[Featured Art by Jen Horton on Fine Art America, “The Last Supper“. ]
It’s easy to think of people like Jesus and John the Baptist and know they are holy people.
Jesus was conceived holy. Born holy. Lived holy. The Son of God remained sinless and faithful to the work God gave Him as He moved through the world, sharing the holiness of God with others. The Lamb of God carried His cross, upon which He died, so that all who believe in Him would have life – life eternal, yes. But also “life abundant” here on earth (John 3:16, 10:10).
John the Baptist was also conceived holy. We know that from his time in the womb John was filled by the Spirit (Luke 1:15,41,44). But if we had seen John in his day, we might not have thought him very holy. He lived in the wilderness, ate locusts and honey, wore animal skins, and generally provoked people (Matthew 3:1-4; Numbers 6:5). In a word, John the Baptist was really different. Strange in fact.
Yet, filled with Holy Spirit, John lived a most set apart life. He uniquely and faithfully maintained a life that functioned differently from everyone else – and not just for attention or pleasure, but for God. For God’s holy purposes.
Luke opens his Gospel with these two holy men so that we might begin this journey into Jesus’ life with the understanding that God is doing something new. But Luke is doing something else, as well. He is preparing us for the fact that all Jesus followers are meant to be holy people.
Luke 1
It’s also easy to open the Bible to one of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and miss the fact that His story opens in medias res – in the middle of the action. The hundreds of biblical pages preceding Jesus’ birth build His story’s ‘rising action’, providing the background and back-story to His arrival.
All the ups and downs of God’s chosen people lead us through Egyptian slavery, mountaintop moments, wilderness wanderings, Promise Land victories, and one covenant-breaking, disobedient generation after another. Scattered among them are a few ‘holy’ people – such as Noah. Abraham. Moses. David. In the end, however, God’s people choose other gods and live complacently toward the Lord God Almighty one too many times – and God goes silent. For about four hundred years, no word from God was delivered nor documented.
That is, until around 3 BC – when Zechariah, the priest, enters the tabernacle to burn incense to God. There he is met by Gabriel, God’s messenger (Luke 1:8-12). God’s voice, by way of Gabriel, breaks-in to the world at long last – though no one would know it for nearly a year because Zechariah was struck silent for doubting Gabriel’s message (v.20). Zechariah steps out of the Temple that day as the only one who knows God had spoken over him a promise that he and his barren wife would bear a son – John the Baptist – the one who would live like a prophet of old to prepare the way for Messiah (v.13-20).
Luke opens this new chapter of God’s story with a holy man receiving God’s first message in centuries from a holy angel while serving in the Holy Place. I love God’s intentionality. And His irony.
Because…meanwhile…Gabriel leaves the holy city of Jerusalem and heads to backwater, no-good-comes-out-of Nazareth to deliver God’s second message. To a most common teenage girl. To tell her that she will become pregnant with the loooooong awaited Messiah. Curious how this will happen since she’s a virgin, Mary believingly asks for more details – to which Gabriel replies:
“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
Luke helps us see that this time in history was set apart for the highly anticipated arrival of the Holy One. Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, John and Jesus were set apart for their holy roles. All of this holy work was done through people willing to trust and obey their holy God. Luke paints a picture for us of what life in Christ and for Christ looks like. Set apart! So different from anything else the world is doing. So unique from all other religions. So holy. Because God is holy.
Luke 4, 5, & 6
Despite the fact that Jesus ‘tabernacled’ among humanity – to be God’s holiness among the broken, lost, afflicted, imprisoned – He did not do this holy, healing work alone (John 1:14; Luke 4:18-21). The order and flow of Luke’s Gospel helps us see more clearly Jesus’ plan to raise up holy people to follow Him. To be like Him.
And it all began in Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown. On a particular Sabbath, Jesus stood to read from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue (Luke 4:16-17). It’s wild to imagine Jesus standing before His family and friends in the place He grew up as He reads these words, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because He has anointed me…” (v.18). We know what His original audience did not yet realize – this is literally true of Jesus.
He continues reading Isaiah’s list of all that He, Jesus, would go on to do because of this anointing of the Spirit: preach the good news, proclaim freedom for prisoners, recover the sight of the blind, release the oppressed, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (vv.18-19). God’s Word aligns perfectly in this reading – the Old and the New converge as we see Jesus step into His call most boldly and with great faith.
