RTNT 2021. Jesus’ baptism is one item that is covered in all four gospels, as I noted back in 2019. In setting the readings for this chronological study I have tried to keep chapters “together” as much as possible, again essentially doubling up the number of verses this year that we covered in 2019. Back then we split today’s reading into John’s baptism ministry and Jesus’ baptism on different days. So 2019’s two incidents are split into two dates, January 16 and January 20. See below.

I’ve always been struck by the three members of the Trinity all “showing up” at Jesus’ baptism – Jesus as His earthly self, the Holy Spirit “…descending like a dove and coming to rest” (v. 16b) on Jesus, and the Father speaking This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. (v. 17) They fit perfectly into Michael’s sermon today – the Water (Jesus and Baptism), the Word (the Father speaking), and the Holy Spirit appearing. It is not often – but also not uncommon – for the readings or the sermon at church on Sunday morning to also coincide with exactly what we are or have been or will be reading. That’s a double blessing when it happens!

See also January 16 / Matthew 3:1-12; January 20 / Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11

Luke 2:39-52

I would encourage you to read my 2019 post at the link below (with pictures!) before you read today’s comments. My earlier comments offer some real insights that Carol and I gained from a visit to Turkey a few years back.

His parents did not know it, but supposing Him to be in the group… (vv. 43b-44a) Jesus was not with Mary and Joseph as they traveled back toward Nazareth, but his parents seemed mostly unconcerned. It would have been common for Mary and Joseph to be traveling in a larger caravan with other people headed north to Galilee. It used to be that I imagined Mary and Joseph traveling separately, Mary with other women and Joseph with the men, and each imagining that Jesus was with the other. But this morning I thought otherwise – if Jesus was a “typical” 12-year-old maybe he wanted to be with his friends (or maybe with a friend’s family). So Mary and Joseph expected that he was in the larger group, hanging out with a friend and they continued their northward journey until the caravan’s first-night’s stop.

So, was Jesus a ”typical” 12-year-old…?? Maybe. Maybe not, depending on your view of 12-year-olds back then. But Luke gives us one verse that tells of Jesus as a model 12-year-old: And He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. (v. 51a) Yes, a model 12-year-old…!!

See also January 15 / Luke 2:41-52 from 2019.

Matthew 2:1-23

RTNT 2021. When RTB read the Gospels in 2019 the readings were, on average, about half the length that we have this year (since we’re covering twice as much material this year). So today’s readings in 2019 were split over three days and I wrote fairly extensive comments over those three days, which I have linked below. But I had one additional thought to share. Both Moses and Jesus “delivered” their people – Moses delivered the Jews from the Egyptians and Jesus delivered all humankind from sin. But Moses and Jesus also had similar beginnings. Moses was saved by his mother and Pharaoh’s daughter from Pharaoh’s slaughter of all newborn males and Jesus was saved by a warning to Joseph in a dream from Herod’s slaughter of the “Holy Innocents”. These two “deliverers” who were saved at birth became salvation for their people.

From 2019: January 12 / Matt. 2:1-12; January 13 / Matt. 2:13-21; January 14 / Matt. 2:22-23; Luke 2:39-40

Luke 2:21-38

RTNT 2021. …a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel. (v. 32) My NASB Study Bible had six references from Isaiah to the (emboldened) first half of this verse: Isaiah 9:6; 42:6; 49:6,9; 51:4; 60:1-3; plus references to Matthew 4:16 and Acts 13:47; 26:23. I have often heard that Matthew’s Gospel was written for the Jews and that Luke was writing to a larger audience that included both Jews and Gentiles. The last half of his second book, the Acts of the Apostles is almost entirely about Paul’s missionary work among the Gentiles. At least twice Luke quotes Paul as saying, “…from now on I will go to the Gentiles” or words to that effect (Acts 13:46; 18:6). With the verse cited above Luke highlights early in his Gospel his focus on Jesus’ outreach beyond the Jews. We continue to be the beneficiaries today of Luke’s focus way back then!

See also: January 11 / Luke 2:21-38 from 2019.

Luke 2:1-20

RTNT 2021. I’m always fascinated by geography, and in the Bible I’m especially intrigued by the geography of Judea and Samaria. So today we read And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David… (v. 4). From early on I’ve taken notice of the simple word “up”, as in Joseph also went up… Our North American geography has us going “up” to the north and going “down” to the south (e.g., the common phrase “down south”). But Jerusalem and Bethlehem are some 80-120 miles south of Nazareth. Joseph and Mary were headed “up” south. The wording seems strange, but the Biblical writers were talking topography, not direction.

See the map below. Nazareth was located in the foothills of Galilee while Jerusalem and Bethlehem were located in the higher hills of Judea, specifically within the land of the tribe of Judah, about half-a-mile above sea level. Most Nazareth residents (Galilean Jews) would first go south from Nazareth, then east to the Jordan River valley to Jericho, avoiding the land of the Samaritans. They would then begin the climb into the hills of Jerusalem – with Joseph and Mary continuing their hill-country journey on to Bethlehem. So Joseph went “up”, speaking topographically.

Keep this map in mind for later when we see Jesus traveling through the heart of Samaria on His way to Jerusalem instead of following the Jordan River valley.

