Young Jesus

LUKE — LESSON 3

Scriptures for this lesson are taken from Luke 2, Luke 3, Matthew 3.

In lesson 2 we studied about the birth of Jesus, His birth announced by the angel and the shepherds visit to the manger in Bethlehem to worship Him. When He was taken to the temple to be circumcised and named, Simeon and Anna, who were very old were there to see the Messiah before they died. Then the scripture tells us that Jesus grew up in the Galilean town of Nazareth.

[Luke 2:41-50] (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.

This is a very interesting passage. First, you wonder why parents of a 12 year old boy would not miss him for a whole day. There were many thousands of people who would flood into Jerusalem from all over that part of the world for Passover. The roads were very crowded with people on foot, some riding donkeys or camels or in carts. Jesus’s family would have been heading north from Jerusalem going back to Nazareth. The distance is about 100 miles so it would take several days to make the trip. As children will, I am sure that the older kids, especially boys would get together with cousins and friends and walk and play along as they traveled. When they stopped for the night the families would get together for their evening meal and to rest and sleep. This would have been the time when they realized that Jesus was missing. Mary and Joseph must have been very worried and frustrated to have to go back to Jerusalem after traveling a whole day, probably 10 or 15 miles on their journey. It took them three days searching in the city before they found him in the temple. This passage gives us a good picture of Jesus as a man and as God. He was a human person who started as a tiny baby. At this stage he was old enough to begin to understand what His purpose was, His ministry, that He was the son of God. The Spirit of God was inside Him guiding and teaching Him as He grew into manhood.

[Luke 2:51-52] (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.

Mary kept storing away in her mind all the things that Jesus did and the things that people told her about Jesus from the time He was born and the angels announced His birth. Through the years that Jesus was growing up, Mary and Joseph must have seen that He was different from their other children. I am sure that Mary never heard, “don’t look at me, I didn’t do it,” from Jesus. There must have been much more than is told in the gospels. It makes you wonder how much Mary really understood. I am sure she did not understand that Jesus would die on a cross. As Jesus grew up, he was filled with wisdom and was liked by men and He pleased God in His daily life.

[Luke 3:1-2] (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.

In these first two verses, Luke names the rulers in power and their areas of authority in and around the Holy Land. Tiberius Caesar was the ruler of the Roman Empire. The date is 26-28 AD. When Herod the Great died, his kingdom was divided among his four sons; Herod Antipas, Phillip, Archaleus and Lysanias. Archaleus died and his territory was given to Pontius Pilate who governed Judea and Samaria. Phillip governed Iturea and Trachonitus, Lysanius governed Abilene and Herod Antipas governed Galilee and Perea. These men were the Roman rulers when John the Baptist and Jesus began their ministries.

Annas and Caiaphas are both listed as High Priests by Luke. Annas was the man of power. He was first appointed as High Priest by the Roman governor in 7 AD and later removed. But his 4 sons and his son-in-law Caiaphas held the office after him. However, Annas was in control. The High Priest was the head of the Sanhedrin which was the ruling body of the Jews. As long as there was no trouble, Rome allowed them to rule, except they could not sentence anyone to death.

[Luke 3:3-9] (3) He 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 desert, 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.” (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.”

John’s message for Israel was “Repent and be baptized so your sins can be forgiven. Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. If you were a Jew at that time, these would be strange words for you. When a gentile wanted to profess the Jewish faith, they had to be circumcised if male, offer sacrifice to show repentance and dedication to God, be baptized for cleansing. But Jews were born sons of Abraham and considered themselves righteous because of their lineage. For John to say a Jew had to be baptized was something new for them. All men have sinned, all must repent of their sins, and all must be forgiven.

Remember, at that time the Old Covenant law was still in effect. John’s baptism symbolized cleansing. The ordinances of the New Covenant had not been established yet. As prophesied by Isaiah, John was the voice calling in the wilderness to prepare the way for the Messiah, make the roads straight and smooth. It was the custom in that time to prepare the road if a king or high official was coming to town. They would clear the rocks out of the road and straighten it so their entry would be easy. John is saying: “Your king is coming; prepare the road.”