Even though the people of His hometown reject Him, Jesus’ purpose has been laid before us. And it’s then that He takes on the role of ‘rabbi’ and proceeds to call twelve specific men to be His ‘disciples’, beginning with four fishermen from Capernaum: Peter, Andrew, James, and John (Luke 5:8-11; 6:12-16).1 And not long after, Jesus calls a tax collector, Levi (aka: Matthew), to follow Him (Luke 5:27-28). Though Luke doesn’t give us any up-close-and-personal vignettes of the other seven men’s yeses to Jesus’ “follow me,” he does give us a peek behind the curtain:
“[Jesus] climbed a mountain to pray. He was there all night in prayer before God. The next day he summoned his disciples; from them he selected twelve he designated as apostles.”
Luke 6:12-13 MSG
Much like the rabbinic tradition of His day, Jesus expects these twelve disciples to learn from Him, as well as to live and lead like Him.2 However, the call to follow this holy rabbi requires ‘the Twelve’ to leave everything behind – right then and there. Family. Jobs. Homes. All of it, for Him. In this way, these ‘apostles’ are set apart among the growing number of people following Jesus.
The flow of Luke’s narrative goes on to show Jesus immediately taking the Twelve with Him to a “level place,” typically considered ‘the plain’, where more of His followers had gathered along with “a great number of people from all over” Judea, Jerusalem, Tyre, and Sidon – and proceeds to preach a sermon to everyone present (v.17). In other words, the rabbi wastes no time in starting the lessons for His new band of set apart students.
Glimpses of the Twelve in Luke
Throughout Luke, we watch as Jesus regularly pulls aside the Twelve from among the larger number of disciples to teach a specific lesson, to explain a difficult teaching, or to demonstrate His power and authority (for example: Luke 8:9, 22-25). We see Him intentionally pour into this set apart group to ensure they are learning as much as possible while He is present with them (8:1; 9:1,10,12; 17:5; 18:31; 22:14).
Then, in what seems like a rather sudden shift, Luke moves the Twelve from functioning as passive observers to very active participants. Our first clue that things are ramping up happens when Jesus calls the Twelve together, giving “them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases” (9:1). And while He is most definitely sending them out to teach what He has been speaking over them, He also expects them to go into the surrounding villages with the same Holy Spirit power He has to do the same kind of supernatural work of God (vv.2-6).3
This takes ‘imitating a rabbi’ to a whole new level!2 It also illustrates that Jesus’ plan to carry out the Isaiah passage He read aloud in Nazareth will not only be carried out by Him.
We can move our way through Luke to see that while Jesus expands His Spirit-led ministry to seventy-two (Luke 10:1), the Twelve continue to be singled out. For instance, they are the only ones Jesus tells of His impending death and resurrection (Luke 18:31-33). They are the only ones to sit around that Last Supper table with Jesus (22:14-38). After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Eleven* are among a few select disciples to whom Jesus appears behind a locked door (vv.33-49). Luke explains further in his second book, Acts, that Jesus continues to pour into the Eleven during the forty days that He walks the earth in His resurrected body (Acts 1:1-5).
And when the time comes for Jesus’ ascension to heaven, He leads these holy men to Bethany and blesses them, extending His final charge to His faithful students – that with Holy Spirit power they are to continue. making. disciples (Luke 24:50-51; Acts 1:8).
I don’t know about you, but that means a whole lot more to me now.
Holy People
Similar to John the Baptist, if we had watched the Twelve interact with each other, argue among themselves, and question Jesus at every turn, we probably wouldn’t have thought of them as holy. And, that would be the point.
Jesus identifies and calls each of the Twelve to Him for who He knows they can be – not because of who they already are or for what they can already do. Watching the Twelve through the Gospels is to get a front row view of sanctification at its finest. Their days with Jesus shape, change, and prepare them so that by the time Jesus ascends to heaven, they are willing vessels for Holy Spirit’s arrival on Pentecost (Acts 2:4). And that’s when they really start acting and looking like holy people of God!
These Eleven are now our models for what it is to be disciples of Jesus.
In other words, Jesus is our rabbi, too. We come alongside Peter and Andrew, James and John, Philip and Matthew, James and Thaddeus, Nathanael and Thomas, Simon and even Judas, to learn. To make mistakes and start again. To lean in closer and listen for our rabbi’s voice. To learn to trust Holy Spirit’s power in us. And to step into the world as Jesus’ disciples to do all that He did (John 14:12)!
My friends, we are filled by the Spirit and set apart for the work of taking not only God’s message and love into the world but also to share His holiness as we heal and deliver, encourage and make disciples.
We are God’s holy people.
Today, our prayer comes from the lyrics of a modern hymn written by Audrey Assad in 2013.4
O Spirit of the living God, thou Light and Fire Divine
Descend upon Thy Church once more and make it truly Thine
Fill it with love and joy and power, with righteousness and peace
Till Christ shall dwell in human hearts, and sin and sorrow cease.
