Real Time
Read Luke 3.
If you read the chapter (and you should have, so go read it now), you'll notice that a third to a half of this chapter is taken up by a genealogy (3:23-38). And if you're like me, you skim through those names because, honestly, we don't recognize most of them. Sure, there are a few that are familiar to even casual readers of the Bible. There's David and Judah and Noah. And there's Methuselah—I remember hearing my Grandmother refer to someone being "old as Methuselah" even before I knew that he was a person in the Bible. (And Grandma was obviously exaggerating because Methuselah lived to be 969 years old.) And the last person on the list is God—yeah, we've heard of him. But most of us skim through the list of names (what used to be called "the begats") and wonder why in the world the Biblical writers took such time to include these genealogies.
This chapter also starts with a list of names. Verses 1-2 are full of the political and religious authorities from that day and time. Again, some of these we know because we're at least somewhat familiar with the Gospel story. Pilate, Caiaphas, Herod. And John. Of course we know John, that crazy guy who was out in the wilderness baptizing people. But, again, why spend so much time listing names?
Well, it's actually a very important point Luke wants to make, and it's not just about history, though that's part of it. It's really theological. Other religions, especially the Roman religion that surrounded him, were based on myths that took place "some time, some place, but no one is quite sure when." You might even say they took place "a long time ago on a continent far, far away" (though I, of course, wouldn't say that). They were great stories—as long as you don't press for detail. Luke's point is that when the God of the universe decided to intervene in the world, he did so at a definite time and place in history. God works, as he always has, in real time and real space with real people. Luke's rooting the story of Jesus in recorded and verifiable history. It didn't happen "sometime." It happened in THIS TIME and THIS PLACE.
And because it did happen HERE and NOW, you can be certain that it's true.
If you read the chapter (and you should have, so go read it now), you'll notice that a third to a half of this chapter is taken up by a genealogy (3:23-38). And if you're like me, you skim through those names because, honestly, we don't recognize most of them. Sure, there are a few that are familiar to even casual readers of the Bible. There's David and Judah and Noah. And there's Methuselah—I remember hearing my Grandmother refer to someone being "old as Methuselah" even before I knew that he was a person in the Bible. (And Grandma was obviously exaggerating because Methuselah lived to be 969 years old.) And the last person on the list is God—yeah, we've heard of him. But most of us skim through the list of names (what used to be called "the begats") and wonder why in the world the Biblical writers took such time to include these genealogies.
This chapter also starts with a list of names. Verses 1-2 are full of the political and religious authorities from that day and time. Again, some of these we know because we're at least somewhat familiar with the Gospel story. Pilate, Caiaphas, Herod. And John. Of course we know John, that crazy guy who was out in the wilderness baptizing people. But, again, why spend so much time listing names?
Well, it's actually a very important point Luke wants to make, and it's not just about history, though that's part of it. It's really theological. Other religions, especially the Roman religion that surrounded him, were based on myths that took place "some time, some place, but no one is quite sure when." You might even say they took place "a long time ago on a continent far, far away" (though I, of course, wouldn't say that). They were great stories—as long as you don't press for detail. Luke's point is that when the God of the universe decided to intervene in the world, he did so at a definite time and place in history. God works, as he always has, in real time and real space with real people. Luke's rooting the story of Jesus in recorded and verifiable history. It didn't happen "sometime." It happened in THIS TIME and THIS PLACE.
And because it did happen HERE and NOW, you can be certain that it's true.
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