This week we
will continue to study the Gospel of Luke.
The visit by the shepherds ended with Mary “treasuring up all these things”, and this chapter will end with Mary “treasuring all these things” as well. These words serve as an “inclusio” to highlight the purposes of Luke, giving us the account concerning his prolonged stay in the temple:
(1) Luke skips over the pursuit of Jesus’ life by Herod which
ended with Joseph fleeing to
(2) Read v. 40 and the words of Mary in v. 48: Do you think that Jesus grew up as a normal child or that he grew up without the growing pains of a child and, as some pseudo gospels claimed, could perform all kinds of miracles even as a child?
(3) What might be the significance of Luke stating the exact age of Jesus?
(4) The family was observing the Passover in
(5) What might Jesus be doing during the three days without His parents at the temple?
(6) Do you think He was asking questions only or in a more subtle way teaching the teachers?
(7) Do you think Jesus was aware that His parents were looking for Him? Was he being disobedient? (See v. 51)
(8) Reflect on Jesus’ answer in v. 49.
a. What did He mean by “in my Father’s house”?
b. Why did He appear to be rebuking Joseph and Mary for searching for Him?
c. Why did Mary have to “treasure” this event in her heart?
- What does it say about Mary’s understanding of who Jesus is?
- What does it say about how Mary took Jesus’ rebuke or reminder?
(9) What is the purpose of Luke recording this particular incident in the life of Jesus as a child?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.” (Lk. 2:52)
These days, the ears of people are so dull that they do not wish to entertain too mundane a Jesus, and have revived their interests in some of the pseudo gospels which were rejected by the early church as spurious.
These pseudo gospels and apocryphal writings include the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (likely 2nd century), Pseudo Matthew (likely 6th or 7th century) and the Pseudo Arabic Infancy Gospel (likely 6th century). They paint a Jesus who could and did perform miracles even as a boy. The most common stories appear to be about Jesus making 12 clay sparrows that come alive and the cursing of a certain boy to the point that he withered away and died.
But the four gospels give very little information about Jesus, exactly because He lived a very normal childhood. Presumably by the time of Luke, miraculous stories about Jesus’ childhood must have already been circulated, and thus he sees the need to set the record straight and includes a childhood story of Jesus, probably by consulting Mary herself.
The way Joseph and Mary treated and rebuked Jesus shows that they treated Him as a normal child. As much as Jesus has demonstrated His self-awareness as the Son of God with His rather sharp answer in 2:49, Luke emphasizes His continuous obedience to His earthly parents (2:51).
The reason why Jesus would refrain from exercising His divine power and grow up like a normal child is consistent with these words in Hebrews, “Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity… For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way” (Heb. 2:14, 17).
(1) When did John the Baptist begin his ministry? (See Note I below.)
(2) Why does Luke choose to pinpoint the time of John’s ministry in such detail?
(3) It appears that while water cleansing is a common religious ritual of the Jews, baptism (in the form that was practiced by John) does not appear to a popular rite of cleansing. How important is it as a symbol for repentance and the forgiveness of sins? (See Note II below)
(4) Isaiah, in his prophecy (Isa. 40:3-5), gives us details of John’s ministry and its purpose.
a. Why would his ministry be in the wilderness — the countryside around the Jordan?
b. How was his ministry a preparing of the way for (or making straight the paths for) Jesus?
c. What might be the meaning of the filling of valleys, lowering of mountains and hills, and the straightening or smoothing of crooked roads or rough ways?
(5) These people were coming to receive the baptism of repentance. Why did John call them brood of vipers?
a. If their desire for baptism was not out of repentance, what then was their intention for being baptized by John?
b. What’s wrong with their confidence in being children of Abraham?
c. What fruit did John refer to that would be “in keeping with repentance”?
(6) If his baptism was not enough to flee from the coming wrath, what then was the use of his baptism?
