If you are an avid Baltimore Orioles fan right now, you are watching and waiting to see what happens with third baseman Manny Machado. He is without doubt one of the top five players in all of baseball, both offensively and defensively. So he is an immensely valuable resource for the franchise. But Manny is likely playing in his final year with Baltimore, as he will become a free agent after this season. It is unlikely that the Orioles will be able to pay him the salary he will get somewhere else, so, should they trade him now and get something back, or get one more year of service from him? It’s all about what the Orioles can get from him. He is liked by the fanbase because of what he does and what he brings to the team.

That is somewhat how Jesus was seen in Galilee and by the masses of Jewish people at this time and throughout his brief ministry years. They liked what he did – the healings, the feedings, the rhetoric. And in our passage today we see him performing healings (including the mother-in-law of Simon Peter) and casting out demons. This is a great guy to have around!

But Jesus retreats to a solitary place, obviously packing his bags to move on to preach the good news in other towns and cities. The people want to hang onto him; they don’t want him to leave them and take his valuable talents with him. Surely some were thinking, “Just about the time he leaves town and can’t be located, I’ll get sick and need to be healed!”

Borrowing from later in the life story, the disciples have the same categories of fears and worries when they hear Jesus speaking about how he will be leaving them. And to comfort them – not that they understood it at the time – he tells them that a greater personal resource is coming in his place. The Holy Spirit would not only be WITH them, but would be IN them.

So our position as post-Pentecost, church age believers today is actually better than what the disciples had by merely being WITH Jesus, as cool as that would be!  Think about that!

But think about this also: We can be like the people of Capernaum, even with the Spirit living in us. Too often we look at our relationship with Jesus as only about what he can do for us. It is a “what have you done for me lately” attitude that we can develop. But as with the Capernaumites (I just made up that word), the picture is bigger. It is not just about what is God doing for me today in meeting my comfort needs. It might be to consider what God is doing in me as I endure through suffering. It might be that I need to consider about others beyond myself and my context who have greater needs. And it is surely about building THE KINGDOM and not just about my fiefdom. Be big. Think big.

(Something that won’t be as big or long will be the next set of devotionals over the busy Christmas season. We’ll get in, hit the big idea, and get out!)

Luke 4:38 – Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. 39 So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.

40 At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. 41 Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.

42 At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. 43 But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” 44 And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Have you ever been to a conference, seminar or convention with endless speakers in plenary and breakout sessions? On and on they go, and you feel almost like you need to go fake your own death to get away from it? But then one person speaks that suddenly catches everyone’s attention – a presenter with a commanding presence and content that makes more sense than everyone else combined. You are amazed.

That is how it was for the people who heard Jesus speak in the synagogues of Galilee. Years of speakers had droned on and on about biblical themes of Israel and the Messiah, maybe much of it even being the truth. But Jesus had a special presence and genuine authority about this speaking that left the people “amazed” – a very colorful Greek word that means to be essentially knocked out of your senses. We might say “blown away.”  Or use something like that great British word – “gobsmacked.”

The text today that speaks of this experience occurs in the city of Capernaum. This essentially became Jesus’ hometown and center of operation, having been rejected entirely in Nazareth. Capernaum was also the home of Peter and Andrew.

But to demonstrate that Jesus was more than just a great talker whose words had a ring of authority, miracles gave additional proof that he was the Christ, the Son of God. This miracle of casting out a demon is the first extraordinary event recorded by Luke. In total, it is the third of Jesus’ recorded miracles, the first two (water to wine / healing an official’s son) were recorded only in the book of John.

The demon knows exactly who Jesus is. Again, speaking of his “authority,” Luke records how Jesus drove the demon out of this man who was clearly possessed.

Throughout all of the gospel accounts, Jesus encountered many demons that he commanded to leave various people. The presence of demonically possessed people was apparently not rare in Israel at the time. That might strike we who live in the modern, western world as rather odd. In fact, it is not rare or unusual. Much of the rest of the world lives today in the midst of such oppression. I know more than a few missionaries who experience this on a regular basis, but who don’t talk that much about it on furloughs, knowing that the folks back here at home won’t understand their ministry context and receive these stories without skepticism.

It is not that there is less Satanic activity in our context and culture, it is rather that the Evil One is able to accomplish more in our modern day by subtle means than by overt operations. One of the primary descriptors of Satan is that he is the great deceiver. He operates often with the appearance of an angel of light, rather than of his true realm of darkness. Paul says we should not be surprised or unaware of his schemes.

