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June 13 Daily Devotional

Celebrating Celebrities?

Peter G. Feenstra

… being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli. Luke 3:23b

Bible Reading

Luke 3:21–29

Devotional

Within our society there are many who are infatuated with celebrities and well-known people. It makes them feel good if they have personally known a famous author, preacher, professor, sports hero or public figure. Many clothing and hair styles imitate those of heroes and celebrities. In Christian circles there are those who are hailed as celebrity pastors.

Attempts have been made on numerous occasions to make Jesus into some hero or celebrity, too. Jesus, however, did not come to be famous or make us popular. He came to bring us to the Father. At the baptism of Jesus a voice was heard from heaven saying, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” In the verses that follow, Luke makes clear that even though a voice is heard from heaven, Christ’s human origin is nothing special. By listing more than seventy names in Jesus’ genealogy (see Luke 3:23-38), Luke shows his readers, and us as well, that Jesus our Saviour is just a normal human being among many others. All that Jesus sets out to do is not connected to human genes.

When our life is in Christ, it isn’t important who our parents are or who happens to be our great uncle. Jesus lays the significance of such things aside. All those family connections we consider important are disregarded, to teach us that a person is not saved because he comes from a good Christian family. The all-important question for you and me is this: is my name registered with Jesus? Is my name associated by faith with the name of my Saviour and Redeemer? Nothing else counts.

Within this world there are those whose names rise to prominence and there are those who die in obscurity. What we need, more than anything, is that God should come to us and say, “These are my beloved children; with them I am well pleased.” At the river Jordan Jesus is anointed to His ministry as our Messiah and Saviour. Through His redeeming work, Jesus brings the sons and daughters of the Father to glory (Heb 2:10). Those who by human estimation are of little significance are highly honoured and exalted in Christ. All of that is made possible because the Father was and continues to be pleased with the work of His beloved Son.

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