Luke 2

Now they stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene.

The three Marys were standing and listening to all this reviling.

Luke 23, verse 47 to 49.

Now, when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God.

Certainly, this was a righteous man.

or matthew one

Well, Luke 2 is the birth narrative.

Anyway, so we have, I mean, the importance, people don't understand the importance of Israel.

Like all nations, through Abraham, by faith, all nations will be blessed.

That was a moment, a test, a threshold, and a father or tribe of fathers standing on the other side of it to say, "Now you are one of us." We've lost that, and what came of it? Culture has poured every counterfeit initiation it can find, and boys are now drowning in the flood.

We're going to 1 Kings 2:1-3, Joshua 1:9, 1 Corinthians 13:11, Luke 2:46-49, Deuteronomy 6:6-7, Malachi 4:6, and Ephesians 6:4, and we're going to walk through David charging Solomon and Elijah passing the mantle on to Elisha.

Now, here's the problem: fatherlessness has left millions of boys with no one to walk them across the line into manhood.

So they're either crossing it alone or not crossing it at all.

Manhood under God is never courage alone.

It's courage anchored to a promise: He is with you.

Luke 2:46-49, even Jesus had a marked event.

At 12, his parents found him in the temple.

Anyway, it reads like a book, but then at the end of the book, we pull in an advent.

Starting on December 1st, you read Luke 2, 1, and then you build each day until you get to the 24th.

And then you've read the whole Christmas story.

You can move your nail on the tree if you want to.

Mother Mary receives Christ in Luke 1.

In Luke 2, Mother Mary will present Jesus.

In the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 2, Mother Mary will direct others towards Jesus.

And in the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 19, Mother Mary is right there standing besides the crucified Jesus.

Mm-hmm.

It's interesting, as you're, as you're talking, I, this one scripture keeps going through my mind, Luke 2:52, and it's really about Jesus in his youthful stages.

It's the only verse that really addresses that area of his life, and it just goes, "Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man." And there's this holistic approach to, uh, it isn't just that Jesus, you know, uh, became more spiritual.

You know, how can you become more spiritual if you're God anyway? But, um, but this, this sense of balance, on, l- like you, I think what you're talking about, the integrated life, every part of life is intertwined.

When Joseph and Mary presented Jesus for dedication, Simeon had these words to say for Mary.

Luke 2:34-35, "And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, 'Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (yeah) a sword shall pierce through your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.'" This sword had already started to pierce the soul of Mary when Simeon said these words.

Luke 1:26-38, "And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

And the angel came in unto her, and said, 'Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with you: blessed art thou among women.' And when, uh, she saw him, she was troubled at the saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.