This is all to say that we need Christ’s authority. We have that primarily in the completed Word of God. We have it through the resource of the Holy Spirit living within us and the authority that brings. Our need is to remain plugged into this power source and to not trust our own resources. In this way, our words and actions are not empty and vain, they are the stuff of authority from the kingdom of light.

Luke 4:31 – Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.

33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34 “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

35 “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.

36 All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!” 37 And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.

(This devotional failed to post on Tuesday as scheduled.)

Many years ago while making some remarks prior to a communion observance, I spoke something about the temptation of Christ and about the nature of Jesus as the divine Son. I phrased the question, “Was Jesus able to not sin, or was he not able to sin?”  One of the leading men of the church told me afterward that it caused his brain to go into academic ponderings to the extent that he actually lost focus on the communion time.

Yes, this passage about the temptations of Jesus has been one of the richer passages in terms of stimulating theological debate. If Jesus was perfect, though human, and not capable of sinning, what does that say about the genuine nature of the temptation?  I read where one writer said it this way, “Is it possible to attempt the impossible? Well, yes. A rowboat can attack a battleship.”

Though there is merit in theological debate that causes us to refine and delineate our thinking and depth of understanding, I often lose interest in such … even more as the years go by. And for the purposes of a devotional, let us move to the most salient point of them all, and that is to affirm that Jesus DID NOT sin. The purposes of the temptations were not to see if Jesus would fail, but to demonstrate that he did not sin and was thus qualified to be the Savior.

A strong point that is always made in consideration of this account is that Jesus responds to Satan by quoting Scripture and the timeless truths of God’s word and promises. The attacks of Satan are categorically predictable – both in this account of the life of Jesus, and as the Evil One would seek to cause our downfall.

Satan will attack at times of weakness, offering us simple satisfaction and easy pleasures that gratify quickly rather than by trusting the bigger, long-term plan of God for our lives. Our Heavenly Father wants us to trust him and to trust his promises given to us. It is interesting that the 40 days of temptation surely mirrored (even in the mind of Christ) the 40 years of wilderness wanderings for the nation of Israel. And the Scriptures that Jesus quote come from that very time of the nation’s history – about the manna God would give, about not putting God to the test by worshipping other objects, and by persevering to trust God to complete his word within his timeframe and in his way.

In application, let me recall one category of contemporary illustration where I have seen this principle at work over and over – positively for those who trusted and waited, but negatively for those who took matters into their own hands. It is the category of trusting God for his best and for his timing for a spouse. On so many occasions, I have watched as Christian young adults find themselves in a position of wanting to be married and moving on into family life, yet seeing time passing away without the revelation of that “other” person. In the pain, emptiness, loneliness and confusion, I have sadly seen more than a few succumb to methods or opportunities wherein they chose to handle things on their own and “settle” for a relationship that did not include a oneness of faith values. Much pain ensues. Yet also, I have joyfully witnessed more than a few who trusted God even over a period of years of murkiness and confusion, only to see God provide for them above and beyond their most ardent hopes and dreams.

God can be trusted – over long periods of seemingly vacuous time and through deep waters. His plans for us are all good, and those who wait for him will never be ultimately dissatisfied.

Luke 4:1 – Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’[Deut. 8:3]”

5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’[Deut. 6:13]”

9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’[Psalm 91:11,12]”

12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’[Deut. 6:16]”

13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Probably most of you know my pastoral ministry history and background, particularly since I reference experiences from it quite a bit. Beyond that, it is not a long list of places. After growing up in northwest New Jersey, I went to college in Philadelphia and seminary in Dallas. So merely a decade after graduating from high school, I was back in my small NJ hometown as a pastor for a period of 11 years before moving here to Maryland in 1994. One of my favorite wisecracks about those 11 years is to say that “I had more success in my hometown than Jesus did in his.”  No, the situations aren’t exactly apples to apples, I realize that.

To understand today’s passage we have to get back into the sandals of people living in Galilee at this time under Roman domination. For about 2,000 years there have been hopes and promises of a coming Messiah who will achieve wondrous blessing for the nation. The years came; the years went. Many claimed to be the guy; even more hoped that characters like John the Baptist could be the guy.