(7) From vv. 11-14 John gave examples of their “fruit” of repentance. Describe the fruit of repentance that is reflected by each of the following.
a. v. 11
b. v. 13
c. v. 14
(8) How relevant was John’s message to you today?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note
I:
Luke gives a very specific time of the beginning of John’s ministry. According to secular history, the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar was AD 28-29; Herod Antipas ruled over Galilee from 4 BC to AD 39; Herod’s brother Philip ruled his tetrarchy from 4 BC to AD 33-34; while Lysanias was not mentioned by secular history. Annas was high priest from AD 6-15 when he was deposed by the Roman governor Gratus and he was succeeded by his son-in-law Caiaphas from AD18-36.
Note II:
The CBTEL gives one of the most exhaustive treatments of the word meanings and practices of baptism. While the word itself, in its various forms, does not carry the primary force of dipping or immersion, it does signify “to plunge, to bathe or to overwhelm” when it was used four times in the Septuagint. However, I believe the best interpretation might be the use by Paul in Romans 6 which, when used in Christian baptism, best depicts a scene of total immersion.
“What should we do then?” (Lk. 3:10)
One of the strong oppositions to the theology of “salvation by faith” is the fear of rendering the grace of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ into “cheap grace”. Some would use these words of John the Baptist in Luke 3 to support their opposition, because John calls the people to produce “good fruit” to avoid being “cut down and thrown into the fire” (Lk. 3:9)
However, to simply use these words of John to support the claim that salvation, apart from faith, also requires work is to ignore the context of the passage.
Whatever John teaches or does cannot lead to salvation, otherwise he would not be the preparer of the way, but the “way” itself. John insistently labors to point the crowd away from himself to Jesus saying, “I baptize you with water. But one powerful than I…will baptize you with the Holy Spirit..." (Lk. 3:16)
Therefore, his baptism is one that prepares the way for Jesus in that the repentance of the people would find true forgiveness if they put their trust in the Messiah who is Christ Jesus.
However, in preparing them to turn to Christ, John seeks to “turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Mal. 4:6). In other words, he seeks to return them to a relational faith that is based on “loving your neighbors as yourself” (Matt. 22:39).
If they are prepared to love God by believing in His Son, such a turning of hearts towards one another would ensure that their faith would not be a self-centered faith, but one that certainly fulfills the demands of the Commandments.
Food for thought for Evangelical Christians!
(1) What do you think was the reason that the people were wondering if John was the Messiah? (He did not even perform any miracles.)
(2) What was the “good news” that John preached?
(3) In vv. 16-17, John talks about Christ:
a. How did he compare himself with Christ?
b. What did he mean by Christ baptizing with the Holy Spirit and with fire? (See Acts 2.)
c. Which part of the good news is in fact “bad news”?
(4) Herod was not a Jew. Why should John bother to rebuke him as well?
(5) What examples can we learn from John within this short passage?
(6) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“And as He was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form.” (Lk. 3:21-22)
The Lucan version of the baptism of Jesus is rather short, but it provides us with special insights that Luke is trying to convey to us.
First, he mentions that the Holy Spirit descends upon Him, just as Jesus is praying. In the baptism we witness today, it is usually the one who baptizes prays rather than the one being baptized.
The interesting question is: What is Jesus praying about that leads to both the descent of the Holy Spirit and the verbal testimony of Father God?
In a separate article, I have mentioned that Father God must be so excited by the action of His Son that He opens the window of heaven, and exclaims His delight of the Son’s demonstration of commitment to follow through with His plan of saving mankind even through death. The immersion into the water signifies this commitment.
His voice from heaven is also a public testimony of Who Jesus is.
And perhaps, the prayer of Jesus at the time is not unlike His prayer to the Father in John 17. There, before His walk towards the cross, He once again expresses His commitment to glorify the Father and asks the Father to glorify him (Jn. 17:1).
Here the Father answers with both His voice of delight and with the descent of the Holy Spirit in visible form for the sake of those who are beside the river. We read in the Gospel of John that John the Baptist indeed had truly come to believe Jesus, his cousin, as the Son of God because of this experience (Jn. 1:33-34).
I believe that as we use baptism to demonstrate the same commitment to follow Christ till death, it will be such a delight that Father God will not be able to hold His feeling and that He will express His delight from heaven as well.
