Luke 3b: HG Bishop Youssef His Grace Bishop Youssef ~ عظات نيافة الانبا يوسف · LUKE 3: 21 - 38 ~ Bible Study (Eng/Arabic - عربي) Baptism of Christ 00:00-11:13 21  When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.  22  And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” Shortest account in the Synoptics of the baptism of Christ St Luke mentions two things that are not mentioned in the other gospels: Christ was praying Christ waited until all the people were baptized, and then He was baptized When people came to be baptized by John, they came confessing their sins... but Jesus did not have sins to confess. He is God. He prayed, keeping up communion with His Father in heaven. So the Father in Heaven testified about the Son "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" Theophany means "Manifestation of God" We call the Feast of the Baptism of Christ the Theophany because God, the Trinity, was manifested By baptizing the Lord Jesus Christ, John the Baptist revealed to the people that Jesus is the Messiah "He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’" (John 1:33) Messiah "Anointed One" - "Christ" - "Al Masee7" Here, the Lord is Anointed as King, High Priest, Prophet At the baptism, according to St Matthew, Christ said: “Permit  it to be so  now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Righteousness of the Law is by keeping all the requirements of the Law... and no one could do that. Jesus came and took our humanity, and in our humanity, He fulfilled all the righteousness and requirements of the Law. When I abide in Him, in Him I also fulfill all the righteousness of the Law My prayer in itself is weak... but when I am in Him, abiding in Him, one with Him, then when I pray, I pray "in Jesus" so I will have access to God the Father ("no one can come to the Father except through Me") When I fast, my fasting in itself is nothing... but when Jesus fasting, in Him when I fast, my fast fulfills the righteousness of the Law That's why all the Old Testament fathers went to Hades... if their own righteousness was able to save them, they wouldn't have gone to Hades. But the fact that they went to Hades and waited until Christ was crucified and died and went to Hades to restore them, shows that none of us can fulfill the righteousness of the Law except through Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ accepted His mission as the "suffering servant" by allowing Himself to be counted among the sinners! He stood among the sinners who came to be baptized by John the Baptist He was counted among the sinners on the Cross, and crucified between two thieves By accepting the baptism of John, it is in anticipation of another baptism - the baptism of Blood on the altar of Cross for the remission of our sins. Thus, we who believe in Him and accept Him as our Lord and Savior, need to be joined to His baptism of death "We are buried with Him in Baptism" (Colossians 2:12) If we die with Him, we will rise with Him Baptism is essential for our salvation so that we can participate in His Resurrection and His glory. Genealogy of Christ 11:14-24:40 23  Now Jesus Himself began  His ministry at  about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed)  the  son of Joseph,  the son  of Heli,  24  the son  of Matthat,  the son  of Levi,  the son  of Melchi,  the son  of Janna,  the son  of Joseph,  25  the son  of Mattathiah,  the son  of Amos,  the son  of Nahum,  the son  of Esli,  the son  of Naggai,  26  the son  of Maath,  the son  of Mattathiah,  the son  of Semei,  the son  of Joseph,  the son  of Judah,  27  the son  of Joannas,  the son  of Rhesa,  the son  of Zerubbabel,  the son  of Shealtiel,  the son  of Neri,  28  the son  of Melchi,  the son  of Addi,  the son  of Cosam,  the son  of Elmodam,  the son  of Er,  29  the son  of Jose,  the son  of Eliezer,  the son  of Jorim,  the son  of Matthat,  the son  of Levi,  30  the son  of Simeon,  the son  of Judah,  the son  of Joseph,  the son  of Jonan,  the son  of Eliakim,  31  the son  of Melea,  the son  of Menan,  the son  of Mattathah,  the son  of Nathan,  the son  of David,  32  the son  of Jesse,  the son  of Obed,  the son  of Boaz,  the son  of Salmon,  the son  of Nahshon,  33  the son  of Amminadab,  the son  of Ram,  the son  of Hezron,  the son  of Perez,  the son  of Judah,  34  the son  of Jacob,  the son  of Isaac,  the son  of Abraham,  the son  of Terah,  the son  of Nahor,  35  the son  of Serug,  the son  of Reu,  the son  of Peleg,  the son  of Eber,  the son  of Shelah,  36  the son  of Cainan,  the son  of Arphaxad,  the son  of Shem,  the son  of Noah,  the son  of Lamech,  37  the son  of Methuselah,  the son  of Enoch,  the son  of Jared,  the son  of Mahalalel,  the son  of Cainan,  38  the son  of Enosh,  the son  of Seth,  the son  of Adam,  the son  of God. 30 Years of age This is when the Levites and Priests would begin their service At that age, it was lawful for the Scribes to teach In general, 30 years was looked upon as the time of life when manhood has reached its full development As was supposed the son of Joseph People thought that Jesus is the son of Joseph, but he was not the biological son of Joseph St Luke makes it clear that Joseph has no physical or biological connection whatsoever with Jesus. He is not His biological father, but rather, Jesus was born in a miraculous way from the Virgin Mary Son of Heli Matthew 1:15 has Joseph's father as "Jacob" St Luke is giving the Biological Genealogy through St Mary Heli = Heliachim = Joachim This can be read as Jesus as was supposed the son of Joseph, Jesus was the son of Mary the daughter of Heli Differences in the Genealogies Matthew is descending, Luke is ascending Matthew's genealogy is representing a movement through three periods of time... the first period is the period of the patriarchs (head-father - arch + patri) the second period is the period of the kings the last period is a period of regular people Matthew's intention was not to give a strict record, but rather to give a historical progression... first by highlighting the family origin, then the rise to power through David's throne, and eventually the decline from royalty of the kings to the humble birth of the Promised Messiah from a regular human Matthew starts from Abraham, Luke starts from Adam Matthew's list shows that Christ is the Son of Abraham (In your seed all the nations will be blessed) and the Son of David (Messiah);  Luke's list shows that Christ is the Son of Adam and Eve - the woman who would crush the head of the serpent Matthew lists according to Joseph, Luke lists according to Heliachim the father of St Mary Matthew includes five noteworthy women Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bethsheba, St Mary St Jerome suggested that four of these women were included because they were sinners, foreshadowing Jesus as the Savior of sinful humans Others thought they were included because these four women were Gentiles, showing that Christ did not just come for His own people, Israel, but for everyone in the world. Matthew's is at the start, Luke's is after the Baptism of Christ St Ambrosius says that Luke wished to show that God is the Father of us all by means of Baptism. That in baptism, we are adopted and become children of God. Christ was both the son of Adam (according to the flesh) and the Son of God (before all ages) and in the fullness of time took flesh and became a son of Adam. Because He is son of Adam and Son of God, He is the only one that can be mediator between us and the Father. St Athanasius says: "God became the Son of Man in order to make man the son of God"