Category: Christ Stream

 

2 – The time had come for Mary to deliver the Savior and the political circumstances required Joseph/Mary to go to Bethlehem. Notice that they went up to Bethlehem from Nazareth in Galilee.  It was a 90-100 mile walk with a 1300 foot rise. The KJV says that Mary was “great with child”; the Greek actually words it to read “Mary had a ‘mega-tummy’ ” – it’s true folks.

-The first outsiders invited to see the newborn king were shepherds. The significance of this as told by Luke is that Luke is writing this gospel with the intent of evangelizing the Greek speaking world. Greeks LOVE sheep/mutton (mutton gyros)/wool/lamb-skin-leather; this whole culture of shepherding. And God tells shepherds –> first!  And He does so by an astonishing sign in the sky –  God’s angel speaking to them. Light, a message, then a choir that filled the sky, good heavens, It was overwhelming!  Another way this pierces to the heart of a Greek citizen is that they had in their legends that Alexander-the-Great was born and the arrival was announced by the greatest lightning storm that ever struck upon earth in history. So a Greek mind would read this and think, “oh my! this is even greater than when Alexander was born!”  Luke is saying to them [between the lines] that though their heritage takes them back to Alexander and Philip of Macedon, their personal king was a greater one to follow; sent from God and He outdoes Alexander.  So follow this Jesus. By doing this, Luke had the Greeks’ attention from the start.  And notice that the shepherds left their flocks (it was night and this kind of thing is not done – y’don’t leave your sheep at night especially). But the shepherds RAN to find Jesus. [Is this Jesus really worth abandoning everything for? Is He really more important than- everything- that- is- important? –Really?  Listen to Luke and hear the whole story.

-Then Jesus is brought to the Temple for dedication and for his circumcision – only Luke, being a doctor, includes this detail.  The story of Simeon and Anna are legendary parts that further signify that this Jesus is long awaited and that He is well worth waiting for.  This even more deeply asserted into Joseph and Marys’ hearts that they were entrusted with an assignment that carried the weight of the world upon them. It was a holy and wholly magnificent task they had to parent Jesus.  Mary took all this to heart, and it never left her.

The next story has us jumping 12 years ahead to when Jesus was in the Temple as a child and He is astonishing the Teachers and leaders and the doctors of the Law.  Now never forget that Luke is telling this story to Greeks and Greek was the language of the Empire – the way English is the language of the commercial world today. Greeks muse about Socrates born 470 B.C. in Athens /& Plato /& Aristotle and they wistfully discuss their books and ideas as they had for several hundred years. These were fascinating men with brilliant minds meandering about the Acropolis offering wisdom and leadership as to how to manage an Empire along with all the matters and thinking entailed therein. Well, Luke is saying, “you guys admire this?!?! Well here’s a youngster who is more enamoring and He is wowing the greatest minds for thousands of miles … and He does so at 12 years old !!”  Give it 18 years and see if He isn’t the most fascinating speaker/miracle worker / healer / leader EVERRRRRRR.

3 – jumps up 18 years and John the Baptist begins preaching in the Jordan area just north of the Dead Sea and near Jericho.  His preaching is so powerful and so poignant that people were coming from far away to hear him and to be baptized for forgiveness of sins.  The rebuke John launched into wasn’t a wild mood swing where he suddenly went ugly on everyone. He noticed that the duplicitous leaders were starting to show up.  They were there because they were upset that people were not in their normal worship services and they were thinking, “where is everyone? why are offerings down?” And this bothered them. Well rumor had spread and soon the countryside and everyone knew what was going on and where everyone was. The people had come to hear John and get right with God. But, the leaders had come to “straighten things out” and to deal with this loudmouth John/Baptist if they needed to.  That’s where the surprising “brood of snakes” comment factors in.

John/Baptist tells of what God requires: be honest, share, stop manipulating and threatening and stealing, be content, clean up your act, etc. [Luke hits on this theme of financial honesty, fairness, and caring throughout his book.]  John/Bpt is preparing them to meet Jesus so that Jesus would imminently arrive to a mood of “WOW, He’s Here!” v.s. “hey, who are you?” ; an atmosphere of oblivious.  It worked.