(1) Luke gives a shorter version of Jesus’ baptism (3:21-22). Let’s look at his focus:
a. Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus while He was praying. What might be the connection between the two?
b. What might be the significance of the descending of the Holy Spirit upon Him in bodily form?
c. What impact might it have on John the Baptist? (See Jn. 1:32-34)
d. What did Father God say from heaven? Based on the words spoken, what feelings were expressed by Father God and why?
e. Why did Father God choose to do this at Jesus’ baptism?
(2) According to Luke, when did Jesus began His ministry?
a. What did He do during His first 30 years?
b. Shouldn’t He have begun this great and important ministry much earlier so that He could have traveled to more places and so that more people would see His miracles and hear His preaching?
(3) Luke also gave a genealogy of Jesus. Compare his genealogy to the one in Matthew (in Matthew 1):
a. With whom did Matthew start tracing Jesus’ genealogy and with whom did he end?
b. What was Matthew’s purpose according to Matthew 1:1?
c. With whom did Luke start tracing Jesus’ genealogy and with whom did he end?
d. What was Luke’s purpose judging from these words, “He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph”? (Lk. 3:23)
(4) Based on the passage that we read today in Luke, who is Jesus?
(5) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“Now Jesus Himself was about thirty years old when He began His ministry.” (Lk. 3:23)
While John the Baptist rightfully depicts Jesus as one who is much more powerful than he is, whose sandals’ thongs he was not worthy to untie and whose final judgment is to be feared, it is interesting to note that Luke gives us the age of Jesus when He began His public ministry. It begs the question about why Jesus would wait till this age to begin His public ministry.
Church traditions vary as to when Joseph died, but based on the fact that Joseph did not attend the wedding at Cana, he would have died before Jesus began His ministry. And we know that the last time Joseph was mentioned was when Jesus was left behind in the temple for three days when he was 12. In any case, when Joseph died, Jesus would definitely have reached the age of Bar Mitzvah (Son of the Law which begins traditionally at 13 years old for Jewish boys).
The logical assumption as to why Jesus had to wait till 30 to begin His ministry would be to take care of his family as the oldest of Mary’s sons, in Joseph’s absence. That means, with Mary being so poor, Jesus would have to carry on the trade of His father and become a carpenter (and indeed He was a carpenter according Mk. 6:3).
This is quite amazing to think of Jesus delaying His work of salvation because of filial piety! What an example He has set for all who have parents, widowed or otherwise, who depend on them for their well-being.
(1) Luke gives us the timing of Jesus’ temptation. Let’s consider the implications of each of the following:
a. He was full of the Holy Spirit.
b. He was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert.
c. He ate nothing for 40 days (and nights).
(2) Why did Jesus have to face this series of temptations? Why did it happen before He even officially began His ministry?
(3) The 1st temptation:
a. What had caused Jesus’ hunger that appeared to have given the devil the opportunity to tempt Him? What lesson can we learn from this?
b. On what basis did the devil challenge Jesus to tell the stone to become bread?
c. Did Jesus have to command the stone to become bread to prove who He is? Why or why not?
d. Could Jesus not simply ignore the devil?
e. If this temptation was of no appeal to Jesus, I do not believe the devil would even try. Therefore, what if Jesus did turn the stone into bread to satisfy His hunger, did it amount to yielding to the devil’s temptation? Why or why not?
f. How did Jesus respond to the devil?
g. How would you label this particular temptation?
h. What can we learn regarding how to overcome this kind of temptation?
(4) The 2nd temptation:
a. Why was Jesus willing to be led to such a high place?
b. Jesus could have said to the devil, “earthly authority and splendor means nothing to me”. Why didn’t He say that?
c. How did He respond to this temptation instead?
d. How then would you label this particular temptation?
e. What can we learn regarding how to overcome this kind of temptation?
