January 15, 2026

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.  And the child grew and became strong; He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on Him.‘” (Luke 2.39-40)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Since the vignette from Luke is what led yesterday’s reflection on the two story threads woven separately and together throughout scripture, I will stay with the story presented. It stands in stark contrast to those “next steps” found in Matthew’s gospel birth narrative. I say it that way, “Matthew’s gospel birth narrative,” because both Matthew and Luke were battling a rising controversy on the validity of Jesus being the Son of God and thus truly qualified to be Messiah, Lord, King and Savior. His total being (fully human and fully God) was being drawn into question by Jewish gnostics influenced by Greek culture and a sundry other philosophies accusing Christianity of being heresy. It became necessary for the story of Jesus’ conception and birth to not be merely story or oral tradition suspect to a myriad of assumptions and assertions. To record the story as those who were hearing it from first hand eyewitnesses was paramount. Of course, we know that neither Matthew nor Luke, nor even Mark or John or Peter or any of the disciples were eyewitnesses to the birth of Jesus and the days and years which followed until they themselves met Jesus. Scholarly student would most definitely raise questions as to the “eyewitness” possibility of Mark (the travelling companion of Peter) and Luke (the travelling companion of Paul, or Saul of Tarsus). For that matter, Paul was not to be included in an eyewitness account of Jesus apart from the Damascus Road appearance. I have to believe that Paul, he would have been Saul at the time, may have known of the crucifixion of Jesus and even witnessed it though it is never mentioned in his writings. Of course, neither is a birth narrative within his defense of Jesus as the Christ of God and Messiah for all people. Clearly, the agendas for the gospel rendering of Mark and John did not include such stories either because they had become accepted as “matter of fact” by that time (as it may have been for John) or the least important story to be told in the time of great crisis (the persecution of the Church and the impending martyrdom of Peter and his wife in Rome.) That leads us back to the word given to us by Matthew (essentially to Jewish Christians mostly) and by Luke (essentially to Gentile Christians joined together due basically to the evangelistic work of the Apostle Paul.) Regardless, even the birth narrative was the imbedding of the gospel of Jesus Christ in full. Their beginning stories set the tone and the pace of how prophecy was fulfilled by His birth and establishing the foundation for the ultimate fulfillment in His life, ministry, death and resurrection. Still, the two threads, the two stories, like two roads upon which we arrive in a darkened wood, diverge. Which one, I wonder, shall we consider the road less travelled?

What I love about the Luke’s gospel birth narrative is the passion and spirit of the account. Yes, we have angel appearances and declarations in both Matthew and Luke and we would associate angels with the “spirit of God.” Would we dare sing out that the Holy Spirit was “the wind beneath their wings“? Probably not. In both accounts, the profession is that Mary is “with child” because of the indwelling/on-dwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is the evidence that the creation process begun at the start of “earth” time was being brought closer to completion. The prominence of the feminine attributes found in Luke’s birth narrative with both Elizabeth and Mary can lead us to consider how “wisdom” and the “Holy Spirit” were also identified in the feminine voice. This thread of dualism between Father, Son and Holy Spirit served as contrast to other religions in the world whose dualistic thinking between good and evil only contributed to the limit of choices available to humankind to explain the workings of the world. How fortunate we are to see the trinitarian representation of the Godhead to be an umbrella over which all human relations can be covered. In one regard, which has been mentioned previously, the familial system of marriage reflects both flesh and spirit. The “two as one” applies to both man and woman as husband and wife as well as God and humanity as groom and bride. As we are introduced by Luke to the gospel birth narrative, it is the harmony of those systems in a synchronous dualism (flesh and spirit) which also impacts then the governance of those relationships by both the Law and the Spirit. In Jesus, the two are as one. So, then, we see how, according to the Law, Luke reminds his audience (Theophilus et all) of the righteousness of Mary and Joseph to live out the covenant of the Spirit (the announcements of the birth of Christ through Mary) and that of the Law (wrapping Him in swaddling cloth, circumcised on the eighth day and consecrating Him after forty days of purification.) When they had done all the Law and the Spirit had commanded them, they returned to Nazareth. The rest, as they say, is history.

Imagine being someone who had only heard Luke’s gospel recollection and then suddenly was confronted with Matthew’s. More on that tomorrow.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.