Blow, wind of God, with wisdom blow until our minds are free
from mists of error, clouds of doubt, which blind our eyes to Thee
Burn, winged fire, inspire our lips with flaming love and zeal
To preach to all Thy great good news, God’s glorious commonweal.
So shall we know the power of Christ, who came this world to save
So shall we rise with Him to life which soars beyond the grave
And earth shall win true holiness which makes Thy children whole
Till, perfected by Thee, we reach creation’s glorious goal.
These things pray in Jesus’ holy name, amen.
Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.
- *Of course, the ‘Twelve’ become the ‘Eleven’ after Jesus’ betrayal by Judas.
- 1 – This GotQuestions article about Jesus as a rabbi helps us understand this title so many used to refer to Jesus throughout the Gospels. The article explains that in the first century, the term loosely referred to someone respected for their teaching; whereas, today Rabbis are more formally-trained ordained ministers.
- 2 – This article goes into great depth to help us understand what it was like in the first century for rabbis and their disciples. It also connects us to how Jesus’ call of the Twelve, and eventually to all of us who follow Him, carries with it four specific expectations that would have been the way of Jewish rabbis and disciples of Jesus’ day: to memorize his words, to learn his traditions and interpretations of scripture, to imitate his actions, to raise up more disciples for him.
- 3 – Several years ago I participated in two different groups that dove into a Bible study all about tracing the Luke 4 reading of Isaiah’s 61 passage – the one Jesus read aloud to the people of Nazareth. I had never before noticed the connection in such a direct way between Isaiah’s list and Jesus’ ministry. By unpacking more of Luke’s Gospel, this study also demonstrates that because we are filled with Holy Spirit, all believers are meant to do the same ministry as Jesus. The study is Carolyn Moore’s Supernatural. I can’t recommend it more!
- 4 – Here is the Spotify link to Audrey Assad’s hymn, “Spirit of the Living God” that I used as our prayer today. I only recently discovered this song and added it this week to our series Spotify playlist, Set Apart As Holy. I have always loved Audrey’s music, so I was thrilled to discover this one at just the right time!
- Each Wednesday I upload a “Teacup” teaching video that carries on the topic here. You can find all the videos on my Facebook Author Page, Instagram, and YouTube.
- Many of you have found me on Substack. Thank you so much! And, if you’d like to listen to (rather than read) these weekly posts, you can do so on Substack. It’s easy to see and use the audio bar across the top of each post. While you’re on Substack, check out the ministry I’m blessed to be part of, the Devoted Collective.
- My monthly newsletter, The Abiding Life, goes to email inboxes the first week of each month to those who have subscribed on my website. I also post them on Substack. My most recent edition can be found there, and you can subscribe for future newsletters on Substack, here.
Rhythms: As my newsletter’s title infers, we seek to develop an abiding life in this space — a place where we can get informed but also be transformed as we learn to abide in God’s presence throughout our days. I like to think that developing rhythms is one way to aid us in our desire to become more Christlike.
- It’s Lent, so it makes sense that we’d pick up the spiritual rhythms of fasting and praying. In recent years, I’ve shifted my evening routine to include (re)watching The Chosen during Lent. I marvel that as I’m watching seasons one and two currently — for the fifth time for each of them — I continue to pick up on new things I had never noticed before. The plot for the series (currently five seasons are released) is taken directly from the four Gospels and centers on the idea of Jesus’ choosing the Twelve. I cannot express how meaningful this depiction of the Holy Story moves me and invigorates my mind. For instance, the way they cast and wrote John the Baptist’s character could not be more accurate for what we find in Scripture — he comes to life for us! They also peg the disciples’ differences. It was very hard for them to learn to forgive and love each other because of their varying backgrounds and experiences. And that very journey of growing in love and grace toward each other prepares them for building the Church — as people from so many ethnic backgrounds and religious experiences come together in Christ. It’s beautiful. And perfect to watch this time of year.
All that to say, I recommend it to you! You will get a glimpse of what it would have been like for the Twelve as they came together, having to learn everything before truly understanding what Jesus was here for. It causes me to look at my own assumptions about faith, life as a believer, and Jesus’ purposes for me and the Church. So, while The Chosen is not a ‘prayer’ or ‘fasting’ resource, I think it will model for you on many levels the lifestyle of conversation with Christ and sacrifice for God.
- We’re all called to share the truth about who Jesus is. One way you can do that is by sharing this site and telling others your own stories of faith experiences. May we use our whole selves to tell others about our holy God!!
Featured Art by Jen Horton on Fine Art America, “The Last Supper“.
“All the Bits and Pieces” Photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
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