Dr. Manny Arango (0:01)

Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango, and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the Journey family. Let's jump right in. We're covering Luke chapters 1, 2, and 3, 10 today. Now, you may be confused. Like, why are we starting a Bible reading plan in the book of Luke? Well, if you're confused, then you gotta go back to our introductory episode. I break down the exact reason as to why we put the books of the Bible in the order that we put them in. There's a method to the madness, trust me. So let's jump into Luke, and I want to give you a bit of an overview. Like, who is Luke? Luke is a traveling companion to the apostle Paul. Remember, Paul has a massive ministry to the Gentiles, and Luke is traveling with him. He's a coworker of Paul Paul. Also, a lot of people believe that Paul has, like, some kind of medical condition, maybe like, dealing with his eyes. And Luke is a doctor. So Luke is a traveling companion of Paul, Luke is a doctor, and Luke is a historian. And so we're gonna see all of those aspects come through in Luke's Gospel. Luke admits right out of the gate, right at the beginning of the Gospel, There are other accounts of Jesus life, and at this point in history, Matthew and Mark have already been written. Luke is the third Gospel to be written, the third account of Jesus life to get written. And Luke says, I wanted to interview eyewitnesses, and I wanted to put together an orderly account for a specific person. And that guy's name is Theophilus. That word Theophilus. That name means lover of God. Theophilus is a Gentile. Theophilus is a Greek name. Theophilus is not a Jew. And here's a really important nerdy nugget. You're gonna hear me say nerdy nugget A on this podcast in every episode. I'm gonna try to give you a nerdy nugget, a context clue, and a timeless truth. And you'll kind of be on the lookout for those throughout the episodes. Here's a nerdy nugget. Luke is the only gentile author in the entire Bible. Every other author of the Bible is Jewish, and Luke is the one exception to that rule. And so Luke is not writing a book to Jews. Luke is writing a book to a man named Theophilus, and he's a gentile. So Luke is the Fubu gospel. Okay, I don't know if you remember. Fubu for us, by us. Okay. Luke is for Gentiles by a gentile. Luke is written from a gentile perspective. And so Luke is going to explain things. Jewish customs and Jewish festivals that sometimes Mark and Matthew are not going to explain because they are Jewish and their audiences are not 100% Gentile. So when we look at Luke, I want us to like, actually get into some of the like scriptural references. This is an overview. Okay? So every day I'm gonna spend like 10 to 15 minutes with you and I'm just gonna give you an overview. I'm not gonna get super, super, super detailed. The angel appears to Zechariah and to Mary. Now here's the really, really cool thing about appearing to Zechariah. Luke tells us that Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth are really, really old. Which should immediately alert us to the fact that there was an old couple in the Old Testament who also had a miracle son. And after years of struggling with infertility, and those people's names were Abraham and Sarah, and they have a boy by the name of Isaac. And that's kind of how the whole Jewish nation comes into existence. Well, now this angel has appeared to another old man. His name is Zechariah. And. And he says that him and his really old wife named Elizabeth, they're gonna have a miracle child. Which means that what the Bible is telling us is that something as earth shattering and as history like shaping as Isaac being born to Abraham and Sarah, like that's happening again. Like the God from Genesis who man diverted human history by giving a really, really old couple a son. They that that God is on the move again. And something just as pivotal is happening now. The text then gives us this little detail. It says that Zechariah was a righteous priest, which actually means that most of the priests in this culture were not righteous. That Zechariah is like the exception to the rule. The other reason that the Bible telling us that they're righteous is really important is because a lot of people in this day and age ascribed like a sinful problem to sickness. So if somebody was sin sick sick, somebody needed healing. You know, like the disciples at one point in the Gospel of John, they come up on someone who's born blind and they asked Jesus who sinned, this person or his parents, that he was born blind. The text is telling us they're not struggling with infertility because of a sinful issue. They. And actually, even though Zechariah is a priest, and even though most of the priests are kind of corrupt in the first century, that Zechariah is a faithful, righteous priest. Now I want to compare Zechariah's response to the angel to Mary's response to the angel. I want you to actually find Luke 1:18 and then I want you to find Luke chapter one, verse 34. Because on the surface it looks like Zechariah and Mary respond to the angelic announcement that there's going to be a miraculous birth. The same way Zechariah is like, how is this going to happen? We're old. Mary is like, how's this going to happen? I'm a virgin now. The response of the angel actually tells us that there's something going on that's very different in the heart of Zechariah versus