Luke 4

                Luke continues his narrative following the baptism of Jesus and the interlude of the genealogy.  Today I will be using the Wesley Study Bible the CEB translation.  Chapter 4 addresses three main themes.  One is the temptation of Jesus, his first sermon to his home synagogue, and ending with healing stories.  Luke presents the Holy Spirit as an important aspect of his ministry and also of his birth.

                Following the baptism, Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit to the wilderness.  He has just been blessed with the Spirit coming down to him from above.  Actually the idea of being led is misleading.  He was forcibly taken into the wilderness by the Spirit. Luke is presenting Jesus as needing to spend time in that wilderness to face his temptations.  He is there for 40 days fasting and praying.  The number 40 is probably not meant to be taken literally but an indication of a long time.  It does tie into the Hebrew Scriptures of the flood, Moses on Mount Sinai, Elijah in the mountains, the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness of Exodus.  Jesus was fasting which meant not eating anything from sunrise to sunset. Fasting was a spiritual discipline popular among the Jewish people as a means of honoring God.  There was no doubt that Jesus was not hungry and thirsty.

                The wilderness in scripture often is a time of contemplation, introspection, and quietness before God.  Luke speaks of this as do the other gospels to help us remember that we too need to take time to be with our Creator.  This is especially true today with the many distractions that we face.  When we are so distracted it is easy to fall into temptations rather than being aware of them.  When we take time to use the spiritual disciplines of attentiveness, prayer, and quietness, we can be more aware of where we are tempted and be able to resist that temptation.

                When the devil appears to test Jesus, he appeals first to Jesus’ physical needs of hunger, next to his psychological needs of approval and power, and finally to his spiritual needs.  Jesus is able to counter each suggestion from the Torah and the prophets.  What is interesting when tested about his spiritual power, the devil is able to quote Psalm 91:11-12.  One concern I have is to not use scripture in such a way as to support my agenda rather than God’s.  Too often I have seen Christian leaders’ proof text in order to justify their behavior.  They use snippets of scripture regardless of the original context.  Luke is pointing even the devil is able to do this.

                Following his temptations (note there is no comforting of angels and the foreshadowing of the devil’s return), he goes to his home in Galilee and Nazareth.  Note that he is observant and attends the synagogue on the Sabbath.  As people talk about all that he can do and his teaching in other synagogues, I can imagine the home folks can’t wait to hear him.  It is here that Luke presents in essence Jesus’ mission and vision statement by quoting from Isaiah 61:1-2; 58:6.  In the time of Jesus the teacher in the synagogue would sit down to teach. Initially the congregation were impressed but someone reminded them about isn’t this Joseph’s son.  How many times a person from the local community who has a history there is not respected or appreciated despite the expertise or the knowledge they have.

                No wonder Jesus “I assure you that no prophet is welcome in the prophet’s hometown (24).”  There have been many times in my career especially as a therapist that when some crisis would occur rather than using local resources, one would rather use someone who lived at least 50 miles away.  This is despite the awareness that the local person would have about the community.  This still happens today.

                Then Jesus continues to expand on the lack of trust in talking about Elijah with the widow and Elisha with Naaman.  It is then that the congregation becomes irate.  For both the widow and Naaman were unbelievers and Gentiles.  The people of the synagogue felt that the only ones deserving of God’s grace were the Jews.  From the Wesley Study Bible, “His hearers do not want to share their privileges with outsiders, but Jesus’ message is intentionally focused upon the marginal members of society, the poor, prisoners, blind, and oppressed. Wesley began a deliberate program of visiting prisons, the sick and the poor in 1730 at age 26.”[1]  The crowd are so angry that they seek to not just run him out of town but to kill him.  How often in history have Christians resorted to violence against those who were unbelievers.  Even today how people judge and condemn those who are different in their beliefs or unbelief.

                The chapter ends with a variety of healing stories.  Luke if he was a physician would use these to illustrate the healing ministry of Jesus.  What is interesting is the demons knew who Jesus was when those in his hometown or in the synagogues had no clue.  It continues to emphasize that Jesus is the Son of God which we were aware in Chapter 1, reinforced in Chapter2, declared in Chapter 3 at the baptism, and now by demons in Chapter 4.

