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“Looking sad,” Cleopas
and a companion “were going to a village called Emmaus,” outside Jerusalem, three
days after Jesus died and the day he had just resurrected from the dead,
discussing what had recently happened. Jesus joined them, listening, and
finally “said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow to heart to
believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the
Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ Then
beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things
about himself in all the scriptures.” When Jesus left them, “they said to each
other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the
road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:13-32 NRSV)
Wouldn’t we have
loved to be along the road to Emmaus as Jesus disclosed to Cleopas and his
companion “all the writings, the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27)? Jesus
revealed to them where the Old Testament stated that the Messiah must suffer
before entering into his glory (v. 26). But, since he interpreted all the
writings about himself, very likely he included information on his birth and
life. What might those passages have been?
Jesus’s ministry
is foretold as early as Genesis 3:15, as the offspring of Eve who would
“bruise” the “head” of the serpent, while the serpent’s seed would bruise his
heel. This passage is hinted at in 1 Timothy 2:15: Eve “would be saved through
the Child-bearing,” most likely the child born of Mary.[1] God’s sovereign care of
humanity oversaw the covenant line for thousands of years in order to grant
that humans could be reconciled and reunited with the Lord of the universe by
means of Jesus’s birth, life, death, and resurrection.
Jesus in his
pre-incarnate state was present with humanity as creator (Col 1:6-17) and
provider (Exod 17:6; 1 Cor 10:4) and healer (Num 21:9; John 3:14-15).
Specifics about
Jesus’s birth were prophesized in the Old Testament:
His young mother
would be a virgin (Isa 7:14; Matt 1:22-23);
He would be born
in Bethlehem (Mic 5:2; Matt 2:6);
A star would
appear (Num 24:17; Matt 2:2);
His family would
travel to Egypt (Hos 11:1; Matt 2:5);
Innocent
children would die after his birth (Jer 31:15; Matt 2:18);
He would
minister from Capernaum (Isa 9:1-2; Matt 4:13-16);
His ministry
would be heralded by a messenger (Mal 3:1; Matt 11:10);
He would teach
in parables (Isa 6:9-10; Matt 13:14-15, 35);
He would have
zeal for God’s temple (Ps 69:9; John 2:17).
Jesus would be a
great prophet (Deut 18:15; Acts 3:19-23) and high priest (1 Sam 2:35; Heb
7:15-8:2) and mediator (Job 33:23-28; 1 Tim 2:5-6).
He would care
for his disciples as a shepherd for his sheep (Isa 40:10-11; Ezek 34:33; Mic
5:4-5a; Zech 13:7; Mark 14:27),
He would be a
light to the nations (Isa 49:6; Luke 2:32; John 1:9),
but he would die
as punishment for human sin (Isa 53:5-6, 12; Dan 9:24; Luke 4:18-11; 22:37),
yet he would
resurrect after three days (Hos 6:2; Jon 1:17; Isa 53:10-12; Matt 12:40; 16:4, 21;
Luke 11:30).
Jesus would have
authority and reign forever (Gen 49:10; Num 24:19; Isa 9:6-7; Luke 1:32-33).
What are we to
make of all these prophecies?
Christmas and
Easter are special times. The Christ who was born over 2000 years ago is the
culmination of victory over the serpent:
“a child born
for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6
NRSV).
Today we too are
invited to come and hear and learn from Jesus our God who was born as a human,
but who now lives as our mediator and teacher, healer and provider.
Aida
[1]
Further, see Aida Besançon Spencer, 1 Timothy, New Covenant Commentary
Series (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2013), 73-76.
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