Mary. Zechariah, old priest Mary, young virgin, probably 12 or 13 years old. The angel says to Zechariah, because you doubted me, because you questioned me, you're not going to be able to speak. But to Mary, when Mary asks questions, the angel goes, hey, the Holy Spirit's going to overshadow you and you are going to get pregnant. It's going to be like the God that spoke creation into existence is going to do the same thing, like in your womb. And here's where I want us to like focus on something for today. Zechariah questions God. Mary asked God a question. These are worlds apart. And the thing that changes the difference, the difference between asking God a question, which is what Mary does, and questioning God is doubt in your heart. So Zechariah questions God, this can't happen. How? Tell me, give me an explanation. And when we question God, we rarely get answers. Mary says, let it be unto me according to your will. Now that I've accepted that this is what's gonna happen, and I have faith that it's gonna happen, can I ask a question? How? Give me, give me some clarity. And when we approach God with pure intentions, pure motives, God actually gives answers. But he only gives answers when we have faith first. That's something I want us to focus on today as we read through chapters one, two and three. What if I told you that what you're learning in this video was just the tip of the iceberg? The Bible department is actually powered by Arma. What is Arma? I'm so glad you asked. Arma is an online subscription based platform that we design to help people, everyday people, learn the Bible for for themselves. We started ARMA so that anybody anywhere could have access to trustworthy and entertaining Bible and theology content. In addition to this podcast, we have over 60 courses on individual books of the Bible, on theology topics, and on some hot topics like homosexuality, tithing and women in ministry. But really, ARMA is a community, a community of people that I've gotten to to know. A community where thousands of people are currently finding family, asking questions and nerding out on the Bible together. If you want a community to read the Bible with you this year, or if you want to dive into some deeper theological content, or if you want more exclusive access to me and the entire armor team, how about you go to thebibledepartment.com I'll be sure you to post the link in the description of this video. Let's make this your year to become a Bible man. Okay, I'm gonna give a nerdy nugget. The angel appears to group of shepherds. This is in chapter two, verse 12. And he says, hey, there's gonna be a sign, okay, I'm gonna give you a sign that when you go to see this baby, you're gonna know that he's the Messiah. Now these shepherds, here's our nerdy nugget for the day. Well, we've probably done multiple nerdy nuggets. It's okay. Ain't none wrong with some chicken nuggets. Okay, so we're going to get a lot of nerdy nuggets. This is going to be a sign to you that you've seen the Messiah. Now these shepherds that live in Bethlehem, they are six miles away from Jerusalem and they have one job. Their job is to raise sheep, to raise lambs for slaughter in the temple of in Jerusalem. That's her job. Okay? They are what's called Levitical shepherds. Their job is so that when people come to the temple, they can buy a lamb that's unblemished, that has no broken bones, that has no spots, no speckles, nothing like that. And it's really hard to raise a lamb that's like visibly perfect. It's very difficult. In order to do that, you have to dedicate certain shepherds that that's their only job. And so these shepherds are not just regular old shepherds, these are Levitical shepherds. And they have one job, to raise lambs. And on that lamb's one year old birthday, they're gonna get shipped off to Jerusalem for slaughter in the temple for sacrifice, which means that these lambs were born to die. And it's the shepherd's job to keep them safe so that they are up to levitical code with no blemish and no broken bones and no spots, no speckles. So what the shepherds would do is they would wrap the lambs in swaddling clothes to keep them safe. So the shepherds then appear. Well, the angels appear to these shepherds, and they say, you're gonna go to a cave and you're gonna see a baby, and it will be a sign to you that the Messiah is born. Well, what happens? They get to that cave, they see Mary, they see Joseph, and they see a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, the exact same kind of clothes that they would use for the lambs to keep them blemish free so that they could achieve the purpose for which they were born, which is to die as a sacrifice. So when they go into the cave and they see that the same kinds of clothes that they use for their lambs is used on Jesus, they immediately realize this is the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. The Jesus, the baby that they're looking at has been born to die as a sacrifice for you and for I. And the shepherds immediately get it. And without that cultural context, we don't really understand how this is a sign to these shepherds. Mary and Joseph bring baby Jesus to the temple to be dedicated. We run into a man by the name of Simeon, a woman by the name of Anna. I want you to see how the text is balancing men and women throughout the text. So you get Zechariah and Mary, and now you get Simeon and Anna. Because when the spirit