The Birth of Jesus Christ
2:1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 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, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
The Shepherds and the Angels
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Jesus Presented at the Temple
22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”
33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, 37 and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
The Return to Nazareth
39 And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.
The Boy Jesus in the Temple
41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.
52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. (ESV)
20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
This verse reminds me of how we at true North were after Revival, or a particularly inspiring sermon. Everyone was pumped up for Christ and had a sense of spiritual fervor, just like these shepherds did. However, over time, our excitement dies down, we lose that close connection with God as we spend less and less time in the Word everyday, and before long it’s as if the Revival never happened. One of the major reasons for this is that we do not share our faith with others, as the shepherds did:
17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child
If we feel the need to evangelize and do not do it, we will lose the excitement that we have for Christ. But if we are faithful in talking to people about Christ and repentance, and are increasingly bold for Him, then God will not be something that we think about on weekends or in the afternoons when we post on SOTD, but He will be the focus of our lives, which is where He belongs! And when we do double it up and make new believers, then our joy will increase with the addition of a new member to our church family. But if we keep our excitement and compassion to ourselves and do not tell others about the hope and joy that we have, then that joy will become lost in our schedules and hectic lives, and we will begin to feel distant from God. We need to be keeping the excitement and connection alive by making sure we are spending time in the Word every day and are telling others about Christ on a daily basis.
Great Chapter! Mmmm!
Well obviously it is about Christ’s birth. And I wanna comment off of Mike’s comment. In verse 17 how it says “they spread the word concerning what had been told to them about this child”. I think the verse pretty much speaks for itself. We should be evangelising non stop.. it should be our life style. day and night.
I also liked how in the last couple of verses it said that Jesus was obedient to his parents. It was sooo convicting for me. That even Jesus can obey his parents but I can’t? Wow. Slap to the face right there.. this is a definate thing that I will be working on.. and I’m sure I’m not the only onee..
52And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Christians, have you given some thought to this verse. I know for a fact that Jehovah’s Witnesses will use this verse to try and prove their claim that Christ was not God. Pastor Mike has been doing a fantastic job of studying theology proper, which addresses the deity of Christ along with the hypostatic union…fully God, fully man. Phil 2:6-7 tells us that Christ “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”
While walking this earth, Christ set aside some of His Godly powers so that He might fulfill the requirements of the Law and the prophets in bodily form. His obedience to this emptying is why we share in the inheritance of eternal life. Amen.
51Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
Just like Pastor Bobby said in one of his sermons, even Jesus the son of God who had the authority over everyone on earth still submitted himself to his parents! Wow, he humbled himself not only to be born in a manger but also to follow the rules of his unperfect parents. We as teenagers think that we are right in a lot of conversation with our parents but when we truly are right, I dont think that we humbly obey them without telling them they are wrong even though we may be right. If Jesus, our perfect Lord, could submit to his parents in everything then we can too!
MARANATHA!
Solid comment, Mike!
46After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
47Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
Can you imagine a 12 year-old boy discussing theology with Jewish Rabbis? I thought it was interesting to think that one day, this boy was going to grow up and the Jewish people, instead, were going to hate Him and call Him a blasphamer. They had Jesus right before them, who was going to die for their sins, and yet, they didn’t understand. They probably only knew Him to be a young boy with a lot of knowledge, rather than the Savior of the world. On the other hand, Simeon, Anna and the shepards knew that Jesus was their Savior! In verses 29-32, Simeon expresses his deep joy, thanking God for letting him live long enough to see God’s salvation, in the form of a baby. I just thought it was really interesting to see exactly to whom God reveals these things.
28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”
I love this blessing of Simeons. As God promised he saw the Messiah before he died. I alos thing that it is interesting the Simeon points out that Christ will be “a light of revelation to the Gentiles.” Praise the Lord that he included the Gentiles in his salvation plan!
10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
Great chapter!!! I always love this verse. Just like Ty’s song too! Just thinking of God’s love that the Jesus Christ the Lord was born to die for our sins on the cross so that we could be saved that and to fullfill prophecy.
