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After you've read David's thoughts, share yours! Send a reply email to David!!
DAVID'S EMAIL BIBLE STUDY:
A.
BACKGROUND is right, Luke gives us the most background to Jesus of the whole Bible. There's John the Baptist's birth as the one who would "prepare the way" for Jesus. There's the angel explaining to Mary the great purpose and miracle of his birth. There's the shepherds hearing from heaven "the reason for the season" of Christmas (good news of great joy for all people). There are two elderly visitors to the Temple immediately recognizing in Jesus the fulfillment of God's promise (Anna and Simeon, Luke 2:25). Plus, we get Bethlehem and the manger and Mary's "Magnificat". Luke shows us the plan of God played out over time .
B.
TODAY,
Luke 2:41-end (Jesus at 12 years old). If you can, Luke 3:1-20 (John the Baptist's ministry).
C. SUMMARY:
Luke skips or doesn't know about Jesus' escape to Egypt to avoid the evil King David. Instead, Luke goes from Jesus' birth to Jesus at age 12. The Holy Family goes to Jerusalem for PASSOVER. Mary and Joseph lose sight of Jesus for three days before finding him in the Temple learning from the great teachers of the day. The next 18 years are a blank, only filled in by best guesses and legends.
Studying in the world's top library in Alexandria? Travelling to India? The classic answer is he worked with his father in the carpentry shop, took over when his father died, trained a brother or two to take over so he could begin his ministry at age 30.
Luke 3 introduced the adult John the Baptist. God calls John out of the dessert. He goes to the river Jordan area and "
Preaches the
Baptism of
Repentance for
Forgiveness of
Sins". He makes clear to everyone that he is preparing the way for the Messiah.
1.
"No such thing as a stupid question" my best teachers always said. Learning doesn't just happen. It requires attentive and active students, patient and willing teachers. When Jesus was 12 his parents found him in the Temple, listening and asking questions with teachers willing to put up with a 12-year-old. This says volumes about Jesus as a student, and the rabbis as teachers. A subtext of this story is "who was Jesus and when did he know it?" He tells his worried parents, "didn't you know I would be about my Father's business?" (verse 49). Some translations say, "in my Father's house". Either way, do we take that at age 12 Jesus had a fully formed understanding of divinity, his Messiah-ship, his position as the second person of the Trinity/Son of God? Or does he have a growing awareness of an undefined greater purpose for which he must prepare? Hence, he seeks out the great teachers to listen and ask. He has things to learn.
2. Luke 3:3 is a year's worth of Bible Study by itself, John the Baptist PREACHES a BAPTISM of REPENTANCE for the FORGIVENESS of SINS. That's a detailed job description for the Church based on five really big words: preach, baptism, repentance, forgiveness, sin. For this email version let's get to the heart of it. John's job was to prepare people for Jesus' ministry by telling them (preaching) that they need to change (repentance) the errors of their ways (sins) if they want a clean slate with God (forgiveness). Nowadays we've lost the impact of John's BAPTISMS. But in his time, it was a dramatic symbol of transformation. Outdoors, in public space, on a busy river, people would go to John to repent and be immersed in the river to wash away their sins. It was a visible, tangible way to divide one's life into two parts: before and after. Christianity took John's ritual and infused it with Christ's Salvation. We say to the world, "this is what I was like before Christ came into my life (confession) and this is what I'll be now that Christ rules my life (repentance).
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