There is a saying about government right now that is much in vogue – the “swamp.”  Wherever you are on the political spectrum, the general pattern has been to have high hopes after elections, only to see nothing really change that much for the better, often because of the intrenched in the swamp. And so it was with the Jewish people of the time. All they could remember were squashed hopes of freedom and disappointments when nothing ever really transpired, in spite of the grand words of promise.

After his baptism, Jesus begins to teach in synagogues in Galilee. In a synagogue service there were readings from both the Law and the Prophets. After these, a speaker would teach to give the meaning of the passages. Jesus was doing this from place to place, and now he was in his hometown of Nazareth, appearing for the first time with a bit of a growing resume.

Luke 4:14 – Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.

Sometimes in the synagogue there were prescribed readings, as the Scriptures were broken down into sections so that they would all be covered in a given period of time. Or, on other occasions, the person to speak might also choose his own passage. It sounds like the latter happened here, though perhaps the prescribed reading for that day, by God’s sovereign plan, happened to be in Isaiah 61 (as we know the reference) …

Luke 4:16 – He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[Isaiah 61:1,2]

20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Whoa! Wow!  That’s it? How’s that for a sermon that gets right to the point! This passage anticipating the Messiah to come was at this moment being fulfilled in their presence and in their hearing by seeing and listening to the words of Jesus.

We need to understand that the meanings of some of these words and contexts have a double anticipation. Yes, Jesus would preach of serving the poor and would give sight to the physically blind (proving his divine authority), but beyond that were the spiritual fulfillments of those who were impoverished now being rich in grace and salvation, with those spiritually blind now able to see the truth of God’s grand work.

22 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.

There is a very mixed reaction. Without doubt, his preaching and authoritative proclamation was impressive. But nagging at the local crowd with equal or greater attention was the fact that he was the kid who grew up as the carpenter’s son in a very average setting. Jesus knew it was one thing to enjoy a great speaker, but quite another to make life changes of repentance and discipleship to follow him as the Christ …

23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”

24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Jesus knew they would largely reject the message and reject him. This would ultimately be true throughout Israel, but doubly true in his hometown. He reminds them of a time in the nation’s history that was the lowest of lows … in the era of Elijah and Elisha. The disbelief was so pervasive that miracles were only done in Gentile regions. For Jesus to apply this to the generation hearing his words was too much for them to hear – ridiculous ideas of them being condemned and Gentiles being privileged. Such a heretical teacher should be tossed off a cliff, even if he was a hometown boy. But Jesus was not yet to be sacrificed, and he by some miraculous manner walks right through them (I would love to go back in a time machine and see how that happened!).

The truth of the gospel message is the truth, then and now. The call to follow Jesus with all of one’s life reverberates to our day. Like the Nazarenes, we might enjoy the occasional great sermon, yet blow off the implications that call us to serious life change and discipleship. The window of time to respond is just that – a window, open now, but to be closed at some point, maybe soon.

2 Corinthians 6:1-2 – As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” [from Isaiah 49:8]  I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

The passage we reference today is one that I recall reading as a child and thinking it was the most ridiculous thing to have been included in the Scriptures. It is funny how some things change over the years, as this passage and the similar genealogy section from Matthew’s gospel are immensely interesting to me now years later.

Including today the opening two-verse summary of the baptism of Jesus, we have Luke giving us definition as to who Jesus is. He is first and foremost the divine Son of God. Beyond that, he is rightfully the heir to the Messianic title in that his lineage is fully Davidic and of the Abrahamic race. But beyond that, Luke – who is characteristically interested in demonstrating that Jesus is the Savior of the whole world – traces this lineage back to Adam.

So there are two family lines given to us in Matthew and Luke – one through Joseph and another through Mary. Chris Wiles yesterday in his message asked how many had used the Ancestry.com resource to do family history. I was one of those who raised a hand, having gotten much involved with that a few years ago as I tried to get a better mental handle on my mixed-up background. The end result was that I have two family trees – one through my biological mother and family of adoption, and another through my mostly previously unknown tree through the biological father I never met.

I have always said that doing such research may alternately reveal something very wonderfully fascinating, or it may reveal something dreadfully embarrassing in the skeletal closet of the family tree. I had the latter happen. Though I had the joy of connecting even personally with a cousin I never knew existed, I also found out that my great grandfather spent some time incarcerated in a federal prison for theft during his employment with the postal service. It seems that he learned his lesson and lived an honorable life after that, but I’ve never been able to push beyond him to his lineage – concluding that he was likely an orphan.

