Thoughts From Luke - Day 8

                                              Luke 2:21-24
On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.
²² When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

       "And you shall call His name Jesus for He will save people from their sins.""For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved.""The Son of Man has not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many."

    Jesus came to save us from our sins and restore our broken relationship with God. In order to do that, He had to bear the sins of all mankind on the cross. Because we deserved death, He had to die for us in our place. How could He be a suitable sacrifice? He had to become a human and live the human existence without sinning fulfilling the requirements of the law completely. In this passage we see all those factors coming together.

    First we see the conception of Christ mentioned. He went through the whole of the human experience starting as an embryo. This once again shows that life begins in the womb, at conception. Jesus did the whole human experience. He had to, to be a suitable sacrifice. And to be a sinless human sacrifice, He had to be born without original sin which we inherited through Adam or the DNA of man. Jesus had to have the DNA of God so to speak, mixed with the DNA of woman to be all man yet all God without sin at birth.

   We see the law which condemns mankind,  validated Jesus. None of us can live up to the law - it shows us that we need a savior. Jesus, even though sinless, on the 8th day submitted Himself to the law.  Jesus started obeying the law at 8 days. He stated that He came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it and this was the beginning. He beat the law at its own game.

   We see that He was born into poverty as evidenced by the sacrifice brought by His earthly parents. They couldn't afford a lamb so doves or pigeons were acceptable for poor people. Philippians 2 says that Jesus left Heaven as a king and humbled Himself taking on the form of a man. And not only did He humble Himself in that way but He arrived as a poor man. And not only that but He would die as a man in the most humbling of fashions. He was making it clear to us that to become like Him in life and to attain eternal life involves humbling ourselves before God and before our fellow man.

    Lastly, we see Him being the Passover lamb. The very reason for Mary and Joseph's sacrifice was to redeem the firstborn son. When God spared the firstborn son by applying the blood on the doorposts during the last plague in Egypt that freed the Israelites, God basically told them that since the firstborn sons were spared they technically belonged to God. Therefore the Israelites in a sense offered a sacrifice to God to buy back their sons. This reminds us that Jesus did come as the Passover lamb - pure, spotless, male, in the prime of life, whose blood flowed on wood to be hidden under from the wrath of God. We deserved death and justice from God, yet He sent His son to shed His blood for our sins that we might be saved.

    Thank You Jesus for humbling Yourself by taking on flesh and blood so that I could live eternally with You. Help me to daily humble myself before You and everyone I meet. Amen