of God is poured out, the spirit of God is on men and women. One of the reasons that we are starting with the books of Luke and Acts is because I'm Pentecostal and I believe that women should be in ministry. I'm not gonna keep my cards to myself. I'm gonna show you my cards. And I believe that because of a Pentecostal conviction that I have also. The next thing that you need to see is that they're sacrificing pigeons to dedicate baby Jesus, which means that Mary and Joseph come from a lower class community, that they would be poor. Here's another nerdy nugget. We're going to get a genealogy, okay, In Luke's Gospel. And there's a massive difference between the genealogy that we get in Luke's Gospel versus the genealogy that we get in Matthew's Gospel, the genealogy that we get in Luke's gospel traces Jesus's lineage all the way back to Adam. Whereas Matthew's Gospel, because Matthew's a Jew speaking to Jews, only traces Jesus lineage back to Abraham, our father. Abraham, like the father of the Jewish people. Well Luke doesn't just see the story of Jesus as a Jewish story, he sees the story of Jesus as a human story. So he traces his lineage all the way back to Adam. And this is actually like our timeless truth for the day, that God has been up to something, working salvation for people, rescuing humans since the creation of Adam and Eve. And Luke, the only gentile author of the Bible really gives us this glimpse into the heart of God that's not just after one nation of people or one family, but after all families and all nations of the earth. And so Luke is going to continue to have a global vision for the message and the gospel of Jesus Christ. If there's a theme for Luke's Gospel, it's that whoever was on the inside now kind of finds themselves on the outside. Not because Jesus has pushed them to the outside, but because they don't agree with Jesus's kingdom ethic. And everyone that was on the outside, women, Samaritans, Gentiles, people who are sick, tax collectors, are going to get invited to the inside. Last little nerdy nugget is that we get in chapter 2, chapter 2, verse 51, that 12 year old Jesus submits to his human parents that he has the chops to stay in the temple. They lose. You know, kid, Jesus are three days journey away. They realize that they've left Jesus and they come back and Jesus is, I mean just people are in awe of what Jesus has to say. And so at that point Jesus has the theological and the biblical chops to stay in Jerusalem and get trained as a rabbi. But he goes back home and the Bible says that he obeys Mary and Joseph, he obeys man. You know how many youth pastors I've bumped into who can't obey their senior pastor? You know how many wives I've met that can't obey their husband? You know how many people that I know that just can't submit themselves to somebody else? And here's where I want to leave us off today. If Jesus, the person who created Mary and Joseph, if Jesus could submit to a carpenter and learn his stepfather's trade even when he had the chops to be a professional rabbi, if Jesus can die to himself at the age of 12 and actually obey and submit, even though He's a prodigy. Clearly. He's a 12 year old prodigy. Even though he's a prodigy, he humbles himself to human parents and he goes and he learns how to be a stonemason. Actually is the contextual profession that Jesus would have learned from his stepfather, Joseph. If Jesus can do that, then we can do that. Doesn't matter how gifted I am at preaching, I should be able to submit to my pastor. Doesn't matter how much vision you have as a youth pastor, you should be able to submit to your senior pastor. No matter how gifted you are as a wife or mom, you should be able to submit to like your husband as the head of the home. Doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter if you're the head of the home, the husband, you should be able to submit to someone in your life, a pastor or mentor or coach. Jesus actually models submission for us. And the things I want us to take out of today is that Luke gentile. So the entire gospel is gonna have a gentile flavor. That Luke is going to consistently emphasize God's saving grace, not just to the Jewish people, but for all people. And that there is a kingdom at work here that is not going to give preferential treatment to the Pharisees and to the chief priests and to the teachers of the law and the people who are on the inside. But that Jesus is going to consistently invite outsiders in and force the insiders out. And that Jesus at the age of 12, is submitting to humans and creating a model for the rest of us Christ followers to follow as we submit to one another and ultimately submit to God. Hey. I hope that today's context clues, nerdy nuggets, and timeless truth was helpful. We are three chapters into the book of Luke. I'll see you right here tomorrow. And I believe that this is gonna be the year that you finally make it through the entire Bible. I'm rooting for you and I'll be right here helping you along the way. Can't wait to see you tomorrow. Peace. Thank you so much for joining me on the Bible Department podcast. If this episode was helpful, it would mean the world to me if you'd give us a follow rate and review the show. And don't forget to share. You can learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and find us on Instagram hebible department. If you want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.