But I’m in good company with people who have some sap in their family tree! Jesus had some sketchy characters identified, particularly in Matthew’s version – prostitutes and folks with some serious life flaws. And the truth is that we all trace back to the same characters, particularly that fellow named Adam – the one whose failure caused the curse to fall upon us all. We are all condemned sinners as members of the same human family tree.

But the wonderful truth about Christ – about the whole celebration we commemorate at this season of the year – is that Jesus entered our family tree to pay the debt of the family curse. Having done so, he offers to us the opportunity of a new family tree, one that is spiritual and eternal. This is the family of the redeemed, the family of faith. It really is something worth celebrating!

Luke 3:21 – When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

23 Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melki, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josek, the son of Joda, 27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melki, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Kenan, 38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

I read today’s passage and think to myself that I must be doing this pastor/preacher thing all wrong. I’m just too nice!  Seeing this fellow John the Baptist, here is a guy who looks like someone competing on the Survivor show or a character from the cast of Alaska: The Last Frontier. He calls his audience a “brood of vipers,” yet multitudes of people flock to hear him preach. Maybe I need to kick up the nasty factor a few notches and embrace my aggressive New Jersey in-your-face heritage of communication a bit more!

What we have in our reading today is essentially Luke’s calling of the characters on the stage to get into their positions, while he as director calls “Action!”  Luke sets the stage by introducing some of the major players of that era in the political and religious fields of leadership …

Luke 3:1 – In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

This exact year is A.D. 29.  Tiberius was the ruler of the Roman Empire from A.D. 14 to A.D. 37.  Pontius Pilate ruled from A.D. 26 to A.D. 36, and this Herod is the famous Herod Antipas – ruling over Galilee from 4 B.C. to A.D. 39.  His brother Philip ruled to the east side of the Jordan from the same beginning point, but ending five years earlier in A.D. 34.  Not much is known about this Lysanias dude, who ruled out on the fringe of our story, beyond Damascus. Of the Jewish leaders, Annas had been high priest for nine years until A.D. 15, when the Romans dumped him. Though his son-in-law Caiaphas was placed in that position from A.D. 18-36, the people generally recognized Annas as the rightful high priest.

The action starts in this general timeframe with the ascendance of John the Baptist to public notice, being led by God to come out of his wilderness isolation and begin to preach his message of repentance as a preparation for the public ministry of the Messiah …

Luke 3:3 – He (John) went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. 5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. 6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’”

This is a quote from Isaiah 40:3-5 that anticipated the coming Messiah, and the gospels of Matthew and Mark also attribute this to John’s preparatory ministry about Jesus.  When visiting monarchs came from far places and crossed desert terrain, preparations were made to clear obstacles and make a smooth pathway of entrance for the coming king. This is what John was spiritually accomplishing. His preaching was becoming well-known and people came out from the towns and cities to hear his message …

Luke 3:7 – John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”

13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.

14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” 18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.

The idea of repentance is to agree about the truth of errant ways of life and then changing one’s life to demonstrate the inner conversion. A symbol of this was baptism: an outward act that spoke of an inner change of heart. The people could also prove their genuine change by the manner in which they lived and treated others. This was especially true of those who were privileged and could use authority to steal money by extra taxation (like Zacchaeus did) or to threaten with military power for extortion – there was no one for an oppressed victim to turn to when this happened.

There was a need in Israel for repentance; true faithfulness and biblical insight was more rare than common. Yet at the same time there was a great expectation of a coming Messiah, though this hope was for most people more of a political desire in terms of their difficult lives under Roman domination… more than it was a spiritual anticipation, as John and Jesus would preach.

So people wondered if John was this Messiah, but he makes it very clear that a greater one is soon coming behind him. John was merely the warm-up act in the show.

John’s message was indeed very bold and confrontational. Notice how Luke says it was for all nations, seeing also how even soldiers were coming to this truth. As well, it says that John, along with his hard message of truth, also exhorted the people in many other ways about what was indeed the good news.

19 But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, 20 Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.

Hey, scratch what I said at the beginning about more bold preaching! John’s ministry likely only lasted about a year or so, and then he was imprisoned for a couple of years before being beheaded. We’ll cover this in more detail in chapter 9 when we get to that point in late January.

