Matthew 3, Mark 1, and Luke 3 and Why

Matthew 3, Mark 1, and Luke 3

Luke does a great job of describing the setting in which John the Baptist ministered:

• It was the fifteenth year of Tiberius, the Roman emperor
• Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea
• Herod Antipas was ruler over Galilee
• Herod Antipas’ brother Philip was ruler over Iturea and Traconities
• Lysanias was ruloer over Abilene
• Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests

John the Baptist is an interesting man. A cousin of Jesus, he is the son promised to Zechariah and Elizabeth that we read about in Luke 1. He lived out in the wilderness, dressed in camel hair (I can’t imagine how uncomfortable that was), and ate locusts (yuck) and wild honey (I wonder how often he got stung extracting it).

Hs message was simple: “Repent and turn to God for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” As Matthew tells us, this was fulfillment of a prophecy from the prophet Isaiah.” His job was to prepare the way for the Lord’s coming and to clear the way for him. It looks as if he was doing a good job. People were coming from all over the place to see him, hear him, and to be baptized by him.

John the Baptist was a brave guy and told it like it was. When the Pharisees and Sadducees (the religious leaders of their day) came to watch him (note that they did not come to repent and be baptized), he called them out, warning them of the coming wrath of God. When he saw Herod Antipas leading a life of sin, he criticized him and eventually was thrown into jail for it.

He knew his role and spoke of someone greater than him coming who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. I like that he used analogies about gathering wheat to explain what was happening.

He was surprised and reluctant to baptize Jesus, but did so anyway and was rewarded to see the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. He also heard a voice from heaven confirming that Jesus was God’s dearly loved Son, who brings him great joy.

Mark introduces us to the first disciples: Simon (called Peter) and his brother Andrew, both fishermen, then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, also fishermen. Perhaps more happened than the Scriptures tell us, but how charismatic Jesus must be that four men, within a the course of a short time, would leave their life’s work and follow him. Jesus told them he would show them how to fish for people.

When Jesus and his four disciples come to Capernaum, he teaches on the Sabbath and displayed real authority. When a man possessed by an evil spirit comes into the synagogue and begins shouting, he cast out the evil spirit. As you can imagine, this raised lots of questions as did Jesus’ healing of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law as well as the healing of others and the casting out of demons.

Did the words “Moved with compassion” when describing Jesus reaching out to and touching the leper gave you a look into the heart of Jesus? And the leper couldn’t keep quiet about his healing. He told everyone. Of course this caused Jesus to have to stay in secluded places.

We see another listing of the genealogy of Jesus, this one going all the way back to Adam, the son of God.

Tomorrow, we’ll read Matthew 4, Luke 4 – 8, and John 1:15 – 51.

Why

Today, I sent the following to almost everyone I know asking that they consider it. I hope I don’t lose any friends as a result.

Why I Will Not and Hope You Will Not Vote for Obama

I know you are probably tired of all of the electioneering going on and hope you will forgive me for putting in my two cents. I would never want to lose a friend because of this, but I feel very strongly about this and wanted to share some of my thoughts with you.

In my opinion, the election in November is not about the next four years, but about the future of our country. The government is too big. There is waste and corruption from the highest levels to the lowest. The founding principles as expressed in our Constitution and Declaration of Independence have been abandoned. This country is in big trouble. How can four more years of the same failed policies give us any hope or change for the future?

1. Our national debt exceeds $16 trillion, yet the government continues to spend considerably more than we take in. Remember when Obama pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term? He has added more to the debt in 3 ½ years than Bush did in two terms.

1. Since Obama took office, the USA’s credit rating has been downgraded twice.

1. Federal reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has authorized the creation of $40 billion out of thin air every month with no firm stopping point thus guaranteeing soon-to-be out-of-control inflation – as if the rise in prices we are already experiencing is not bad enough.

1. The bureaucrats in Washington have added more than 11,000 new regulations and will be adding a lot more with the implementation of Obamacare.

1. The president has issued a number of executive orders superseding laws passed by Congress, such as offering amnesty to illegal aliens under 30 years of age.

1. Defying the Constitution, the president has appointed at least 45 “czars” including one admitted Communist (Van Jones), who never had to go through the confirmation process, but who have more power than his confirmed cabinet secretaries.

1. The President and Justice Department do not respect the rule of law. They only enforce the ones they like. They enforce laws for some people and not for others. They refuse to enforce immigration laws and will not protect the borders of the United States – just ask the residents along the Mexican border.

1. As government has expanded, our freedoms have been abridged.

1. He called the disastrous events in Libya “bumps in the road” and equated Israel’s pleadings for help against Iran as background “noise.”

1. Before elected, the President promised transparency but we didn’t get it. Fpr example, he promised that legislation would be published and available to the public for five days before it was voted on. That has not happened. He said that conversations about legislation would be broadcast on C-Span; all of the debate on Obamacare was held behind closed doors. We were told by Nancy Pelosi the Congress had to pass Obamacare so that we could read it.

1. The Fast and Furious debacle exposed Eric Holder for the inept, corruptocrat he is and cost the life of hundreds of people. It’s now coming to light that there were other such failed gun-walking programs.

1. Obama sent troops to fight in Libya and other countries without Congressional approval; Bush sought and received Congressional approval to attack Iraq.

1. Obama’s energy policies have decimated the coal industry – hundreds of mines and coal-fired electric plants have been shut down. Remember when he said that under his policies “electricity prices would necessarily skyrocket?”

1. Democrats threatened that Republicans would destroy Medicare, but he is the one who removed $700+ billion from Medicare to help fund Obamacare.

1. Democrats are now talking about “death panels” and rationing health care. The very young and very old will suffer from this and, being very old is a very personal issue to me.

1. The 800 billion dollars spent on the stimulus, much of which went overseas, was wasted.

1. The Democrat-controlled Senate has not passed a budget in more than 3 years.

1. The auto bailout cost American taxpayers 25 billion dollars and GM is not out of trouble yet.

1. Obama gave failed solar company Solyndra $535 million even though it was known the company was in trouble.

1. The failed “Cash for Clunkers” program cost the country $3 billion and resulted in the destruction of perfectly functional cars.

1. Per NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, NASA’s primary mission is now “Muslim outreach.”

1. “You didn’t build that.”

1. Obama has spent way too much time apologizing for America around the world.

1. As a candidate, Obama said he was in favor of traditional marriage, but his opinion “evolved” so he now supports gay marriage.

1. This government sanctions the taking of unborn and nearly born lives – more than 50 million babies, a good share of which were black, have been killed since Roe v. Wade.

1. Obamacare is attempting to force Catholics and other religious groups to violate their religious principles.

1. Obama stopped deep-water drilling in the states, but provided Brazil $2 billion for their deep-water drilling program.

1. Unemployment has exceeded 8% since Obama took office.

I could go on and on. Please vote and encourage everyone you know to on November 6^th.

Until next time…