The New Testament
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Devotional
Weekly Bible Devotion By Books
Oct. 16-21, 2023
Enter the presence of the Lord
(M)Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him.
(All) Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
(W)Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
my hope comes from him.
(All) Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress,
I will not be shaken.
(M) One thing God has spoken,
(W) two things I have heard:
(All) Power belongs to you, God,
and with you, Lord, is unfailing love.
(Psalm 62:1-2, 5-6, 11)
Adoration
Dear God, in the dry and weary land, I heard your good news. Yes, my soul find rest in you. My hope comes from you. Power belongs to you and the unfailing love with you. Thank you! You know true need in my existence. Praise you. Amen.
Scripture Reading: Luke
1:26-28. 31-33 26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “… 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
1: 67, 69, 78, 79 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: …69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David… 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace…”
2: 8, 9, 10, 11 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, …10 But the angel said to them, … 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ”
2:27b, 30-32 …When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 29 “Sovereign Lord,… 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”
3:21-22 21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
4:1-16-20 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
15:3-7 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
23:32-34 32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
23: 46-47 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. 47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”
24:13-15 13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles[a] from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them;… 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
24: 44-47 44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. “
Genesis 3: 5 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Thoughts to Share- Jesus: True God and True Man
For the readers of the Gospel of Luke, it is not hard to discover that Luke carefully presented us the process that Jesus, a Son of God came to us as a human being among us. He also carefully presented us the resurrected Jesus came to his disciples after his crucifixion, death, and burial. He skillfully dealt with a confusing mystery then and the generations after him: how Jesus could be a God and a human at the same time? If Jesus was a God, how did he become a human? If he was a human, how could he be God? In addition, how could a Jewish Jesus be a savior for all people? Why did the Gentiles need a Jewish Jesus?
Luke gave a very detailed description about Jesus’ origin, his conception in Mary, his infancy, childhood, and his awakening years, his genealogy up to Adam. The divine identity and mission of this human baby was revealed parallelly through many confirmations: Mary, the elderly Zacharia and Elizbeth in the coming of their son John the Baptist, the shepherds in the field of Bethlehem, elderly priest Simon at Jerusalem, elderly prophet Anna and the Baptist John. All these people witnessed a mystery: Son of God became flesh, took the human form, was born to a space and a time. At the same time, they all recognized that this human baby will be a horn of salvation, the rising sun, Christ the Lord, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, the glory of God’s people Israel, Savior, the Messiah the Lord, God’s salvation for all nations. Jesus was true man and true God.
As a citizen of Nazarene, Jesus followed his culture and tradition. He went to synagogues and the Temple. He discovered his relationship with the Lord. Then one day, he announced that his life mission is “to proclaim good news to the poor…proclaim liberty to the captive, recovering the sight to the blind, to set liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” He was to reverse the adversities of human lives. He also indicated the divine origin of such a mission: “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me…He sent me…” He shocked his town people. They confused, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
Nevertheless, Jesus put aside the doubts. He went away in the Spirit of God to seek out the people in need of the good news which he was entrusted. He set people free from the sickness, unclean spirits, the hungry, the injustice, the broken. He freely extended his favor to the women and children, the Gentiles and the Jews, the rich and the poor, the good and the rebellious. He preached the counter-cultured beatitudes to the multitude. He instructed people to build house on the rock and to shine their light on the hill. He guided people to have perspectives on the wealth, power, life cares and worries, life treasure and life priority, true religion. He taught the love of God and depravity of our human beings in parable form. He showed God’s heart really for all, Jews and Gentles, the men and the women, the young and the old, and the highborn and the lowborn.
Luke told three unique utterances of Jesus on the cross to reveal how a human Jesus revealed his divinity. He forgave the robbers besides, demonstrating the power of God over sin. He invited the one who confessed his own sin to the paradise with himself today, as if he was the owner of the paradise. Yet, like a little baby said a prayer to God at bedtime, he gave a prayer to the Heavenly Father to receive his spirit and soul before entering the final rest.
Then Luke gave another unique description about Jesus’ first appearances to his disciples after Jesus’ resurrection: first to the women who came to say final goodbye to Jesus. Then, to the two sad disciples on the way to .... and at their dinner table. Then, to the 10 disciples at the dinner table. Luke also gave the description of first doubts, confusions, fear and convictions from those disciples in seeing the appearance of resurrected Jesus. Jesus gently joined their journey, ignited their heart, invited them to touch his hands and his feet and test his eating ability.
Luke concluded the Gospel with how the resurrected Jesus taught his relations to the ancient Jewish prophets. Jesus clarified the mystery about his double identities and the necessity of his death and resurrection in God’s salvation plan for all mankind from the beginning of the world. Jesus prepared his disciples for the new stage of his mission in God’s mind. Then he finally recommissioned those restored followers and blessed their upcoming works before he was taken up to heaven. The good news he had preached would be going on and on to all people on earth.
The fact that Jesus is both God and human being is indeed a mystery, hard to comprehend. The fact that Jesus was a Jew and all people would be saved through him is also a mystery, hard to comprehend. Yet, the greatest good news God intended for human being is indeed embodied in the very person of Jesus Christ, who is truly son of God, who came down to us in the human form among us. He fully understood our existence and intended to bring God’s favor to us. He accomplished the work of saving all from the sin that we all in need of.
Prayer Suggestions
Our human existence in the world experience many forms of oppression, injustice, and ignorance. Our human history testifies that the sin in our humanity is deep in our bones and is hard to get rid of by our own effort. Our human desire for wisdom, ability, peace, and sin-free seems so remote. Where shall we find wonderful counselor, empower-er, and peace-maker, and savior to make our existence better? In God’s eternal plan, he has planned a salvation in the person of Jesus Christ. Luke showed us that the Son of God has come from heaven. He has accomplished the redemption work touching the deepest longing in our hearts.
Our everlasting Father, all compassionate, all knowing, all seeing, all enthusiastic God, thank you for sending Jesus Christ to reveal your long-ago salvation plan. Our souls find rest in your unfailing love and all might. Jesus, come, reverse misfortunates in our existence. Come, lift our eyes to you. Come, open our hearts to accept your favor to us. Come, journey with us through our years on earth. Come, enable us to share your good news to the lost around us. Amen.
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