Luke 2:33 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Luke 2:33

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Joseph and Mary marvelled. They were out of their depth, and they just listened with wonder and appreciation. They saw more clearly than they had seen before the enormous privilege they had both been given. Although Joseph was not the natural father but only the legal father of Jesus, he too had the incomparable experience of seeing the Messiah grow up in his house, of observing his unique and sinless reactions. This was true for Mary, even though she herself had spoken prophetic words by the Holy Spirit. The prophets are ready to learn from other prophets for ‘the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets’ (1 Corinthians 14:32).They marvelled at the realisation that what they were considering was so much greater than they had ever conceived of till now, that it was beyond their imagination to grasp how great this child was. Any one of the predictions uttered by Simeon were beyond calculation. Here it was that they were being tasked by God with bringing up this child. How could they be trusted by God to handle such a child? They were liable to be overawed by the prospect of the task, and yet they were thrown into parenthood and had to get down to it. They both know that this infant had been conceived by supernatural means and that was wonderful enough, but now they were being told about his greatness in terms that could not be measured.

Application

Marvelling is the right response when we come before God. Marvelling is the response that shows we have caught some glimpse of the wonder of heavenly things. Calm acceptance is always inappropriate when we encounter the acts of the Lord. However much we think we know already, the truth of God should always overwhelm us. We are by definition so much smaller than the Lord that when we catch a glimpse of his power, the extent of his knowledge, his foresight and perfect arrangement of the parts of his plan, we cannot help but be carried out of familiar surroundings. We can never know so much that we cease to marvel at him. If we do not marvel at God we do not understand him. This remains true however many times we come into his house. We cannot fully take in the things of God, but to marvel at them tells us that we have seen something of their truth. At the same time we know that the truth of God is inexhaustible and we will never get to the end of exploring his wonders. Simeon’s words are such a brief statement for something so great. Who can say what great things will come through the gospel going to the Gentiles, how many lives will be transformed, and what will be the consequences of it all. But God knows all that he is going to do.

It is good that we are surprised by the truth of God, whatever source we learn it from. Pride is like a barrier set up to all new things. Nothing can be received which does not bring credit to self. It is a great barrier to being taught by anyone, and especially by the Lord. Pride does not want to be carried away. It wants to claim that it is incapable of being surprised. It insists that it can be taught nothing that it does not already know. It will not give credit to another, not even to God. It may give some meagre appreciation, but it holds back and is not lost in wonder love and praise. It already knows great things, and it knows greater things than others know. Even before God the proud maintain this attitude. The result is that they are shut out the glory of God and remain in a state of ignorance. Pride makes a foolish assessment of itself that is shameful because it is so distorted, so great a miscalculation.

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Luke 2:33 Commentary and Bible Study

The meaning of Luke 2:33 explained