(5) The 3rd temptation:
a. Why did the devil repeat his challenge saying, “If you are the Son of God”?
b. Jesus responded to the previous temptations with the word of God. Now the devil also used the word of God to tempt Jesus. Why would even the Word of God be used to tempt us?
c. Look up Psalm 91:11-14 from which the devil only quoted from vv. 11-12. How important was it that he left out v. 14?
d. How did Jesus respond to this temptation?
e. How then would you label this particular temptation?
f. What can we learn regarding how to overcome this kind of temptation?
(6) Luke said that the devil “left Him until an opportune time”:
a. What other times in Jesus’ life can you recall which offered a more opportune time for the devil?
b. Read Luke 23:35. How similar was this temptation from the ones that we have been reading today? Which might present a greater challenge to Jesus? How did He respond to the temptation while on the cross? (Isa. 53:7)
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread…If you are the Son of God…throw yourself down from here.” (Lk. 4:3, 9)
Many fine commentaries and articles have been written about the temptation of our Lord and I do not think I have too much to add. But of the many commentaries and articles I have come across on the subject, I am still deeply impressed with Henry Nouwen’s point about what he perceived in the first temptations of Jesus, and that point was the temptation of relevance.(1) Judging from the accounts given by Luke so far, what might be the news about Jesus that had spread throughout the countryside (of Jordan)? What might account for the great interest generated? How did it speak to the effectiveness of John’s ministry?
(2) Jesus spent most of his life in Nazareth, but this appears to be the first time He spoke to these people in their synagogue. What might be the attitude of these listeners of His hometown who knew His father, mother and siblings?
(3) Jesus read and spoke from the passage in Isaiah 61:1-2. By saying, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”, He affirms that He was the one spoken of by Isaiah. Let’s reflect on the passage that He read slowly:
a. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, and has anointed me.” How does this echo Luke’s repeated mention of the Holy Spirit in the preceding verses in chapter 4?
b. His mission will include (a) the preaching of the good news to the poor; (b) the proclamation of freedom for the prisoners; (c) the recovery of sight for the blind; (d) the release of the oppressed; and (e) the proclamation of the year of the Lord’s favor. Let’s consider them together:
- Did Jesus free any prisoner, including John the Baptist? Why not?
- Did Jesus release any of the oppressed, especially Israel from the oppression from the Romans. Such a deliverance was definitely one that the people were looking forward to upon the appearance of their Messiah.
- Should we then interpret this passage only from the immediate context of the physical environment?
- Who then were the poor who could hear the good news? What is the good news?
- Who are the prisoners who would be set free by Jesus and from what?
- Who are the blind who would recover their sight and from what blindness?
- Who are the oppressed who would be set free by Jesus and from what?
- What then is the year of the Lord’s favor? (See Isa. 49:8-9; 2 Cor. 6:2)
(4) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
If you make a side by side comparison of the passage from your Old Testament and the passage so read by Jesus, you will notice some obvious differences. It is because the version from which Jesus read (or the one Luke so recorded) was from the Greek translation of the OT, called the Septuagint, while the OT passage is a translation of the Hebrew manuscripts.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.” (Lk. 4:18)
Ever since the surge of the Social Gospel, championed by Walter Rauschenbusch, many have used this passage from Luke in which Jesus preached from Isaiah 61:1-2 to affirm that He is the one spoken of by Isaiah and to reduce the gospel to a purely earthly dimension.
But throughout the New Testament, it is indisputable that the gospel of Jesus Christ is first and foremost about the saving of souls unto eternal life through repentance and belief in Him. This is not to say that doing good and the seeking of social justice are things that Christians can ignore. It is so basic to what is meant by being a human made in God’s image that it cannot be called a mission, but a basic expression of human dignity. Many other religions thrive in this respect, but the gospel is much more than this. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can offer forgiveness of sin and eternal life.
Therefore the true mission of the anointed Christ is not meant to:
- Preach the gospel to the physically poor only, because if such was the mission of Christ, He would have easily eliminated poverty or at least narrowed the gap between the haves and the have-nots. But the gospel is indeed good news to those who recognize their poverty before God, i.e. their desperate need to trust in God for their eternal life.
