Devotional thoughts for Monday

Monday 29. December 2014

1. Sunday after Christmas 

In as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. (Luke 1,1-3) 

Luke the Evangelist was a traveling companion with the Apostle Paul on several of his missionary journeys. Luke probably was a disciple of Paul, and his Gospel certainly has a Pauline style to it. The Gospel according to Luke is one of the Four Gospels and also a Synoptic Gospel. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels because they share a number of pericopes (stories about Jesus) and a similar framework in regards to the chronology of Jesus' ministry. 

Luke tells us that Jesus and His ministry did not happen in a vacuum. People heard Him and saw Him. Roman documents and histories attest to His life and death. Luke wrote an orderly account of Jesus and His Gospel bears that out. Luke has a detailed account of John the Baptizer and Jesus. He discusses the announcements of their conceptions and their births. Luke gives a detailed genealogy of Jesus. These items ground Jesus into the very history of the first century A.D. 

Jesus is a Savior who is in the midst of mankind's history. God has a long history of doing this throughout the Old and New Testaments. He is a God of action and does not shy away from intervening into the lives and history of His human creation. Jesus culminates that intervention by taking up human nature into His Godhood. He became mankind's Savior by becoming a man Himself in order to redeem fallen mankind back to God the Father. That, simply, is the meaning of the Christmas pericope and narrative that Luke so beautifully writes for us in his Gospel. 

Prayer: O God of Majesty, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven, we give You thanks for David who, through the Psalter, gave Your people hymns to sing with joy in our worship on earth so that we my glimpse Your beauty. Bring us to the fulfillment of that hope of perfection that will be ours as we stand before Your unveiled Glory; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever.  Amen. (1133)