As usual, the link to my comments from 2019 is below. Please add your own comments!

Blessings!

See also the January 10, 2019 post.

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Matthew 1:1-25

RTNT 2021. Evidently I spent quite a bit of time looking at genealogies two years ago and learned a lot. See the January 8, 2019 post. The biggest item is David’s succession running through Solomon (Matthew) or his other son, Nathan (Luke). With that split you can get two very different and legitimate ancestries for Jesus’ birth.

And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. (v. 19) The Chronological Study Bible had a long note about this last section (today’s last eight verses). They made one point that was meaningful. They talked about “a culture that was obsessed with shame and honor”. And Joseph has to deal with that for both Mary and himself. He could shame Mary by divorcing her publicly or he could shame himself by claiming premarital relations. Neither way was good. Thankfully God interceded directly with him, sending an angel to quiet his spirit. I wonder how often God has quieted our own troubled spirits with a word from a friend or an unexpected event that turns things around for us. We need to be more aware of those “glory sightings” in our lives!

See also: January 8 / Matt. 1:1-17 and January 9 / Matt. 1:18-25 from 2019.

Luke 1:57-80

RTNT 2021. I note below that in 2019 I really saw the distinction in Zacharias’ prayer between his prophecies for Jesus (Luke 1:68-75) and John (Luke 1:76-79). But today in his prophecy concerning Jesus verses 74 and 75 stuck out: …that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. Zacharias probably had in mind the same Messiah that most Jews expected, a powerful ruler who would overthrow Roman rule and re-establish Jewish sovereignty as it was in the days of David and Solomon. Little did they know that the Messiah’s deliverance would be much more complete than just a simple political deliverance, but that it would free each and every one of us from the bondage of sin – a much greater power over them (and us) than any Roman or other political rule. Jesus’ deliverance was/is so complete and we have only to accept it; the work is done – let us rejoice and be glad in it!

See also: January 6 / Luke 1:57-66 and January 7 / Luke 1:67-80 from 2019.

Luke 1:26-56

Slow to post today – we had our granddaughter overnight and her morning routine overwhelmed my morning activities!

And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you… (v. 35a) What struck me most was the last half of what I quoted, the power of the Most High will overshadow you. I’m thinking of our COVID world and the “power of the Most High”. I know that the Lord God is powerful enough to overwhelm COVID wherever it is and however He chooses, granting healing to us either individually or globally. Seemingly He has chosen not to interfere on a global scale, except perhaps in the research of the scientists and pharmacists who have developed vaccines against COVID. But we all know that He is with us in this pandemic – He knows what’s going on and He wants to work through us to speak to a broken world. Christianity needs to come out of this pandemic stronger than ever – it’s the opportunity we have before us!

Elizabeth speaking: And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. (v. 45) Here, the first few words instead of the last few (as above), And blessed is she who believed… Jesus said the same thing when speaking with “Doubting Thomas”: Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. We are blessed when we believe, especially when we believe what we cannot see. Those of us who are reading this post are among those who have not seen and yet have believed. It’s “Glory Sighting” Sunday at St. Andrew’s. Rejoice in your personal “glory sighting” of knowing Jesus!

See also: January 4 / Luke 1:26-38 and January 5 / Luke 1:39-56 from 2019.

Luke 1:1-25

In two consecutive verses, we see two different ministries for John the Baptist: And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah… to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. (vv. 16-17) He was ministering directly to the people who came to the Jordan to hear him and be baptized and he was a forerunner for Jesus, in the spirit and power of Elijah. Essentially, for the people coming to him, he was telling them to look inside themselves (repentance) and to look beyond themselves (to Jesus). It’s what we do every time we have an opportunity to share Jesus with someone – or more commonly, David in the pulpit. He asks his listeners to look inside themselves and then to look beyond themselves, to Jesus. That seems to me a good everyday plan for each of us – to look inside and to look beyond.

See also: January 2 / Luke 1:1-4 and January 3 / Luke 1:5-25 from 2019.

John 1:1-18

Happy New Year, folks! And what a year it’ll be! It’ll be whatever He makes it for us, so long as we walk hand-in-hand with Him. Glory!

So today, a new year, a new goal – reading through the New Testament, chronologically, in short spurts, 20 to 25 verses per day. A few minutes to read and more time to reflect, to pick out that one (or more) verse(s) that struck you, that one truth you hadn’t seen before, what our pastor David has said, “Notice what you notice”.

So what did I notice today? Two things… First, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us… (v. 14a) Having just gone through the Christmas season, the Incarnation, and reflecting on that – that Jesus, the Incarnate Word left His heavenly home and became man and lived fully within our sphere. That very thought just grabs me! What a step-down, all for love of us…! And the second thing that I saw was verse 17, For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Those of us in RTB last year just finished reading through the Epistles, also chronologically, such that Hebrews was one of the last books we read, just finishing it in mid-December. And the author of Hebrews spent a lot of time talking about Moses and the Law and contrasting them with Jesus. So we’re coming full circle here – what we just read last year is being reinforced this year. Again, Glory!

Looking forward to many of you sharing whatever strikes you, blessing all the rest of us…!

Have a blessed year!

See also: January 1 / John 1:1-18 from 2019.