The birth of Jesus was a big deal! And I don’t know about you guys but this immediately reminded me of Ty and Bobby’s song about this passage. Which also reminds me Christmas in the City is coming up! Anyways…
46After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
47Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
At age twelve Jesus was amazing even the teachers in the temple courts. He didn’t do any miracles to grab their attention nor did He need to. He had an understanding of the OT scriptures, and that was more than enough to get their attention. That is why we don’t need the sign gifts to bring people to Christ we have God’s word, and that is enough to win people to Christ.
5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
And If we are going to demolish arguments, we need to be ready in and out of season 1 Peter 3:15. We need to know the Bible so well we can disprove any “religion” that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. Which is pretty much every other religion so we have a lot of work to do!
10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
Ahh…the announcement of the good news…There Has Been Born A Savior, He Is Christ The Lord!!!
Praise God for the glorious way he has provided salvation for us. We could never earn it ourselves but receive it by grace through faith in Christ. It is Christ’s work of dying on the cross and rising again that gives us the power to repent! Praise the Lord!
Yes, as some of you already said, Ty and I wrote a song about this good news. I am not usually a fan of listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving but in this case I think we can make an exception. If you want to listen to There Has Been Born just go here: http://archive.godsongmusic.com/song/there-has-been-born/
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,
Ahh great chapter! As I reading this chapter, I couldn’t but think of how utterly amazing it would have been to be a part of that group of shepherds!!! They were just hanging out in a field, probably around a campfire, and all of the sudden an Angel appears! Then, on top of that, they here the Good News about Christ, and then thousands of Angels appear; singing and rejoicing! It was probably the most amazing orchestra that has ever been heard. Just trying to imagine their awe and excitement and shock just blows my mind! Then they get to go see the one who had been prophesied about for generations! And as they left, they spread the word and told everyone they knew about the Messiah!! Their joy and excitement could not be contained! They were so inspirited by what they had seen that they began to spread the word! Are we like this!? Are we so excited about Christ’s love and work on the cross that we make a definite effort to spread His name! Lets embrace the same urge and desire that the shepherds felt and be spreading the Gospel all over our campuses!
11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
This verse has kinda been made popluar around Christmas time, but it is soo true. He is our Lord, and we need to respect that!
I am going to have to agree with Kyle Johnson!
10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
I love how whenever an angel appears, everyone freaks out and is scared, but the angel says, “Do not be afraid.” And what an encouraging verse! Our saviour has come to save!
46After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
47Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
that is sooo cool. how at the age of 12 he already knew sooo much about the scriptures.
we had 55 posts yesterday! nice job True North!!! lets get more!!!
Jacob made an awesome point. our hearts need to be overflowing with the love of Christ, which motivates us to evangelize and spread His word. we need to be excited and pumped up for all that the Lord is doing in our lives. I think that the overflow in our hearts should also be applied to worship. Do we really worship with out whole hearts? or are we just singing like it is a chore, or trying to look cool infront of our peers? we really need to worship God all the time with our whole hearts. we need to worship and not care what people think about us or how we sound etc. God looks at the inside, at our motives. worship should not be a task that we do on the weekends, but somehting we live for. the weekend should be an overflow of our hearts from the week
9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
seeing an Angel of the Lord with their own eyes, it must’ve been scary for them.
but like, they got excited now that they saw the Messiah that will save all of us from God’s wrath, the one who died for our sins. In the same way, we must be excited for the day Jesus comes back and leads us to Heaven. I agree with what you said, Matthew. it is an encouraging verse!
36There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying38Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
Anna was so godly that she immediately recognized Christ as the Messiah. How happy she must have been to live long enough to see Him face to face. After meeting Jesus she spoke to others about Him, and thanked God. This inspired me to do the same thing! I have been saved by the same Messiah, Christ, and my response to my salvation needs to be thanksgiving and evangelizing those who don’t know Christ as their savior.
51Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
What a great verse! Jesus was still under this law when he was on earth of honoring his parents. Although God is His Father, Joseph was His earthly father and Mary His mother. He was still under subjection to them. Wow! When I think about it, that means Jesus obeyed and honored His parents His whole life!!! He never disobeyed or dishonored them! That is so convicting… that makes me think of how many times in one day I may disobey and dishonor my parents!
