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Luke’s Gospel Lesson 9 (2009)

THE MAN WHO IS GOD

Luke 3:21-38
Key Verse: 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.’”

This coming Tuesday, January 20th, 2009, president-elect Barack Obama will be inaugurated as the nation’s 44th present at the United States Capitol in Washington D.C. Before entering the office of the presidency, the new president will be making the oath with the Chief Justice of the United States, saying “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help me God.” This particular inauguration is considered as an historic event not just because he will be the first black president, but because of people’s great expectations for his presidency in the face of the failing economy and wars in the Middle East. There is enormous attention being paid to this event throughout the nation and the world. Afterwards, people will watch how he executes his leadership during the next four years. We ought to pray for our new president.

In today’s passage, Luke briefly narrates Jesus’ inauguration ceremony at the time of his baptism by the Jordan River (21-22). He also gives a long list of Jesus’ ancestry. (23-38). In fact, this section is one of the most controversial parts in the New Testament because the information we get here seems to conflict with the information in Matthew’s gospel. Did one of them make mistakes? No. The differences actually are not conflicting but complementing each other. Luke the evangelist and historian purposely gave this different information to his audience to show who Jesus really is. According to Luke, Jesus is the man who is God. In fact, through the baptism and genealogy of Jesus, we can learn many things about Jesus. We will think basically about two things, what kind of Messiah Jesus is and how he is related to each of us and to all of humanity.

First, the baptism of Jesus (21-22)

John’s ministry, which is the baptism of repentance, was phenomenal. Many people wondered if he might possibly be the Messiah. Yet, John’s ministry ended quickly because his stern words about the sin of Herod Antipas led to his arrest and imprisonment. John probably began his ministry in A.D. 29 and died in prison in A.D. 32. His ministry was short but great because it introduced Jesus as the Messiah to the people of Israel. Later on, Jesus praised him by saying, “I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John…” (7:28) In verses 21-22, Luke introduces Jesus’ baptism which was the climax of John’s ministry.

Look at verses 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 the bodily form of a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” We might ask why Jesus came to be baptized by John. Wasn’t John’s baptism for the forgiveness of sins? If Jesus was sinless, why did he need to be baptized? As Matthew described, John needed to be baptized by Jesus, not the other way around. (Mt 3:12-15) Matthew says that Jesus was baptized by John so that all righteousness may be fulfilled. What does it mean to fulfill all righteousness? It means that God sent Jesus His Son in the likeness of sinful man so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in him and those who believe in him may have the righteousness of God. But Luke didn’t explain these things.

Instead, Luke’s description of Jesus’ baptism was very simple and different from that of Matthew and Mark. Luke omitted some of the details about the actual baptism. However, Luke mentioned some information that Matthew and Mark didn’t. For example, Luke was the only one who mentioned that heaven was opened while Jesus was praying. Luke had a special interest in Jesus’ prayer life. He showed Jesus praying at all the crucial turning points of his life and ministry, beginning with his baptism, choosing the twelve (6:12), at Peter’ confession of Christ (9:18), at the mount of transfiguration (9:28) in the Garden of Gethsemane (22: 41) and on the cross (23:34).

What does Jesus’ prayer reveal about him? We often wonder that if Jesus were God, why did he need to pray? Isn’t Jesus attuned to the will of God the Father? Why then bother to pray? What would Jesus have prayed at this time of baptism? It’s a difficult question to answer. Luke didn’t record the content of Jesus’ prayer at the time of his baptism. However, Jesus’ prayer shows that although he was God, he was also fully human. Jesus consciously depended on God the Father as the Son. Prayer was like the breathing of his soul, constant communion and fellowship with God the Father. Jesus as fully human also needed to pray. As we need to breathe to provide oxygen to our brain and body, we also need to pray to provide oxygen to our soul. We must also know that when we pray, we are not alone. The Holy Spirit in us also intercedes for us. (Ro 8:26-28) Prayer is one of the greatest blessings of God because we can have intimate and deeper communion with God our Father through the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a great company of the heavenly host appeared and praised God saying, “Glory to the God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” (2:14) Some shepherds saw this and were amazed. We also notice that at the time of Jesus’ baptism something supernatural happened. As he was praying, the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form of a dove. And a voice came from heaven, saying “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (22) We are not sure whether people there were able to see this marvelous thing and hear the voice from heaven. Luke was not clear about it. For sure, he himself didn’t see it either. But seeing this supernatural event does not necessarily make people believe who Jesus really is. A lot of people saw many miraculous signs Jesus had performed and yet didn’t believe him.

Then what was Luke trying to say through the descending of the Holy Spirit in bodily form of a dove? Primarily, the descending of the Spirit in the form of a dove signifies the coming of God’s peaceful Spirit to empower Jesus for His ministry. Then, why didn’t something majestic like the eagle or fierce like the hawk come down? It’s because the ministry of the Messiah is peace-loving, meek and innocent like a dove. The prophet Isaiah described the messianic ministry in Isaiah 42:1-4, which Jesus also quoted to explain the ministry of the Messiah in his hometown (4:18-19), “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope.”