- Set those wrongly imprisoned free, for He did not free anyone in jail, not even John the Baptist whose continued imprisonment probably was the reason why John was so puzzled. He has come to free all those who are imprisoned and chained by their own sins and lusts.
- Recover the sight of the blind. Although Jesus did heal quite a few of the blind, He did not give all the blind their sight. In fact from time to time, He cautioned those whose sight was restored not to spread the news (Mk. 8:26, Matt. 9:30). But He has come to give sight to all who have been blinded by the lies of Satan, and live in spiritual darkness.
- Release those who are oppressed. This was the one thing most looked forward to by the Jews of His time. It is obvious that Jesus did nothing to overturn the Romans. On the contrary, He willingly subjected Himself to their trial and judgment which led Him to be crucified on the cross. But the good news is that He has come to release all who are oppressed by the demands of life, the pressure of work, family and society and their own sins, that they may find rest for their souls. (Matt. 11:28-30)
Indeed, all the prophecies in the Isaiah passage that Jesus read out have been fulfilled in their ears and before their eyes, because He came, with His death to atone for our sins and with His resurrection to reconcile us with God. His death has defeated sin and Satan and has freed all who would believe in Him, and with His resurrection, He offers us eternal life. We who have believed in Him have found favor with The Lord who will welcome us into His everlasting Kingdom.
(1) Luke probably gave us a very short version of Jesus’ preaching that day, but the people’s response was quite interesting. As much as they were amazed by Jesus’ gracious words, they responded by saying, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?". What does it mean?
(2) Should we focus on the words being preached and not who the preacher is? Why or why not?
(3) What did Jesus accuse the people of His hometown of?
(4) Was it wrong for them to expect Him to perform the many miracles that He had done in Capernaum? Why or why not?
(5) However, the two examples that Jesus quoted from the Old Testament seem to point out an even bigger problem with them. What was their bigger (or real) problem?
(6) Why did they become furious upon hearing the two examples Jesus gave?
(7) In their fury, what did they do?
(8) What was their sin?
(9) Was Jesus being too harsh on the people of His hometown? Why or why not?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“All spoke well of Him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from His lips. ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son’ they asked.” (Lk. 4:22)
The words that Jesus said to the people of His hometown of Nazareth seemed very harsh. Since Jesus grew up in Nazareth, the people knew His father, mother and siblings. As much as they found His words amazing and powerful, it was only natural for them to ask, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”. In other words, to accept Him as the Messiah was not easy, and to acknowledge Him as the Son of God would have been even harder. We have to remember that even His own brothers did not believe in Him in the beginning (Jn. 7:5). This highlights one of the ugliest sides of human nature, and that is that we tend to look down upon one of our own.
As much as most Bible-believing churches seek to base their decisions on biblical principles, there is at least one area where we simply find it hard to adopt biblical principles, and we do so blatantly. I am referring to the calling of a pastor by a church.
We know full well that the character of God’s servant is of far more importance than his or her gifts, charisma and education, and yet most, if not all churches call their pastor based mainly on these external criteria. What is wrong with our churches? A lack of faith? A lack of courage? A lack of sensitivity and obedience to the Holy Spirit? Or, simply an unwillingness to get rid of our secular mindset?
I visited a church in New York that miraculously purchased an abandoned school building as their church. I said miraculously, because they submitted their bid to the authority purely based on faith and not on money which they did not have.
But the most miraculous deed they have done is how they called their senior pastor. As the old senior pastor retired, they went through the process of searching for his replacement, and as all good churches do, they did so with prayers. But their prayers were different — they prayed with an obedient spirit. The Holy Spirit moved them to appoint not a Ph. D., not an experienced pastor, nor a pastor with great preaching skill, but their janitor who had demonstrated a character of love for both men and God and a zeal for evangelism, they obeyed.
To cut a long story short, I was told that half of the congregation left as a result. The reason was not just because the pastor had no academic degrees, but because he was once one of them. However, under his leadership the church prospered with solid growth and an exemplary discipleship ministry, even to the homeless.
I wish more churches would honestly live out their claim that they are a Bible-believing church, especially when it comes to calling their pastor.