Today begins our reading of the gospel of Luke. Luke was a later follower of Jesus Christ and a ministry companion to the apostle Paul. He was a physician by trade, a well-educated man, and probably a Gentile. He wrote his gospel specifically to Theophilus (a Gentile government official and a recent convert) to show the validity and historical accuracy of the Christian faith. His gospel emphasizes the humanity of Jesus and provides the most detail of Jesus’ birth.
Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous–to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (Luke 1:16-17)
There is a ton to consider in Luke 1 but for some reason these verses really stood out to me this morning. They are the angel’s words to Zechariah regarding his soon-to-be-born son, John the Baptist. John the Baptist would be filled with the Spirt of God from birth and would be a prophet of the Lord, coming in the spirit of Elijah. His purpose was to bring the people of Israel back to the Lord and prepare them for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus.
What struck me was that turning people back to the Lord involved turning the hearts of the fathers to their children. As a father, this particularly caught my attention. It is a quote from the prophet Malachi who prophesied that Elijah would come before the Messiah. And Elijah will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse (Malachi 4:6). These are the final words of the Old Testament.
John the Baptist’s role was to prepare the way of the Lord and in some way to reconcile fathers to their children and vice versa. (I take the second part of Luke’s phrasing, [turn] the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to be parallel to Malachi’s turning the hearts of the children to their fathers.)
Thus it seems that the ultimate display of repentance in the hearts of people and the ultimate display of God’s power in reconciliation is first seen in the family. Family is “where the rubber meets the road” so to speak.
How do you know God is working in the heart of a man? When his heart is turned toward his children and he seeks to love them unconditionally and to consistently lead them in the way of the Lord. How do you know God is working in the heart of a child? When he/she desires to follow the wisdom of his/her parents because they are following the Lord.
I think the same thing can be said about a marriage relationship though God specifically chooses to focus on the parent-child relationship. Why? I don’t know. Maybe it is the fact that the “generation gap” so often makes this relationship especially difficult. Whatever the case, it is obvious that God takes the family seriously and desires His grace, love and righteousness to be manifested in these relationships first and foremost.
What do you do when one side of the relational equation does not want to reconcile or cooperate? You do your part. You pray that God changes the heart of the other person, something you cannot do. And you remember Romans 12:18–Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Lord, keep my heart from turning away from my wife and children. May I see them as my priority here on earth and may I not let the busyness of life or the temptations and distractions of this world pull me away from them.