19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
In noticed that twice she treasured up things and pondered them in her heart! Two times, where she was amazed by what her Son was doing and what He was doing for others. It’s the response we should have when we think about Jesus, or even scripture actually! We should think about what it says and meditate on it daily so that we may continue to grow spiritually in the Lord, never ceasing, never falling. Always have scripture on our hearts as if you were guarding a treasure! Wow, those verses just really motivated me….
52And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men
This is possible? (besides the favor with men) how can he grow in favor with God and grow in wisdom if he already knew everything
Well Matt if he is growing in wisdom i could mean starting to see how the good and evil of the world where in a battle. I agree it is a hard consept to comprehend but it could be true couldn’t it?
49″Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
Well, we all know the story about how Jesus stayed to talk to the people in the temple. But what I like about this verse is how Jesus, who is probably ten, tells his parents straight up that He is the son of God. He had to be in His FATHER’s house. The temple is the house of the Lord, and Jesus was in it, so it was kind of a dead giveaway… He is suprised they were looking for Him, as if they should have known He would be there. This is probably because they didn’t get that He was God yet. I can’t imagine how weird it would be for Mary to realize she gave birth to Christ, who is one and the same as God.
11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
Yes Kyle! I love this passage! It is amazing to think of what the Lord has done for us, and that he died for our sins! We should be so greatful and thankful. It is by God’s grace and mercy in which we are saved and we cant earn our salvation! We need to prove that we are Christians by our lifestyle, and be telling people about Christ so that they won’t head towards destruction!
Great comment Mike. Its true how easy it is to loose our passion, when we are not evangelizing. But when we are evangelizing, God is completely filling our minds as we are looking to talk to others about Him. And how much more joy will we experience if we see someone saved!
52And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Nick Pifer put it pretty clearly how Christ emptied Himself when He came down to earth. Thats really amazing when we think about it…not only did He die for us, but He, who is God, humbly became a man and set aside certain divine powers. That’s amazing, because He is God and deserves glory not to be humbled. But He humbled Himself for us so that we could be saved. God’s love is amazing and we need to tell everyone about it.
10 but the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, i bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people”
11 today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord”
i love these 2 verses because jesus is now being introduced to the world!!! people cn finally actually see what they have been hearing about. he is doing great works already in his early years! how great is that. i wish i was that smart when i was that young!:)
i absolutely love this chapter!!!
o ya and i totally agree with bobby!
This passage reminds me of Christmas time!!!
Anyways greattt passage…it reminds me of all that Christ has done and it all started with His coming down and being born as a baby.
As He grew up He was continually growing in God…just as this verse says 52And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
What a great reminder for me and many others…as we are growing older physically each day we should also be growing spiritually.
Yay 2nd day down for small group challenge:]
going off of Alexs comment…
that really stuck out to me, Jesus being only 12 years old sitting talking to Rabbi’s and already undersatnding the word. And the answer he gave his parents when they came back for him. He was already understanding His relationship with God and the last verse saying He grew in wisdom and stature with God and men.
49″Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
This is what all christians should be responding to there parents,this is wear they should find when we have parted from there presense.In the house of our farther worshiping,and praising Him for all that hes donee.
14″Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests
This is the greatest day in the world ever,the day that JESUS was given to us to die for our sins,this is so great that God would do this for uss.Send his only son down to die for us,the most undeserving pple.God is soo amazing and what He did for us is beyond LEGIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
51Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.
I agree with all of you that talked about this part!! It’s so convicting that Jesus Christ our Lord obeyed and submitted to his parents even though He was their God and they weren’t perfect.. I definantly will take that to heart.
19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart
I also love this verse about Mary’s understanding of how God was using her in such a big way. And, her “treasuring” it all as a gift. It also makes me wonder how much she really knew about what was going to happen to her baby boy… ?
49″Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
I love this because this is how everyone should think of us. If they cant find us, they should automatically think we will be at church or praying or reading the bible! Thats how devouted we should be to Christ.
