One of my joys is to hear students say, “I had heard of the Bible before I came here, but I never knew how the whole story was connected. Now I understand why people believe it.”
I develop studies to give students an overview of the Bible and its core message, because students ask for it. As we were going through one of the Gospels an Asian student named Allison said, “It feels as if we have started in the middle of the story instead of the beginning.” She noticed how often Matthew or Luke referenced the Old Testament, a history of which she knew nothing.
Matthew begins with a Hebrew genealogy to show Jesus in a long family relation with the ancestors in the Old Testament. His Hebrew audience needed to know the credentials of Jesus before they could see what the story has to do with them. Matthew shows that Jesus was worthy to be received honorably.
The Messiah’s arrival is first announced to Joseph in a dream (Matthew 1:18-20). The Lord’s messenger clarifies that this child isn’t the product of a union of God and Mary, but is a creative work of God’s Holy Spirit, reminding us of the Spirit’s presence at creation in Genesis 1:2.
Luke, writing for a different culture, gives an official Roman introduction explaining that this report was thoroughly investigated and these are his findings. He specifically places the story in the chronological context of Roman officials such as Augustus, Herod and Quirinius.
Luke reports the messenger’s appearance to a Jewish priest within the Temple itself. This aging childless couple is to be given a child who is filled with the Holy Spirit to be a prophet like Elijah, preparing people for the coming of the Lord.
The messenger then goes to a young virgin who is pledged to be married to a descendant of David. Mary is afraid of the messenger, but he assures her this is good news. She will bear a child who is “Son of the Most High.” He will be given David’s throne and rule over Jacob’s descendants forever.
Mary wants to know how, since she is a virgin. The messenger gives a Trinitarian answer: “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35 NIV).
The Spirit of God who “brooded over the waters” at creation will brood over Mary and the new creation within her. The child will be called the Son of God. Luke is pointing to Nathan’s ancient prophecy that an offspring of David will reign forever. The LORD will be his Father, he will be the LORD’s Son (2 Samuel 7:12-14). Luke shows that Jesus was worthy to be received honorably.
As Matthew writes in Hebrew terms for Hebrew readers and Luke in Roman form to Romans, John writes in Greek terms to Greek thinkers who had the basic belief that THEOS (Godness) was so distinct from this earthy world that we would need an intermediary in order to have any connection to THEOS.
John begins his Gospel with words that parallel the opening words of Genesis: “In the beginning” (John 1:1) THEOS created by speaking to his creation. He spoke to light, and light was because God spoke to it.
John is helping Greek thinkers understand the relationship between God and creation. The intermediary is the LOGOS, the Logic, the Meaning, the Word of God that was always with THEOS and always was THEOS. Through the LOGOS everything else was made.
John says plainly that the LOGOS, Jesus, came to those who owe their lives to him but they didn’t receive him (Verse 11). Each of the Gospels is evidence that God honors humanly recognized diplomacy—but those human diplomats don’t honor him (as Matthew vividly shows when Magi are received by Herod).
Each of these cultures has a commonly accepted form of hospitality which gives due honor to a dignitary. The parables of Jesus expose how those honors were shamefully withheld from the only one to come from Heaven bringing the truth and the grace of Heaven (John 1:14).
But whoever does receive him honorably receives the rights of God’s own family—not something bestowed by a worldly authority, but a relationship given by THEOS himself (John 1:12-13).
God has done us the honor of telling us in our cultural history that He is coming. He has come into our world, which owes its existence to him. And we have not received him honorably. But receiving him honorably is the way to receive a place his family.
The Gospel writers demonstrated this same idea by honoring the cultural expectations of their audiences. Matthew approached Hebrews by acknowledging their reverence for Hebrew heritage. Luke approached a Roman official by saluting the official and explaining the approach taken to compile the report. John approaches Greeks in their own philosophical terms for a world out of touch with God.
We have these stories of the coming of the Messiah in forms that honored the cultures of the first readers. The writers knew that the story won’t come across clearly to their audiences unless they addressed these cultures in their own ways. We use the Germanic word “God” and the English transliteration “Jesus” because the message was translated into Germanic and English cultures.
Despite that, we have a habit of refusing to acknowledge the honor He has shown by entering our cultures that we might receive Him. And what is our typical excuse? It’s that God hasn’t revealed himself in the ways we expect him to. Its eternally ironic that the official conviction posted above the crucified Jesus, “King of the Jews” was printed in Hebrew Aramaic, Roman Latin, and Greek (John 19:20).
In Jesus of Nazareth we meet the Creator who keeps approaching us despite all the dishonor we throw at him. Without such grace, we would never know of the Life-Giver or have the first idea of receiving him.
And that is why those who share his Spirit, as his ambassadors in the world, learn to approach differing cultures and differing people with the kind of honor the Savior has shown to us.
(Copyright 2021 by David K Shelley, jackofalltribes.org, and International Students, Inc. All rights reserved)