. This concept emerges from Isaiah 52:10. Simeon declared that God have Jesus "a light for revelation to the Gentiles," an expression derived from Isaiah 49:6, 9, and "glory for God's people Israel," an expression based on Isaiah 46:13. Ephesians 2:11-16 ties all these concepts together. 2:28-32.
d. Joseph and Mary were amazed at what Simeon said about Jesus. Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary: (1) Jesus is destined to the fall and rise of many in Israel. The fall of Jesus is his rejection by the people of Israel, and his rise is his resurrection. (2) The whole life of Jesus, his rejection and crucifixion, and his resurrection, will reveal the inner thoughts of many. Jesus becomes an apex or dividing line between the good and the evil, between the righteous and the wicked.
(3) A sword will pierce through the soul of Mary. It is wrenching when God through Jesus Christ separates families between father and son, mother and daugther, and all other types of relationships. See Luke 8:19-21; 11:27-28; 12:51-53. 2:33-35.

III. The Manifestation to Anna. Luke 2:36-38.
a. In the Jerusalem temple, there was also an old woman, a widow, at the age of 84. She was from the tribe of Asher located in North Israel. See Deuteronomy
33:24-25. Her name was Anna, the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Hannah. Hannah was the mother of Samuel the prophet. 1 Samuel 1:19-20. 2:36-37a.
b. Anna never left the temple, but there she "worshipped God with fasting and prayer night and day." See the same expression in Acts 26:7. Godly people regularly worship God with fasting and prayer. See Matthew 17:21; Mark 9:29; Acts 13:3; 14:23; 1 Corinthians 7:5. 2:37b.
c. Anna was a prophet--a preacher. When she saw the newborn Jesus, she praised God, and SPOKE about Jesus to ALL who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. According to the Bible, both God raises up both men and women to prophesy, that is, to preach God's words, God's eternal message--see Exodus 2:20-21; Judges 4:4;
2 Kings 22:14-20; Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:17-21; 21:9. 2:38.

IV. Joseph and Mary return to Nazareth. Luke 2:39-40.
a. When Joseph and Mary did everything required by the Law of Moses in conjunction with the birth and circumcision of Jesus, they returned to their home in Nazareth in Galilee. 2:39.
b. Jesus grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him. Similar language appears in the stories of Samuel in 1 Samuel 2:21, 26, and of John in Luke 1:80. 2:40.

These biblical accounts contain rich and inspiring thoughts. I hope all of YOU rejoice in these accounts.

Share YOUR ideas and insights with others. Let me hear from YOU.

John Willis