Matthew 4:1-11

RTNT 2021. Today’s first verse struck me: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. These few words, “…was led by the Spirit … to be tempted…”. It’s always a challenge to think of Jesus’ humanity up against His deity. What did He leave behind to become man? What did He retain? I guess I’ve long believed that He had no special Godly powers, but that everything “miraculous” that He did, He did through the Holy Spirit working through Him. And that in His prayer time He spoke to the Father and the Spirit and they to Him, not unlike we are able to do. So I see Him separated from the Father and the Spirit and not privy to their conversations. With all that, today’s verse suggests that the Father and the Spirit thought it best that Jesus be tempted as a human – something of which Jesus was unaware until prompted in His prayer time. So He obeyed and we all benefit from that: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15) Thank you, Jesus.

See also: January 23 (2019) / Matthew 4:1-11

RTNT 2021. Genealogies. I can’t trace my genealogy back any further than one set of great-grandparents on my mother’s side. But evidently it was important to the Old Testament Jews who were looking for their Messiah. So it’s not surprising that Luke (the historian) has a full line of Jesus’ ancestors, 35 more generations than Matthew. I commented below on items that I noticed two years ago. Today was one different item, “…as was supposed” in verse 23. Both the ESV and the NASB have that phrase set off from the rest of the sentence by commas (NASB) and by parentheses (ESV). Luke wrote of the virgin birth (Luke 1:34) so he knew that Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father. But presumably the townspeople in Nazareth did not know the full story and saw Joseph as Jesus’ father when the family returned to Nazareth. So they “supposed” Joseph to be the father.

I keep reading and hearing about Matthew tracing Jesus’ lineage through Joseph while Luke traces his ancestors through Mary. But in verse 23 Luke clearly names Joseph as the “supposed” father. I don’t know how Biblical scholars can make that Mary-ancestry argument.

See also:

• January 21 (2019) / Luke 3:21-22; John 1:29-34
• January 22 (2019) / Luke 3:23-38

John 1:19-34

RTNT 2021. Today, John’s account of John the Baptist’s ministry and Jesus’ baptism. John the Baptist tells his listeners (very likely, even those sent by the Pharisees) that He has been in communion with the Living God: I myself did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ (v. 33) So God Himself has sent John to baptize, with explicit guidance as to why he was baptizing and when he would know the Messiah. This little bit of information puts John the Baptist in a totally different light – he has been sent from God to do what he is doing. I guess we already knew that, but to hear the Baptist’s personal proclamation of this fact strengthens his witness.

My Study Bible offered an interesting observation – the Jews who had been sent from the Pharisees were asking John the Baptist about himself, but he kept answering about Jesus. I just realized that all too often my testimony is more about me than about Jesus – more about events in my life that led me to the Lord or strengthened my faith than testimony about who Jesus is or what He has done. Clearly I need to focus more on Jesus as I share with non-believers.

See also:

• January 19 (2019) / John 1:19-28
• January 21 (2019) / Luke 3:21-22; John 1:29-34

Luke 3:1-20

RTNT 2021. Today is the third day, our third gospel of introducing John the Baptist. Yesterday I commented how Mark introduced John the Baptist as “He appeared…”. Luke is quite different!! No more on that – see my first comment in the link below.

Initially John gives the people two directives: Bear fruit… (v. 8a) and don’t justify yourself as Abraham’s children (v. 8b). Then after a few verses he adds to his first directive. First the crowds ask and he tells them to share with those in need (v. 11). Then the politicians ask (see my second note in the link below) and he tells them not to act corruptly (v. 13). Then the military personnel ask and he warns them against the undue use of force/violence (v. 14). Written almost two thousand years ago, John the Baptist still has words for us today.

Verse 18 adds a bit of irony to John’s comments – ironic humor, actually. After he talks about burning chaff with unquenchable fire Luke writes, So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. (v. 18) Unquenchable fire? Exhortations? Good news…??!! Yes, good news. The good news is back in verse 16: I baptize you with water, but He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Good news, indeed!

See also: January 18 (2019) / Luke 3:1-18

Mark 1:1-13

RTNT 2021. Today’s reading was broken into three parts in 2019 – January 17, 20, and 24, covering, respectively, John the Baptist, Jesus’ baptism, and Jesus in the wilderness. See below.

Four things struck me today – an unusual number! First, in verse 5, And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Mark is clearly overstating his point here – clearly not ALL the people of Judea and Jerusalem were coming to John to be baptized. We saw yesterday that Matthew had harsh words for the Pharisees and Sadducees; more likely they were coming to watch, to spy on John, not to repent!

Second, in verse 8 John says I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. There were a number of cleansing rituals with water in Jewish customs and John clearly knows this. However, he is taking their cleansing rituals one step further, telling them that there is another baptism ahead for them, a baptism of the Holy Spirit, which only “the One coming after him” can accomplish.

Third, in verse 10, And when He came up out of the water, immediately HE saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. (NOTE: The NASB translation (my favorite) always capitalizes deific pronouns while the ESV does not; my quotes are from the ESV unless otherwise noted, but I tend to “correct” the lower-case pronouns in the ESV.) The HE pronoun that I have emboldened above could refer either to Jesus or to John. I’ve always imagined that pronoun referring to John, but today I noticed it capitalized in my NASB Bible. And what a difference it makes, if it is actually JESUS who sees the Spirit descending on Himself – that He now knows that His time has come. Intriguing. However, I think that pronoun is speaking of John, not Jesus. Still, it’s ambiguous and intriguing.

Finally, And a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.” (v. 11) Here we have God the Father speaking in the second person directly to Jesus. Luke has it the same way, but Matthew has what is more familiar to me, This is My beloved Son… (Matthew 3:17), speaking in the third person of Jesus. Again how different it would have been for Jesus whether His Father is speaking directly TO Him or OF Him. Beyond intriguing…!!

See also:

• January 17 (2019) / Mark 1:1-8
• January 20 (2019) / Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11
• January 24 (2019) / Mark 1:12-13

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 (2019) / Matthew 3:1-12
• January 20 (2019) / 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 (2019) / Luke 2:41-52

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.

See also:

• January 12 (2019) / Matt. 2:1-12
• January 13 (2019) / Matt. 2:13-21
• January 14 (2019) / 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 (2019) / Luke 2:21-38

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: January 10 (2019) / Luke 2:1-20

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