Jesus as an Infant (5 of 5)
Series: The Christmas Story
Scott Maze
Luke 2: 21-40
Today, Christmas is celebrated in places where even Christ isn’t celebrated. In the Indonesia and in Syria (where both are upwards of ninety percent Muslim), you will Christmas carols and see Christmas decorations. In India, Christmas is simply referred to as “The Big Day.” You’ll even hear people wish you a “Merry Christmas” in places where the true meaning of Christmas isn’t understood. Today, we move forward in the Christmas story, to the place where Jesus is roughly a month old.
Today’s Scripture
Read Luke 2:21-40
Today, when a child is born, we are used to sharing the statistics of the child – her height, weight, length of labor, and the color of her eyes. Yet, there are only two verses – no more – are devoted to Mary’s deliver of the infant Jesus. Instead, he shows us much of the reaction to Jesus’ birth.
Today’s Story - Four Characters
There are four characters to today’s story. There is Joseph and Mary and their son, Jesus. There is Simeon, the elderly man in the Temple. And lastly, there is Anna, the elderly lady, who lived much of her life as a widow.
1. Jesus, One Month Old
Remember Mary is young, perhaps as young as fourteen years of age. She is from a small town of a few hundred and she is entering the city of Jerusalem with its population of as many as 100,000. In old stories about Hercules, he grabbed two poisonous snakes while he was still in the cradle and killed them with his bare, chubby little hands. By the second and third century AD, people made up stories about Jesus having great power as a child: in one of them he makes clay birds come alive, in another he magically causes the death of a child. But they are the kind of stories the Greeks made up to give their heroes dignity as children. The four Gospels have no stories like this about Jesus as a child.
1.1 The Family Obeyed the Bible
Luke tells us some five times that Joseph an ...
Series: The Christmas Story
Scott Maze
Luke 2: 21-40
Today, Christmas is celebrated in places where even Christ isn’t celebrated. In the Indonesia and in Syria (where both are upwards of ninety percent Muslim), you will Christmas carols and see Christmas decorations. In India, Christmas is simply referred to as “The Big Day.” You’ll even hear people wish you a “Merry Christmas” in places where the true meaning of Christmas isn’t understood. Today, we move forward in the Christmas story, to the place where Jesus is roughly a month old.
Today’s Scripture
Read Luke 2:21-40
Today, when a child is born, we are used to sharing the statistics of the child – her height, weight, length of labor, and the color of her eyes. Yet, there are only two verses – no more – are devoted to Mary’s deliver of the infant Jesus. Instead, he shows us much of the reaction to Jesus’ birth.
Today’s Story - Four Characters
There are four characters to today’s story. There is Joseph and Mary and their son, Jesus. There is Simeon, the elderly man in the Temple. And lastly, there is Anna, the elderly lady, who lived much of her life as a widow.
1. Jesus, One Month Old
Remember Mary is young, perhaps as young as fourteen years of age. She is from a small town of a few hundred and she is entering the city of Jerusalem with its population of as many as 100,000. In old stories about Hercules, he grabbed two poisonous snakes while he was still in the cradle and killed them with his bare, chubby little hands. By the second and third century AD, people made up stories about Jesus having great power as a child: in one of them he makes clay birds come alive, in another he magically causes the death of a child. But they are the kind of stories the Greeks made up to give their heroes dignity as children. The four Gospels have no stories like this about Jesus as a child.
1.1 The Family Obeyed the Bible
Luke tells us some five times that Joseph an ...
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