The message and challenge of the gospel remains the same for us today. We may grieve our physical life conditions and wish for better circumstances, but the greater issue is actually a spiritual one. The matter of greatest importance is the condition of our hearts and our relationship with God through his son, Jesus Christ. And that is the greatest issue of concern we should have for others around us – our families, friends and associates. This is the true reality.

I know that I have at some point previously written in these devotionals about one of the more famous stories from the growing years of our family of boys. It was at a time when we only had the first three, and I would estimate that their ages at the time of this incident were about 6, 5 and 3.  It was at the evening feeding time (known as dinnertime to more sophisticated families) that the two older boys – Nathan and Benjamin – were being very, very bad at the table. I had warned them several times about their poor behavior when, at last, I just blew up on them. Following a severe verbal lashing that left them in quiet tears, a moment of dead silence followed. The air of heightened tension was at last broken when three-year-old Aaron just blurted out confidently, “I’m always a good boy!”  Diana and I couldn’t hold it together, we totally busted out laughing!

Though indeed a very good child as I recall, it was not however a definitive truth that he was ALWAYS a good boy. But there is one child in history who could make that assertion, and that was Jesus. Imagine being his brother and having to hear Mary and Joseph say, “Why can’t you be good like your older brother?”

We weren’t perfect parents either, although we never made the mistake of temporarily putting a child in a carrier on top of the car while settling everything and everyone else inside, and then driving away with a boy still on the roof.

We did however leave a child behind one time … yes, Aaron, when he was about age 5 or 6. We had been at a soccer game of an older boy, and by this time also had a fourth child. Diana and I had driven there separately, and then we each drove home, each thinking that Aaron was with the other. It was a while until we realized it was unusually quiet, at last also realizing that we had left him behind at the field.

Oh my! I got into the car and drove quickly to the sports complex (just a couple miles away) and pulled up to find Aaron there with only one couple who yet remained. They were saying to him, “Tell us again little boy where you live.”  You would think the kid would be glad to see me. But he just said, “Hi dad” and then joyfully continued on with the long story he was telling these people.

This same sort of mix-up happened with Mary and Joseph and Jesus in this lone biblical account we have of the childhood of Jesus. It involves a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover when Christ was age 12. This was a big deal for a family to make such a journey in ancient times, but many did. The roads would have been filled with pilgrims, surely many of them travelling together in groups. It was typical during these journeys that the older children would more likely be with the men, while the younger ones would be with the women.

After the festival, each thought he was either with the other or at least somewhere among the families and friends journeying home to Galilee. At the Holiday Inn on the first evening, he could not be found. So back to Jerusalem went the parents, searching for three days before finding him in the Temple. Jesus gives them a priceless answer as to what had happened. It’s a sort of “Duh” with an accompanied face-plant, “Why would you think I’d be anywhere but here?”

Over the years of church ministry in each place I have served, I have had that occasional precocious kid who is like “age 12 going on 40.”  Sometimes it is a child who is advanced in biblical understanding, or perhaps one who is way ahead of the game musically and in terms of interacting publicly. We’ve seen these kids; we have some of them!  But this must have been on an entirely different level, sitting in the temple with the religious teachers and leaders – listening and asking questions. Knowing how Jesus messed with them later in life with probing questions that had no answer, I could imagine even at age 12 there were interactions that were alternately amusing, deeply probing, and even annoying to be coming from a middle-schooler.

We may be a bit surprised at the reactions of Mary and Joseph. After all, they knew he was the Anointed One, the Messiah. But all of that divine, prophecy stuff had happened 12 years earlier. The picture I have of this is that there were no other big events to remind them of this over the intervening time. Think about something that happened at Christmas in 2005. How real is that to you today? This is not to say that they forgot or that they did not believe. Rather, I’m simply suspecting that their lives fell into 12 years of regular patterns of family life and making a living – building lots of chairs, cabinets, bedframes and animal troughs … having more children, etc.

We tend to think of the godly characters of Scripture as people who had an ongoing, daily conversation with God, experiencing miracles around them on a regular basis. In fact, prior to the Day of Pentecost, biblical characters did not necessarily have the Holy Spirit resident in them in the way we do. They did not have the completed Scriptures. Yes, there were great events in their lives, maybe even a series of them within the space of a couple of chapters. But between those big events were often many long years of silence where they had to live out their faith even in the absence of visible evidences and without the comfort of the indwelling Spirit.

