Foundations Week 31, Day 2

Scripture Read: Luke 2
Title: The Birth Of Jesus 

H.E.A.R. 
(H) Highlight verse: "And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom.  And the favor of God was upon him."  Luke 2:40

(E) Explain:  The second chapter of the Gospel of Luke is one that is very familiar to all of us.  It is the account of Jesus' birth.  If you have ever watched A Charlie Brown Christmas you have heard Linus recite the passages in this chapter.  However, this chapter details more than the other three Gospels the childhood of Jesus.  We actually have a glimpse of his humanity.  We see that he was born to a mother, he was circumcised on the eighth day, and  he was presented at the temple for purification, according to the Law of Moses.  He grew in strength and in wisdom and God's favor was upon him.  He went to the temple to learn and to teach.  He caused great anxiety and worry for his parents when he separated from them for three days. And a passage that I have overlooked is found in verse 51 that says, "...and he was submissive to them."  He was submissive to his parents!  This was the Savior of the world, the Son of God, and the one who was present at the Creation of the world.  He is God in human flesh and he was submissive to his parents, and as we will find out later he was a servant to all.  Jesus was not only the Son of God incarnate, the Lord of lords and King of kings, he was also a servant leader.  I am excited for the weeks and months to come as we will look at the life of Jesus, His purpose in coming to earth, and how He is the fulfillment of God's plan of redemption.  

(A) Application:  I think often it is so easy to accept the truth that Jesus was/is God incarnate.  We are constantly reminded that he is our Lord and savior, he is divine and he is the Son of God, but sometimes (not always) we forget that Jesus was also human.  He had parents, he was a child, he went through the awkward phases of life as he matured into a man.  He learned, he grew, and he experienced all human emotion.  Now, I don't think we should just focus on his humanity or just focus on his divinity, we are to focus on the truth that He is/was both human AND divine.  This should ultimately remind us or reinforce what we already know and believe that because of his humanity and divinity he is one who can relate to us.  Think of this... The God of all creation took on the form of a human, walked among his creation and submitted to the rules of humanity.  Why?  Because he had a plan of redemption and he wanted to show us the way to the Kingdom of God.  Jesus modeled compassion, servanthood, empathy, leadership, love, prayer, selflessness, sacrifice, and so much more so we can know how to model and live our lives for God's glory.  But as we will see eventually (and what we should already know) is that he came to set the captives free, to give his life as an atonement for sin, to raise from the dead for our justification, and sit at the right hand of God the Father to rule and reign for all eternity. 

(R) Respond: Lord, help me to live and model my life after Jesus.  I know I can never live a life of sinless perfection as he did, but he showed us that the true character of a believer and follower of Jesus is found in living our lives as he did.