Here, we see that the Messiah has power to bring justice to the nations but he will not use it to break a bruised reed or snuff out a smoldering wick. Jesus would never be the oppressor of anybody. He would be the liberator of the prisoners of sin, pride and the power of death. The Messiah will be in the form of a dove, gentle, peaceful, and pure. According to Luke’s description, although Jesus is God Almighty, he was born as a baby in a manger, his ministry would be gentle, peaceful and pure like a dove, not like a hawk, and he would be nailed to the cross. Luke’s description of the Messiah and his ministry makes him seem too weak to make any difference in this harsh world. But that’s the beauty and mystery of God’s redemption for humankind. And this Jesus is the Son of God whom God loves and with whom He is well pleased.”

Throughout history, there have been many great teachers, prophets and kings. Their teachings and achievements are great. But Jesus is not just one of many. He is the only one whom God approves to be the Messiah of the world and the only mediator between God and all fallen humankind. Saint Paul said in 1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Jesus himself said in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.” How could he say that? It’s because he is the man who is originally God, as the Apostle John described in John 1:1-2, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” Jesus the Son of God is one with God the Father and God the Spirit.

Second, the genealogy of Jesus (23-38)

These days, keeping records of our ancestry is not so important to people today. Most people might say, “Who cares about genealogy?” But it was very important in Judaism. Most readers of Luke’s gospel were Greeks who were also interested in tracing their ancestry through genealogy. That’s why Luke put the long list of Jesus’ ancestry in his gospel account. However, Luke’s genealogy is different from that of Matthew.

Luke’s list goes in an opposite order from Matthew’s – going from the present to the past. Also, Matthew traces David’s line to Jesus through Solomon, while Luke passes through Nathan. Matthew deals with 42 generations while Luke deals with 78 generations. We know as Matthew mentioned that many names were intentionally omitted. Perhaps, Luke also did the same. Luke’s list goes farther than Matthew’s. Matthew stops with Abraham, while Luke goes all the way back to Adam. Why are these two genealogies so different? Were Luke and Matthew competing with each other? Had they been misinformed?

There are many different interpretations. Yet, we know for sure that Matthew and Luke had different audiences and different purposes of putting their information into their gospel accounts. Matthew described Jesus to his audience, the Jewish believers, as the promised king and as a descendant of David and Abraham. So he didn’t trace back to Adam as Luke did. Luke traced back all the way Adam, connecting Jesus to David and Abraham, in order to show his Greek speaking audience that Jesus is not only the promised king of Israel but the head of the entire human race. The fact that Jesus’ roots go back to Adam indicates that Jesus is the second Adam, the beginner of a new humanity. In 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 Paul says, “The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have been born the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.” Jesus is the head of the new humanity. Now, what really matters to us is whether we are in the first Adam or in the last Adam. If we are in the first Adam, we are dead. But if we are in the last Adam, Jesus Christ, we are alive, as Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

One of the other important points of Luke’s genealogy is that all of us are connected to one another. During the last few weeks, there has been terrible violence in Gaza and so many lives have been lost. The Jews and Palestinians have been fighting over their territory for over a thousand years. They are not the only ones who are fighting. In fact, there have been constant disputes and battles over small territories, rights and interests everywhere. Human beings are the cruelest creatures who hate and kill each other on earth. The fundamental truth is that although we appear to be different, we are all related to each other. The genealogy of Jesus tells us that we are all descendants of Adam. We are connected to one another. The fundamental solution for peace is not in weapons, balance in military power or political negotiations. What is it? Jesus, the man who is God.

Two men were fighting and criticizing each other vehemently. One was a pastor and the other was an elder of a big church. Their dispute broke the hearts of so many parishioners in the church. Finally the elder left the congregation with several followers. Yet, the fighting was not over. One day, the elder was found to have terminal prostate cancer. The pastor was shocked and went to visit the elder and they were reconciled with tears. They both died within two months. People don’t get along with each other, some husbands and wives don’t talk to each other, brothers are against brothers, sisters are against sisters, and worst of all, Christians are against Christians. There are so many broken relationships.

Problems in the world today seem to be too complicated to say Jesus is the only solution. But we must remember that it is not us who can solve these problems. It is Jesus Christ, the man who is God, whose ministry and mission is bringing glory to God and peace on earth. Jesus came to reconcile us to each other through his sacrificial death on the cross. On the cross, his body was torn so that he could reconcile us to God and to each other. Jesus the Son of God, who is fully human and fully divine, is in the unique position of accomplishing this goal, and God the Father anointed him with the Holy Spirit. The question is am I in Christ or not? Paul said that he died everyday in order to be in Christ. He meant that he died to everything, his sin and his pride and the world so that Christ may live in him and he in Christ. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 that if anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation because the old has gone and the new has come! And all this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors and peace makers on earth. May the Lord help us to be reconciled to God and with each other in Christ and we may have intimate and deeper fellowship with God our Father, the Son through the Holy Spirit and bear good fruit of the Spirit in our day-to-day life.