For them, for us, this walk on earth is a long, faith walk in the same direction. As it says in Hebrews 11:1,2 — Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. It is like long-term investing. There are many days when “the markets of life” are not producing obvious gains. But the reward is there in the end for those who remain faithful.

Luke 2:39 – When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”  50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

I began yesterday by talking about the music of this Christmas season and how for me, as I’m sure for most of you, the songs of the holidays bring back memories of years gone by. Unlike any genre of music, I believe it is Christmas season music that has been the most creatively crafted and reworked over the ensuing decades. Traditional songs, both sacred and secular, are now recast with all sorts of new harmonies and musical styles that have more recently arisen – even to include unforeseen treatments like hip-hop, techno, or contemporary R&B.

As you can probably sense from my words, all of these arrangements bring out the music geek inside me. I’ll be listening to a creatively-arranged treatment of a classic Christmas tune, analyzing the harmonic progressions and expecting a certain direction, when, suddenly the composer throws in a twist that was totally unexpected.

The greatest of stories have such a flow. While copying the greatest story ever by going from “once upon a time” and ending with “and they lived happily ever after,” the best writing will take the reader upon a wild ride of ups and downs and twists and turns. And the nativity story is filled with such development.

Today we see the devout parents of Jesus performing the duties of their faith by observing the appropriate dedication rites and sacrifices in the temple. On any given day, there were surely dozens of other devout Jews doing the same thing. It was a place of great activity. But a couple of twists happen for Joseph and Mary in what would have been expected to be an in-and-out, quick experience.

First, they run into a pair of older saints who are divinely attuned to recognize exactly who this child and family is. Having been told in some fashion by the Lord that Simeon’s work on earth would not be done until he had seen the Messiah, it is revealed to him that this baby is indeed to be the long-awaited Christ. Anna, likely even older than Simeon (and anyone else nearby) is also aware of the significance of this moment. Together, for the purposes of Luke’s argument and gospel presentation, they are witnesses that collaborate the identity of Jesus from the very beginning.

Secondly, there is an unexpected comment in the midst of Simeon’s prophetic words. The scene is fully Jewish: Jewish people doing Jewish things in a Jewish place in fulfillment of Jewish prophecies over many centuries. And then Simeon comes out with, “… my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles…”   What? What’s this gentile/nations talk doing here at this moment? Again, harking back to our earlier sermon series this fall (The Other Side of the Tracks), God has the first and the biggest heart for all of the peoples of the world. Jesus is about more than just fulfilling Israel’s prophecy. Can I hear an “amen” from my readership?

Thirdly, this prophetic utterance and incarnational fulfillment is all about the victory that God is doing in the biggest picture of big pictures. Boom! This is the solution to everything that has gone wrong! Oh yes … victory to victory from this time forward, right?  Yes, that is the end of the story, but the process is going to be difficult. There will be conflicts that arise, grievous strivings … with results that will cut through the soul of the mother Mary like a sword. We still live with the battle raging.

But without doubt, the final victory is certain. Even amidst the tumult and strife, even in our own demise from the physical world, we can have peace and certainty that all ends well for eternity. And that is the ultimate peace we take from the season of peace … though hate is strong and mocks the song, the bells of Christendom peal loudly the truth that wrong shall fail and right prevail with peace on earth.

Luke 2:22-38 – When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”

33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

I am not sure there is another passage in Scripture that dredges up so much within me as does our passage today about the birth of Christ. I was just doing the math in my head, and it is now 48 years of Christmas programs and celebrations that I’ve been a part of since the first one when I was in 9^th grade. That year was a sort of coming-out season for me musically, as I was assigned one of the lead parts in the annual church Christmas cantata. My mother was thrilled … not sure about everyone else.

One thing led to another, and in college I was singing lead parts in Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio along with the school’s orchestra. Next it was directing such programs at our large Dallas church. Then it was on to other Christmas concerts in New Jersey, TSF Christmas shows, etc.

All of these programs have lyrics drawn extensively from this Luke 2 nativity passage. Simply reading through it sets off a cacophony of melodies in my mind like a jukebox gone haywire! As I write this, the contrapuntal harmonies and flowing lines of Handel’s chorus “Glory to God” are pounding through my brain.

