When studying the Bible, it’s best to have an understanding of both the Old Testament and New Testament, but having a background in knowing Jewish culture. Always remember, “Context is King.” I finished reading the Gospel of Mark a few weeks, which is one of my favorite NT books, and am now studying Luke.  Sometimes, you have to read between the lines…

Reading of Luke Chapter 2 made my mind explode! Here’s the text in the NIV translation:

Three things made my head explode, and I will list them in chronological order of the text:

1. The shepherds are never again mentioned in the bible, and I wonder what happened to them. The text says that they spoke to one another, “Let’s go to Bethleham and see that which the Lord has told us about,” but I imagined them as younger boys (not older men) who were guarding the sheep at night. It’s late in the evening, one of them is already asleep, and the other two are talking in low voices, watching sheep and sticking their feet close to the fire. One angel is scary enough, but an entire army that comes into view - singing - must have been quite a scare. This is also the first appearance that God made to the Israelites in over 400 years, and I imagine that these boys weren’t the most devout, pious group, and yet why did God let this small group of people know about the birth of his son?

2. Verse 39 made my head explode, because Luke does not give the same account as Matthew 2, which is the other account in the NT of Jesus’ birth. King Herod, after hearing from the Magi, had plans to kill Jesus, and he executed a plan to do so: he gave the command for all of the boys under two years of age to be killed in order to protect his position of power. Joseph had a dream in which an angel of the Lord told him that Herod was trying to kill the baby, and that they must leave the country. In the middle of the night, Joseph obeyed God, woke up Mary and the baby, packed up their possessions, saddled the donkey, and took off for Egypt. For me, this is an amazing example of obedience; I’m not so sure how willing I am to get out of my bed in the middle of the night, much less pack up my clothes, throw them in the car, and leave to go to another country. Joseph is a great role model in this regard!

3. Two instances of this chapter, verses 40 and 52, remark about Jesus growing. This makes me wonder about him growing up - did get get along well with the other children? Did he play kickball like everybody else at recess? Did he get picked first at kickball? (”I want Jesus on my team, we always win with him.”) Did he like macaroni and cheese growing up? What did he do in his spare time, other than talk to adult religious leaders in the community in the temple courts, posing questions to them?

Recommended Listening: Audio Adrenaline’s song - “Big Big House”