trying to find His way
What was Jesus’s sense of purpose and mission?Here Jesus uses Isaiah to explain what God’s purpose for Him is.The Spirit of God is given to Him to do something specific.* To proclaim good news to the poor.* To proclaim freedom for the prisoners.* To restore sight for the blind.* To set the oppressed free.* To…
Jesus stands firm in this wilderness, but the devil is not done.Luke describes this as waiting for the opportune time.It seems the devil knows how to make the most of every opportunity. “Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days…
Luke has just finished showing how Jesus is the Son of God.Now His experience as God’s Son will be tested.The test is the wilderness, surviving in that hard setting.No bed, no family, no great source of food or shelter.God is still with Him, but He is not experiencing abundance.In a sense, it is like the…
To be the son of someone is to be their duplicate, a ‘chip off the old block’. “When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them ‘humanity’ when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he had…
When one of my children was young, they struggled with their sense of value.At bedtime we would repeat, ‘you are a precious, much-loved child of God!’To which they replied, ‘no I am not!’We did this regularly, and urged them to say it back to us.One time in grumpy reluctance they mimicked it back, not meaning…
You can read about the history of Herod Antipas and Herodias here.Herod Antipas was a cruel person, as husband, father and leader of the Jews.John is calling out Herod for his corrupt ways, and Herod has him arrested.Luke describes this as just one more corruption added to the list. It was not Herod, but Herodias,…
John is proclaiming the good news to the people (Luke 3:18).This is the same good news that Jesus preaches.The good news of the kingdom of God (Luke 4:43).The kingdom of God is this world under God-like human leadership (Genesis 1:26-28).It is “very good”, which means there is no badness in it. John uses the analogy of gathering the…
John was not rebuking the crowds, but the religious leaders (Matthew 3:7).But it was the crowds who responded to John’s message.The crowds were probably shocked how John challenged their leaders.If the ‘most holy’ among them are rebuked, how about the rest of them? John’s experiences was to be repeated with Jesus.The crowds, including Gentile soldiers and…
John is preparing the way for Jesus, God’s salvation.But he does not seem very welcoming to the crowds when they come.Luke doesn’t specify who John calls a brood of vipers.Matthew specifies that it is the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 3:7).John says these leaders were sent to question him (John 1:24-25).The non-religious were coming with open hearts, eager…
Is God’s salvation for all people, or only for some?For the Jews of Jesus time, they understood salvation as for them.They understood God’s election, being set apart, as a special privilege.All the nations had their gods, and Israel had YHWH God as theirs.God was their God, and they were God’s chosen people. On the one…