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[1] Wesley Study Bible, pg. 1289

Luke 3

Luke 3

Luke begins this chapter by again dating the material with mention of the Caesar, the governor and the king.  He also identifies who the high priests were.  These foreshadow what will be happening throughout the gospel.  What is interesting is that the word of God does not come to these supposedly important people but comes to an unknown prophet in the wilderness.  John the Baptist calls on people to change their lives through baptism and wanting God to forgive their sins.  The redemptive work of which Mary sang in the Magnificat is under way: “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones/ and lifted up the lowly.” Luke 1:52.  In all ages God’s work proceeds among the poor and the disposed.  This is not just a metaphorical or spiritual sense but Luke is insistent that this is what is true.

Luke quotes Isaiah a number of times in the gospel.  In all the gospels Isaiah is often quoted to describe the ministries of John and Jesus.  This forms the basis of Jesus’ message to us.  It is often turning things upside down.  From Gonzales, “The words in the context of Isaiah convey a message of hope.  The people who are in exile are to be led back home through the wilderness, where the voice of one who cries announce that the Lord will prepare a highway over the desert.”[1]  Luke does not portray John as an unheeded prophet but rather as one who, like the prophets of old, announces the opening of the way to freedom and salvation.  What John announces is a baptism of repentance, but it is more than that.  The baptism is more than the water but is also a time of transformation.

John’s preaching contains three emphases: a prophetic warning against the coming judgment, a call to justice and compassion in our dealing with others, and a confession of the coming Messiah.  Today we continue to need to hear his words in our churches and in our lives.  From the Wesley Study Bible, “Wesley suggested that modern Christians may gain false confidence from their participation in the ‘visible church’ just as the ancient Jews gained false confidence from being children of Abraham.  Any such false confidence is worthless; the ‘ax is already at the root’ of those trees.  John’s message emphasizes judgment, but even news of judgment can be good news if it brings people to genuine repentance and moral transformation.”[2]

“Repentance has consequences. If a genuine change of mind and direction in life occurs as a result of repentance, then one should see the fruit of repentance.  Wesley call it ‘fruits meet for repentance’ (Sermon 43, iii.2).  He anticipates that truly repentant believers will, for example, cease ‘from doing evil…and learn to do well.’  Such good works do not merit salvation, of course.  Wesley does not advocate works righteousness.  The only condition for salvation is the provision of God’s gracious gift through Jesus Christ, which people receive through faith.  Spiritual changes, however, result in other changes in how people think, speak, and act.”[3]

So how do those changes appear.  John points out in concrete ways how one’s repentance will produce fruit.  “Those have to do with justice and the well ordering of society.  Those who have food or clothing must share them with the needy.  Greed must not rule even in tax collectors and soldiers, among whom extortion is customary.  They are satisfied with what is rightfully theirs on the basis of their work.  Repentance requires obedience, correction, and—in those cases where others have been wronged and compensation is possible—restitution.”[4]

Because John is standing up to injustice, he attacks King Herod and his marriage to his brother’s wife whom he had killed.  Luke does not go into a great deal of the history so as to not take away from the contrast between John and Jesus.  John’s “good news” is not good news to everyone especially those who are in power and are unwilling to repent.  In some ways, it will foreshadow what will happen with Jesus later.  Luke does want to contrast that John was important as a prophet but was not the Messiah.  So when Luke talks about Jesus’ baptism he says very little detail that one would find in Mark or Matthew.  Who baptized Jesus is not revealed.  What is revealed is what happens when Jesus is baptized and begins to pray.  Then we have the message from God as heaven is opened and the Holy Spirit descends as a dove upon Jesus. We hear “You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness. (CEB).”

The chapter ends with a genealogy.  Only two of the Gospels have a genealogy, Matthew and Luke.  There are significant differences in names and order between the two.  Rather than spend so much time thinking about these differences, the importance is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham and also to all of humanity. “Genealogies were common within the OT and ancient Judaism.  Luke’s genealogy begins with Jesus and traces his ancestry to Adam; Matthew begins with Abraham and traces his descendants to Jesus.  Luke emphasizes Jesus’ role as savior to all people; Matthew emphasizes Jesus’ fulfillment of the promises to Abraham.”[5]

There is a final note on Luke’s genealogy.  “At the very end of the genealogy, when he has gone back to the very beginning with Adam, Luke adds a final touch: ‘Adam, son of God.’  Significantly just before the genealogy, Luke reported on the voice from heaven proclaiming Jesus as ‘my Son, the Beloved.”  Thus, there is a particular connection between Adam, who in a sense is also a son of God, and Jesus, who is the Son of God.  This immediately brings to mind the connection Paul makes between Adam and Jesus as the ‘second Adam.’”[6]

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[1] Gonzales, pg. 49

[2] Wesley Study Bible, pg. 1287

[3] Ibid.