49″Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
50But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
Itend o notice this a lot now. This verses truley show the mysterious ways of the Lord. When it says that “they did not understand Him” it really means that the meaning of His words would be revealed at a different time. These words come up a lot before Jesus is crucified and after Jesus dies on the cross ad rises again the disciples understand. There are also things in the BIble that we don’t understand but we will find ot their meaning in Heaven!
11 today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord”
this is such a awsome verse, christ has been born!!! its so true he is a savior and the one only way to true salvation, we have to depend on him because with our selves we will get no where, and with him we will have eternal life!!! christ has done so much for us, so we should be urged to repent of our sins and he is waiting for us who have not, to repent!!
10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
I like i this shows that God can give us good fortune and good will if we go in his path and evangelize t our schools. i think we need to go all out this week for the san clemente group and evangelize everywhere.
Good point Jenaee, our lives should be so overflowing with the goodness of God that people will automaticly know what we are up to.
14″Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
God deserves the highest glory possible, nothing else can begin to fulfill the honor and praise that He deserves except giving Him ultimate glory and praise. This can be shown in our lives by giving Him the number 1 spot in our hearts and highest priorty in our actions. The second part seems like pretty good evidence for predestination, The angels procliam that God grants peace between us and Him (removal of sin) if He chooses us, is this legitemate proof or I am just confused?
I just enjoy reading about Jesus being born and how Mary and Joseph dealt with that. I think it’s cool how the shepherds spread the word about Jesus being born. Today we spread the word of God, the gospel, to everybody. I always think of how cool it would of been to see Jesus and see all of His miracles. I would just want Him to do miracles for me all day because that would be so cool. People would get pumped up about Jesus back in that day, and we need to get pumped up about Jesus today, and go spread the word at our High Schools!
Jenaee i juist want to say that i totally agree with you!!! if people dont know where to find us, the first place they should go is church! or someplae where we are reading the bible or praying:)
49″Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
Even when i was a youngin this verse hit me hard. We should be so explodacious (my word for exploding as a adjective) in our love for God that everyone should know us as the person who Loves God. When we had our campus lunches today, people did not ask me where i was during lunch because they automatically knew i was at the Campus Lunch. Thats what I mean.
34Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against,
35so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
I love these verses, it is pretty much a watered down summary of the work of Jesus, that he will convict and save many hearts or that hearts will reject his teachings and they will fall. I really enjoyed reading this chapter!
49″Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
50But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
Jesus even as a child was wiser than teachers at the church and his parents. But still Jesus humbly submitted to them obeying all they said. I think that we could all obey our parents more and more. It is our job in the immediate family to obey our parents. If Jesus, God in human form could obey his parents than we could obey our parents also.
51Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
This chapter was amazing. I love how there are many different prophecies that were fulfilled in this chapter. I also liked what Emily said about verse 51 It must have been important to obey your parents if Jesus did. Even though he was God he obeyed
15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,
This part is amazing! It totally reminds me of what it should look like when Christ comes into our lives. First we are searching for him like the shepherds, Second we find him, and third we should be so overjoyed because of Christ that we go out and tell everyone about him. We need to be so passionate about being a part of God’s family that we want everyone to experience God like we experience him.
49″Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
this is such an amazing verse…i agree with what everyone said about this verse! People should never have to question us (christians) about where we are because they should know that we are at church, or at Campus lunches, or reading our Bibles!!
I wonder if Jesus ever deleted his Mom’s scripture of the day comment before she had a chance to post it?? ( I won’t mention any names….)
Okay, where do i begin?…(again
)
It is always SO exciting read about the birth of our Lord and Savior! (makes it feel like Christmas)
I love the references in Luke 2 of how Mary “‘treasured’ these things in her heart”. When God looks at us, He sees our heart. God chose Mary because of the condition of her heart. In Luke 1 the angel tells Mary that she is “highly favored”! That she “had found favor with God”. Wow! can you imagine an angel appearing to you and telling you that??
Not only did she not back down from the difficult task before her, she also remained humble!!
She was also chosen to suffer immensly. We all love Jesus, but as a mother I can tell you that NOone loved Jesus as much as she did. Then Simeon tells her that ‘a sword will pierce her own soul too’. My heart breaks for Mary at what she will later have to endure when she watches her son and her Lord be crucified.
