“Rooted in space and time”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Saturday, December 17, 2022
Luke 3:1-9 (Forward, p. 49) CEV p. 1058
Here Christianity parts company with many religions, ancient and modern. The gospel writer, Luke, is most anxious to ground the coming of Jesus, or, in this case, the ministry of John the Baptist is a particular historical and geographic setting. Neither event is situated in some airy-fairy, mythical, neverland, but in the real world in which we live.
Here, in today’s passage, we see something of Luke’s precision and care in rooting it in a real place and at a real time:
The timing:
-Caesar Tiberius had been emperor for 15 years, placing this event in AD 28 or 29 (we have these dates from independent secular sources);
-Pontius Pilate was governor (procurator) of Judea; he held this office from AD 25-36;
-Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the Great, was the ruler of Galilee And who ruled over this area for over 40 years, from the death of his father in BC 4 to AD 39;
-his brother, Philip, was ruler of Iturea & Trachonitis, who had also gained this kingdom upon the death of his father;
-Lysanias was the ruler of Abilene. Here scholars are bit uncertain about Luke’s grasp of the facts: there are not just one but two persons by this name mentioned in historical records as being rulers of Abilene, but neither of this particular time period. However, the historical records are not complete, neither are they exhaustive, so there could well have been other individuals by this name, especially seeing as certain names ‘ran’ along, were repeated, among family lines.
-Annas & Caiaphas were the Jewish high priests Annas was the high priest from AD 6-15 and Caiaphas from AD 18-37
(The dates vary according to the various sources).
(Once again, scholars are dubious about Luke’s accuracy here as Annas had been deposed as high priest by the Roman procurator, Valerius Gratus):
-however, under the Mosaic Law, the office was for life, and so, as far as the Jews were concerned, he was still high priest;
-it is evident from the trial proceedings on Good Friday that he was president of the Sanhedrin, and essentially the ‘power behind the throne’;
-and furthermore, that this high office had often been the function, not just of one individual, but of a group, a priestly caste you might say, with one or two individuals taking particular leadership roles.
The place:
-John the Baptist had been living in the Judean Desert, a very real place;
-he then moved over to the nearby Jordan River for his ministry of baptism.
So Luke is telling us that we have a real Saviour, a real person rooted in space and time, a person who has lived life as we know it and who has tasted of its joys and sorrows and difficulties, just as we have, and so understands it, and us, as no one who has never experienced it, could ever have. And furthermore, Luke reminds us that someone who knows it so well is in a unique position to provide practical and meaningful help. Such is our Saviour. Alleluia.
Forward notes: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God: (verses 4b-6).
“John the Baptist shapes his preaching by quoting from Isaiah 40:3-5. Since John was the son of the priest Zechariah, we can be sure he knew his scripture.
“I’ve always loved the words ‘every mountain and hill shall be made low.’ Growing up in West Virginia, we saw lots of mountains and hills leveled for Interstate 64, including the hilly apple farm of my great-grandmother, where I spent hours as a girl.
“Bulldozers smoothing out spots where apple trees once stood allowed us to see for miles. As God opens new paths in our lives, I’m reminded of Isaiah’s promise that the mountains that obscure my vision from time to time will be smoothed out, allowing me to see God’s direction for my life in new and exciting ways.”
Moving Forward: “How has God opened a new path for you?”