[4] Gonzales, pg. 50.

[5] Wesley, pg. 1288

[6] Gonzales, pg. 55

Luke 2

The first part of this chapter is so familiar that we often can overlook some of what it says.  First, the author makes sure to orient us to history by mentioning Caesar Augustus and Quirinius governor of Syria.  Augustus was emperor for a significant time and was the one instrumental in establishing Pax Romana or the peace of Rome.  This peace came about due to the military might of Rome and the economic control over the population.  The concern is that outside the bible there is no mention of a census during Augustus reign.  Also Quirinius was governor in 6/7 CE long after the birthdate of Jesus.  I believe that the author wanted to let the readers know how Joseph and Mary got to Bethlehem.  He also wanted to lay down the atmosphere of what was happening at the birth.  It was a time of oppression and violence not at all peaceful especially for the ordinary people.

This brings up reflection about arriving at Bethlehem.  In Matthew, there was a star that guided the Magi.  For the shepherds, it was a divine chorus of angels.  For Mary and Joseph, it was an imperial demand.  The question arises, how do we get to Bethlehem in our lives?  Do we depend on some sort of divine intervention or do we come out curiosity of what we have heard from others or maybe through some other intervention?  Maybe we will come out of family or hearing a small voice in our everyday lives.

Another interesting reflection is that Matthew focused on King Herod’s reaction.  In Luke, the emperor knows nothing of the birth of this new king.  There is no slaughter of the innocents.  Rome appears to be oblivious to what was happening.

Luke also uses the circumstances of the birth to present the scandal of Jesus’ birth.  God comes to u vulnerable, helpless, homeless, and laying in a feeding trough.  The earthly parents were either unmarried or just married and had made no preparations for the birth.  Luke in chapter 1 and now emphasizes one of the major themes of the gospel.  God identifies with the powerless, the oppressed, the poor, and the homeless.  It is among such that God will do the divine work of Jesus.

Also as the angels proclaim, the true peace of the world lies not with the government but with Jesus.  So even though the shepherds were afraid they were the first to worship.  No magnificent gifts just worship and praise.  It is not what we give monetarily but what we give of ourselves.  The birth of Jesus turns the world upside down and fulfills what Mary had proclaimed in the first chapter. Much like what God did in Exodus hearing the cries of the people, so now he does for all of us.

The chapter continues with the presentation of Jesus at the Temple.  On the eighth day following birth, the male child was to be presented to the priests to be circumcised.  Mary and Joseph following their religious obligations did so.  Also one was to make a sacrifice for the first born.  It was the ritual to do so because the first of everything belonged to God.  By making the sacrifice, not only recalling the last plague of Egypt, the child is spared.  If the family was poor, they could use two turtledoves instead of a bull or ram.  While there they encountered two prophets Simeon and Anna.  Go back and read what Simeon says.  What is inspiring is that in doing the rituals of the church we can encounter a prophetic word.  Rituals and worship are important concepts that Luke is setting before us.  It is part of righteousness. Today we have so much that interferes with all lives that some of the rituals such as family meals, prayers, reading scripture together, and even going to church on a regular basis is challenged.

                Mary and Joseph lived in a covenant community.  They sought through obedience to the rituals to come closer to God.  What they heard from Simeon and Anna and the blessings they gave, made the rituals deeper and more personal.

The last section of this chapter, has a story of Jesus as a young adolescent maybe 12-13 years old.  Nowhere else do we have this story.  It points out that Jesus knew even before his baptism that God was his Father.  Jesus found his identity by affirming his relationship with God.  This also speaks to another theme found in the parables later of searching and finding.  Jesus’ parents are searching for him while he is about doing his Father’s work.  A question arises as to what are we searching for in our lives?  What we choose to search for says a lot about who we are.