Beyond the accumulation of songs, there is also the mental pile-up of decades of sermons preached on this passage. Within them I’ve gone deeply into the Roman decrees for taxation, the travel complications these demands wrought for Joseph and Mary, the awkward nature of their betrothal situation, the stellar character each displayed, the outcast Bethlehem shepherds who raised the sheep for sacrifice in the temple, and the splendor of the angelic hosts … to name a few themes. I shamefully confess to growing weary of these rehearsals, and I project upon the hearers a weariness that in fact may not be there(?).

But at the end of the day, at the end of another Christmas season, I do walk away most especially blessed by one major theme – the simplicity of the people God chose, both to do His work and to hear of it. The stars of this story are not the elite of the world in places of power, nor were they the religious leadership mega-stars of that time. Rather, God used simple people like Joseph and Mary, announcing the news also to those among the most socially outcast of society – the shepherds.

At a time in history where ordinary church folks in Hagerstown can feel rather far down the ladder of life, being a part of the odious Christian faith that is so out of favor near and far, there is comfort in this story. Our faith is bolstered by the realization that it has always been true that such commonplace folks as ourselves have always been the target to receive this truth. And at this juncture the tune rings again through the jukebox of the mind that “to meek souls who receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.”

Luke 2:1 – In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.

4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

I really love my primary care doctor, not that I see him that often. We’re about the same age and we seem to have hit off a nice, jovial friendship. He really is a chatty fellow. You never feel like you’re being rushed along so that he can get to the next patient. The problem with this is that he was probably this same affable fellow with the three or four patients prior to me. Therefore, I’m always deep into extra innings of waiting for him to show up. First is the long time in the outside waiting room. Then you get your name called with an escort into an examination room (giving you hope). After a while, the door opens, but it is just a clerical person reviewing your information. Some time later the door opens again, but this time it is a nurse who is just getting some vital readings and that sort of thing. Finally, after a long, long time, the doctor himself arrives. But he’s so nice that he makes it worth the wait (even though I’m calling back to the office to postpone my appointments).

That is nutshell of what it was like for the godly people in Israel during the intertestamental period as they anticipated the coming of the Messiah. His coming had been foretold over many centuries. The “door would crack open” from time to time as other prophetic voices and religious leaders would come upon the scene. Though helpful and encouraging, none proved to be the long-promised Messiah.

In the meantime, there was national sickness and suffering. The political situation was really, really bad. The Holy Land was dominated by oft-despotic and cruel gentile rulers. Faith said, “Wait for it; wait for it; he is coming.”  But that was difficult to do.

As a priest, Zechariah was one who had high hopes and Old Testament-based expectations of a Messiah. He surely was a voice within the nation to call the people toward sustaining hope in the depths of darkness. And now, unexpectedly, of all people, he was filled with the Spirit and given insight as to the fulfillment of this work of God. It was indeed about to happen, and his son was to be an integral part of the public preparation and presentation of God’s work.

With his voice now returned, Zechariah is filled with the Holy Spirit and breaks into prophetic praise. There are at least 15 allusions to OT prophecies and statements in this passage.

The first paragraph speaks of the horn (an allusion to strength) that is being raised up in the coming of the Messiah to the family of David. This would mean both spiritual salvation for God’s people, as well as national salvation from the enemies and oppressors of Israel.

The second paragraph anticipates the role that John would play. He would go before the Lord Jesus to prepare the hearts of the people for his coming, pointing to Christ as the One to follow. It would truly be like light in the darkness … like the doctor finally arriving!

A final sentence from Luke in verse 80 speaks of the way John spent time in the wilderness for his own preparation for the part he would play. Though this seems a bit weird to us, in that time it would remind the people of the great prophet Elijah – one who was said to, in some form, return before the day of the Lord and the coming of Messiah.

Just because the Messiah in Israel did not come as quickly as many anticipated did not mean that God was delayed in His plans and schedule. We may wonder why Jesus seems to linger and not return as promised to mend our broken world. Beyond that, much of our lives are spent in waiting for God to do this or that work in or through us. But God is always on schedule. We can never look back and say that God failed to show up. We can trust Him and trust His schedule – to fulfill His work of the ages, and to do His complete work in and through us.

Luke 1:67 – His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: 68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.

69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), 71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—72 to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham: 74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.