Bible Passage: Luke 3:1-6
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: December 8, 2024

Bulletin December 8, 2024

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

St. Luke is an excellent historian.  He even begins the gospel that bears his name by writing:  Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,  just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.  With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. (Luke 1:1-4)  He was a meticulous researcher, wanting to be sure he got everything right.

That is why the opening portion of our text reads as it does.  Did you notice it?  In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene—  during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas…     (v. 1-2a)  That is incredible detail!  St. Luke places the ministry of John the Baptist very precisely, smack-dab in the middle of real history!  Right into the middle of the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar.

Since Doctor Luke went to the trouble of researching this so carefully, and recording it so precisely, let’s take a moment this morning to linger over this detail.  What exactly is going on In the Fifteenth Year of the Reign of Tiberius Caesar?

Tiberius was the second Roman emperor.  He succeeded his step-father, Caesar Augustus.  When he began to reign as a co-emperor with his step-father in the year 11 A.D., Rome was large and luxurious and prosperous.  The estimated population of Rome was 2 million people.  Almost ½ of this number was slaves.  The other half was made up of freedmen, that is slaves who had been freed, and foreigners.

This created a problem in Rome.  The slaves did all the work and were treated horribly by the free people.  They were abused physically and sexually.  Old, sick slaves were simply put out to die.  And since the slaves did all the work, the freedmen and the rich were free to do nothing.  One commentator put it this way: they thought only of the theater and the arena.  They thought only of pleasure and entertainment. It was a life of gratification, doing whatever felt good in the moment.  A guiding philosophy in Rome at this time was Epicureanism.  Epicureanism says, “Eat! Drink! And be merry, for tomorrow we die!”  Hmmm, sound like any culture you know?

In the fifteenth year of Tiberius, marriage and family life were in tatters.  Divorce was easy and common.  Abortion was common.  That’s right!  Even at this early time they had figured out how to terminate pregnancies.  Infanticide was common.  When a baby was born to a married couple, the infant would be taken to the paterfamilias and set before him.  If he picked up the child, it was part of the family.  If he did not, the baby was taken outside and left to die of exposure.  What kind of culture does that to its unborn and its babies?

Depending on how the years of Tiberius’ reign are numbered, it may well have been the fifteenth year of his reign that Tiberius left Rome.  Tiberius didn’t want to be emperor!  Tiberius wanted to have fun!  He left Rome to live on an island in the Mediterranean called Capri.  On this island Tiberius indulged and degraded himself in a life of unbridled perversion and depravity.  Things so vile and repugnant they would be considered gross even by today’s standards!

All of this, in the fifteenth year of Tiberius.  Suffice it to say, in the fifteenth year of Tiberius, things in this world were a mess!  In the fifteenth year of Tiberius, sinners were doing what sinners do best…sinning!  They were abusing themselves and abusing others.  They were without God, and without hope in the world.  They needed help.  They needed a Savior!

And so, in the fifteenth year of Tiberius, a voice is heard in the wilderness around the Jordan River in Judea.  It is a voice of one calling, Prepare the way of the LORD! (v. 4)  It was the voice of John the Baptist.  But it was more than that.  For our text tells us, the Word of God came to John (v. 2)  John’s utterances were the utterances of God!  The voice that called in the wilderness was the mediated voice of God!  It proclaimed an advent.  Prepare!  Someone is coming!  Prepare the way of the Lord!  It is the Lord!  If filthy, old Tiberius got the royal treatment wherever he went, how much more so the coming Lord!

The voice in the wilderness called for repentance.  John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (v. 3)  “Repentance” literally means a “change of mind.”  John’s preaching changed the minds of the people.  It caused them to see their sin, to own their sin, and to want the forgiveness only the coming Lord can give.  God’s Word was like a bulldozer doing road work!  Grading down high places!  Filling in ditches and holes!  Doing serious earthwork in the heart!  John gave these penitents a forgiving bath in the Jordan River.

The voice promised salvation.  And everyone will see the salvation of God. (v. 6)  This statement made me think.  The voice of John would have spoken Aramaic.  When John said the word “salvation,” he would have said “ye-shua” in Aramaic.  Now let me say Jesus’ name in Hebrew – “Yeshua.”  It’s pretty much the same word!  The rescue we need, the salvation we need is seen in the person of Jesus.  In his death on the cross.  In his rising again.

In the fifteenth year of Tiberius, a voice called for repentance and faith in Jesus.  In the last year of Biden, the year before Trump, the voice can still be heard in the Word of God.  Prepare!  Repent! Look away from sin and self!  Look at Jesus and see God’s salvation!

Amen.