 

Luke 1 – Luke’s opener tells of his motivation for writing Luke.  [He later wrote Acts.] Luke is a paragon historian that ranks with the best the world has ever seen.  He researched Jesus and got straight stories from those who were there.  Whereas John says in places, “I saw this….I witnessed this…” we do not see this wording in Luke.  There is no record that Luke ever met our Savior.  My husband, who has three degrees in Bible says he has encountered some n’ere-do-wells who falsely comfort themselves saying,”I only want to read about Jesus; the eyewitness accounts of those who were there.”  Thus they won’t read the Old Testament/Psalms/Prophets. And they won’t even read Paul’s letters.  Well, friends. Moses, Joshua, Paul met with God/The ‘yet-to-be-named’ Jesus personally (Paul met Him on the road to Damascus), whereas Luke never met Jesus —> it isn’t recorded anywhere in literature.  Pardon the side note here. One other reminder: Matthew wrote his account to Jews in Israel – the first copy was in Aramaic. Mark wrote to Jews who were throughout the world -the original was in Hebrew. John wrote to The World (for God so loved the…what did he so love?…The World.)  And Luke wrote to the Greeks; including the Romans in the Greek world who spoke Greek -and therefore it was written in Greek.  Luke was a doctor. So we find him noticeable mentioning Jesus’ body; His hands, His mouth where the other gospels don’t. Luke also talks of the power involved in Jesus’ ministry. The power of the spirit, the power of God, the “power that was present for Him to heal.” The Greeks were very impressed with the concept of power, so Luke presents it clearly.  Though we are spending the next 16 weeks in Luke, perhaps that is enough introductory notes – – –

 

“Lord Jesus, This day expressed the depth of your love. All we want to do and be are people who understand your love, then live it and share it.  Amen.”

 

Mark 15 – Jesus is taken by the leading priests and elders to Pilate since they were not getting anywhere with their illicit trial.  Pilate had no interest in killing Jesus since Jesus had done nothing wrong.  As we all remember, a prisoner Barabbas is released, instead of Jesus, since that is whom the crowd was goaded to cry for the release of.  The part where Pilate stalls for time by sending Jesus to Herod is found in Luke, not Mark – in case anyone was wondering.

When the crowd demands, “crucify him!”, Pilate’s question is so good: “why, what evil has he done?”  And to that, they have no answer.  They only demand, “crucify him!” over and again like a frothing mob of crazed drunks.  Pilate hands Jesus over to be whipped, and then to the Romans who mock and beat him and put a crown of thorns on his head.

When he was led out to Golgotha, Simon from Cyrene was compelled to carry Jesus’ cross for him. Jesus is offered wine and myrrh but he refuses to drink it. The Romans crucified him and divided his garments by lot v.s. cutting it – each getting a piece. It was now 9 a.m.  Mt/Mk/Lk say almost identical reports about the sign above Jesus’ head “The King of the Jews”.  John’s report of the crucifixion tells of the sign being in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. The squabble about what it said and the chief priests’ fussing about it , the details about the dividing the garment since it was seamless and they opted not to cut it because it was seamless.

Matthew and Mark have the detail about people chiding and deriding Jesus on the cross, telling him to save himself. Luke has very little of this. John has none of it.  [The confession of one of the thief wanting Jesus to remember him is in Luke; none of the other gospels]

“My God…why have you forsaken me? is in Matthew and Mark only for they were writing to the Jewish world.  The distinction at his point of death is interesting.  Mt/Mk tell of Jesus giving a loud cry, Matthew says Jesus yielded up his spirit, Mark says Jesus breathed his last, Luke has, “father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.” John concludes Jesus’ life with “it is finished.”

The centurion is impressed to say, “truly this man was the Son of God!”  All four gospels note the women who were there observing all of this.  The Burial of Jesus is given the fullest description in Mark.

 

16 – The women came to the tomb on the first day of the week, bringing spices to further anoint Jesus and find the stone rolled away, an angel there beside it who told them Jesus had risen and was not here.  The angel told them to go tell the disciples.  Amazing that the news that is most important in history is trusted to the women who are to pass it to the disciples.  What better and most sure way to spread news but the inform the ladies of this grandest of events. Ladies must talk about what they have experienced and are feeling about it.  A culture that had females to be secondary status was about to be altered some and ladies were to be very involved with the men in sharing the gospel everywhere they go.  That still holds true today.