Crowds came to John to be baptized. He called them vipers, snakes. Their coming for baptism was like a snake running from a fire, but it was still a snake. By being baptized they were trying to prevent judgment but they had no change of heart.

[Luke 3:10-14] (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?” 913) “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.”

So they are asking what they should do to prevent judgment if baptism was not enough. John’s answer was to share what they had, give to those in need and be fair in dealing with others. In other words, “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Baptism is an outward sign of an inward change. They needed a change of heart.

[Luke 3:15-18] (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.

John was very humble acknowledging that Jesus was much greater than he. John baptized with earthly water to symbolize cleansing by God, but Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit which would actually cleanse men’s souls. Jesus was both Savior and judge. He would baptize with the Holy Spirit for salvation and with fire for judgment that would come for all who do not believe in Him.

Verse 17 is a picture of judgment. It illustrates a threshing floor. The wheat would be smashed and thrown in the air, the chaff would blow away and the wheat seeds would fall to the floor. The wheat was stored away and the chaff was burned. The wheat represents the righteous and the chaff the unrighteous doomed for judgment.

[Luke 3:19-20] (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.

Herod Antipas imprisoned John the Baptist at a place believed to be Machaerus. John had been speaking against Herod Antipas because he had married his brother, Phillip’s wife, Herodias, who was also his niece. John publicly criticized Herod and Herodias because Leviratical law forbad a man to marry his brother’s wife unless it was a Levirate marriage for the purpose of raising a son in the dead brother’s name. So, Herod had John put in prison to shut him up.

Now we come to the baptism of Jesus. We will look at the scriptures provided by Matthew and by Luke.

[Matthew 3:13-17] Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this in fulfill all righteousness,” Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

[Luke 3:21-22] When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 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.”

John was reluctant to baptize Jesus. He felt that Jesus needed to baptize him. John’s baptism was Old Covenant that represented cleansing for sin but Jesus had no sin. So the question is, why did Jesus need to be baptized? He said it was to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus was about to begin His public ministry and His baptism was related to His mission as prophet, Great High Priest and King. According to the law regarding priests, when they were about 30 years old they had to be consecrated before they could begin to serve as a priest. In order to be consecrated, they first had to be washed or baptized and then anointed. So Jesus was fulfilling the Levitical Law for priests and He now serves as our Great High Priest who shed His own blood as the sacrifice for our sins and He offers our prayers to God the Father. Under the New Covenant, Jesus’ baptism is an example and an ordinance of what we are supposed to do as Christians. Our baptism is an out ward witness to others that we have accepted Christ as our Savior.

Following his description of Jesus’s baptism, Luke gives Jesus’ genealogy showing that He was a descendant of King David from the line of Judah which is a fulfillment of Old Covenant prophecy for the Messiah. Luke has shown that Jesus followed the Old Covenant Law to be a priest and His genealogy fulfills the Law to be the Messiah.

The genealogy that Luke gives differs from the one told by Matthew in that Luke shows the lineage from Joseph to God and Matthew show it from Abraham to Joseph. Both genealogies show that Jesus descended from David and the line of Judah, but Matthew shows that Jesus descended through Solomon the son of David and Luke shows Nathan the son of David. There are varying views about these differences. The simplest and most likely view is that Matthew gives the line of Joseph and Luke gives the line of Mary, Jesus’ mother.

Lessons for us from Luke chapter 3:

1. Being baptized and joining a church in not a ticket into heaven. Salvation requires repentance and a change of heart.

2. John the Baptist’s ministry was to prepare the hearts of the people of Israel for the coming of their Messiah. It is our ministry today to reach out to the lost and prepare the people for Jesus’ coming again.

3. Christians who have a changed heart will care about the lost, minister to those less fortunate and treat everyone fairly.

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