She is a great example to us because she was obedient to God’s calling on her life even though it cost her dearly.
49″Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
I like this verse because Mary and Joseph have a responce every parent would have. They lost their kid and they frantically try to search for him/her. Mary and Joseph shouldnt worry, they dont realize that Jesus, the son of God, is in Gods hands. Gods prophesy is going to be fulfilled no matter what. Three days is a long time to be looking for someone, and were else would Jesus be then in his Fathers house.
37and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.
EIGHTY FOUR YEARS OLD!!!!!!!!! INCREDIBLE!! 84 years old is pretty old, even back in those days! If i ever live to be that old, i hope i can be like this woman who was sooo devoted to worshiping the Lord! I rejoice in having the blessing of getting to know the Lord at such an early age, and I will continue to rejoice in the Lord no matter how old i get!!
Yet again Luke starts out different from the other gospels by talking about the census and not mentioning that Herod wanted all the kids under two killed. The verses that really stood out to me were 11 (can you imagine being the shepherds ) and then 13… How amazing would it have been to here the Angels praising God?
If you take into consideration that Mary would probably have been around 15 or 16 Simeons sermon in verses 29-32 must have been incomprehensible!!!!!!
I love how the chapter finishes with Jesus at 12 listening and teaching with such wisdom (this is also unique to Lukes gospel).
49″Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
just adding on to dustin’s comment, i also thought Jesus’s parents responded correctly to their missing child. trusting in God’s providence is usually hard to do and was probably difficult in this situation for mary and joseph… but God will always prove that he is faithful 100% of the time
51Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
WOW!! this verse was a stabb to the heart, major conviction. Jesus, the son of God, a perfect man, even he had to obey his sinful and eartlhly parents, and me a sinful teenager can’t obey mine all the time? I need to work on being more honoring and respectful to my parents, and that verse really hit home for me.
i also loved what natalie said! That evangilizing should be our whole lives, NONSTOP! Like what the girls at the laguna small groups talked about last night, we need to be living our lives each and every day stiving to bring people to Christ, by the way we live. This means that we should definately not be conforming to the ways of the world, we should be standing out, overflowing with the Holy Spirit in us.
I also loved Simeon, and how he asked God to let him live until he saw Jesus. I just thought that was a really cool part of the chapter..
(:
17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child
I like this verse cause it shows us what we should do. Like when we hear something in the sermon from the weekend or anything like that we should just go and tell everyone that we know about it and what happened.
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
Jesus was treasured by his mother. We need to be like this. Would your parents say that you are treasured by them? We need to be a joy to our parents. We do this by doing what they say and being OBEDIENT to them. Jesus was obedient to his parents….we should act this way so that we will be treasured by our parents.
16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,
i like how the sheperds hurried off after they heard the news that Jesus Christ was Born and they had a sense of urgence to go and spread the news…i think we all need to have a healthy sense of urgence of spreading the gospel to all the non christians in our school..
I love this chapter because it is when christ was born.
49″Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
i definitely agree with jenaee! She makes a really good point. I really do believe that people should assume that we are at church or praying if they can’t find us. I can see where joesph and mary were coming from though with being worried about their child. I also loved the line that said that mary treasured all these things in her heart because she really understands that God is using her and really has faith in God.
14″Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
I remember last Christmas reading this chapter and realizing that everyone talks about peace and it’s in Christmas carols and on all the cards, and yet it isn’t just free-for-all peace for everyone. The verse says peace to men “on whom his favor rests” The only people who experience God’s peace are those who embrace Christ as Savior.
34Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against,
35so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
Simeon’s statements to Mary and Joseph were extremely prophetic.
“This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel,
Many will rise thru salvation and many will not receive salvation and will fall.
and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
Simeon describes how Jesus will be opposed by many and that they would personally suffer grief like a sword piercing their soul.
Hey Matt and Tiffany, That’s a good question. We need to remember that Jesus was 100% God and 100% man. So as a man he needed to grow up in some ways and that’s what Luke tells us here.
20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
i wish people would have this kind of response when we told them about repentance