In today’s section, we read about:
The birth of Jesus, his presentation at the Temple and his visits at Passover
The genealogy of Jesus
Jesus is baptised by John the Baptist, tempted by Satan and rejected in Nazareth, his home town
Jesus calls his disciples, heals many, casts out demons and forgives sins
Jesus teaches about the Sabbath and the nature of the kingdom of heaven
The faith of a Roman officer, a sinful woman and growing opposition by the religious authorities
Peter confesses Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus explains he must die and then is transfigured
Some thoughts that struck me today:
I recently heard that in the first century in Israel, shepherds were not able to testify in court, as they were so marginalised. If this is true (and I have not been able to corroborate it, it merely underlines that God’s view of people’s importance and status is very different from that of the world. The first shall be last and the last shall be first (Matt 1930; 20:16).
I think the passages with Simeon and Anna are wonderful – they are a reminder of the countless multitudes who remain faithful throughout their lives, getting stronger in their faith, and yet who persevere without seeing the fruit of what they do. In these cases, they *DO* see what they have been waiting for, but even had they not, you can be sure, they would have remained faithful until the end.
The genealogy in Luke 3 is *SO* different to that in Matt 1. The most convincing explanation I have found is that it is dealing with Jesus’ human lineage on Mary’s side, whereas that in Matt deals with the descent through Joseph. You can read more here.
Although we hear it said that the Devil can quote scripture to suit his own ends, and we see that in 4:10, it is clear that scripture gives us discernment, and helps us finding the correct path to take. Scripture is also the means by which we are meant to test what is said to us, including putting other passages of scripture in the correct context – a text out of context is a pretext. Jesus gives us a clear example to follow when he is tempted.
The contrast in the people’s reaction between 4:22 and 4:28 is so marked. Reading 4:23 it seems Jesus was deliberately provocative. I was trying to understand this better. One avenue I went down was that people say that Jesus was a good person whose teaching will make the world a better place, but it is superficial and ignores the reality that Jesus is the Son of God, and is Lord of All or not all. When pushed to taking a position on those terms, people often are affronted between it challenges the primacy in their lives of themselves. It is an affront to their perception that they should be in control of their lives, not give them in submission to Jesus. As it says in 9:24, “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”
Following on from that, it is not a picture of Jesus, meek and mild that we see. Instead, there is no compromise and there are some fierce confrontations (4:28-29; 5:17-24, 30-31 and so on).
Another thing about this section was that I was left in absolutely no doubt that I have the choice in all situations on how to behave and think. Not only this, but what we decide to do determines what will happen to us, not just now but eternally.
One verse from today - "“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it." (Lk 9:23-24)
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