Yesterday we broke out the Christmas lights and treats (thanks for the cookies, Cheryl Oswald!) as we read and discussed the story of Jesus' birth. We learned about the four gospels and how they each give us a different perspective on the life of Jesus. In summary, Matthew was particularly interested in presenting Jesus as the king (or Messiah) that the Jewish people had been waiting for. (Messiah is a Hebrew word which means "anointed king"; Christ comes from the Greek translation of that same word.) Mark portrayed Jesus as a servant by focusing on Jesus' ministry, quickly moving from one event to the next. Luke wrote his gospel for everyone, portraying Jesus as Savior of all - Jew, Gentile, rich, poor, woman, man. We refer to those first three gospels as the "synoptic" gospels - meaning they have a "common view". There is a lot of overlap in the stories they tell about Jesus. John had a unique perspective and wrote about Jesus as God. This is portrayed in the opening words of his writing:
In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1-3, NLT)
As students read some of the opening words of each of the four gospels, they also had the opportunity to look at some of the prophecies from the Old Testament that pointed to Jesus' life and ministry. Micah spoke about Jesus being born in Bethlehem:
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
are only a small village among all the people of Judah.
Yet a ruler of Israel,
whose origins are in the distant past,
will come from you on my behalf.
(Micah 5:2, NLT)
Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be called Emmanuel:
The Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).
(Isaiah 7:14)
It was fun to see how Mark 1:2 and John 1:23 almost exactly repeated the words of Isaiah 40:3, which pointed to John the Baptist:
Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,
“Clear the way through the wilderness
for the Lord!
Make a straight highway through the wasteland
for our God!
We ended class by opening some very exciting Christmas gifts - sermon notebooks for our new students and folders for everyone to keep their in-class worksheets in. Students, be sure to get working on those sermon notes!
Next week we'll be learning about Jesus as a kid! We just might debate whether Jesus rolled his eyes at his parents or not...
Next week we'll be learning about Jesus as a kid! We just might debate whether Jesus rolled his eyes at his parents or not...