Thou Art My Beloved Son

Passages: Luke 2:1-20; Luke 2:21-40; Luke 2:41-52; Luke 3:1-22; Luke 3:23-38

A Roman census sends Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Mary gives birth in circumstances plain enough that shepherds, not kings, are the first to hear the news from an angel choir. Eight days later the child is named Jesus, and at the temple in Jerusalem an old man named Simeon, who has waited his whole life to see this, finally does. Twelve years pass in a single verse, then Luke offers one glimpse of Jesus as a boy, found in the temple astonishing the teachers with his questions. Nearly two decades after that, a wilderness preacher named John begins baptizing crowds by the Jordan, and one day Jesus himself steps into the water, with a voice from heaven and a dove descending. Luke then traces Jesus' lineage backward, generation by generation, all the way to Adam.

We are in a Luke-John Harmony. Today's episode covers: Luke 2:1-20; Luke 2:21-40; Luke 2:41-52; Luke 3:1-22; Luke 3:23-38 (The Birth of Jesus and the Shepherds; The Presentation in the Temple; Simeon and Anna; The Boy Jesus in the Temple; The Ministry of John the Baptist and the Baptism of Jesus; The Genealogy of Jesus).