besquared.org Blog

Today’s Text

Luke introduces us to the adult Jesus with understated simplicity. When everybody else was coming, Jesus came too. He came for the baptism of repentance. Of course he was not repenting from his sins, but this baptism certainly represents a turning point. He turns from quiet carpentry to bold ministry.

And while praying something utterly different happens. We have just learned that John is the final in a long line of great prophets, but now we see that Jesus is something the world has never seen. He is the very son of God. I wonder to what degree we should connect this event with the temple scene. In that scene, Jesus calls the temple, “My Father’s house.” so he clearly knew something about his unusual birth. But then Luke says he grew in wisdom, so he clearly did not know everything. So in this scene when he hears the voice from heaven, is it news, or just confirmation? Is the voice for Jesus or for John?

What is clear is what Luke wants the reader to learn. Luke wants us to notice that this Jesus is not the Christ anyone expected. He is not merely the Jewish Messiah. He is the Son of God. Even Luke’s genealogy focus’s on Jesus descent form Adam and God not from Abraham. Luke wants us to see that Jesus os connected to the whole human race and is here for all people. We have already noticed this a strong theme in the songs of chapter one. Modern readers often miss this difference because we are focused on the more recent genealogy. Because this can be distracting – even though I don’t think that it is Luke’s main point – I will comment on it briefly.

If you compare the line from Solomon to Joseph in Matthew you will see that they are completely different. This can be pretty confusing. It is almost certain that Luke is giving Mary’s genealogy and Matthew is giving Joseph’s. Bizarrely enough is was common then to give a womens genealogy by naming their husband. So if we were giving this list we would start by saying, “the son-in-law of Heli.” We can’t be certain of this but I think that it is a pretty reasonable conclusion. If you are interested in reading more about this you can check this out. [I will warn you that much of the rest of this site is wacky so don't browse it and trust what you are reading. But on this one issue they present a pretty reasonable perspective - even if I don't agree with every detail.]

But Luke’s concern is not Mary’s genealogy vs. Joseph’s. [Although it is in keeping with his concern for women and historical accuracy that he would trace her line instead of his.] His focus is Jesus as one with the whole human race because he is a son of Adam, but also someone very different because he is the son of God is a new and unique way.

One thing to ponder. Read the words that God’s says to Jesus at his baptism. It is cool to me that at my baptism, those words became true of me as well.

-Ethan

We get to meet Satan next. Cool Huh!