Tripped Up; Getting to Jesus' First Words

Biblical History Timeline

As I began in Chapter one of the Gospel of Matthew taking this trek through the New Testament looking at the actual words of Jesus, I was excited. Naturally, the crimson words of Jesus do not begin to appear as early as chapter 1, so I had to turn a few pages before they began to appear.

Jesus does not begin to speak to us until chapter three. But look how much we are told before we get to those first words in red. Much happens. I found myself unable to just move on to those first words in red without at least a cursory review of then things we learn about Jesus and the life of Jesus up to that point.

We read the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham to Joseph. The virgin birth. The story of the wise men. Herod's radical response in the massacre of the innocents. The flight of the family of Joseph, Mary and Jesus to Egypt, and their return to Nazareth after Herod's death. Then we fast forward to the Jordan Valley to hear the voice of the one prophesied, the voice of the one crying in the wilderness (Isaiah 40:3), John the Baptizer who, being of strange and speculative background) knew of Jesus supernaturally (and almost certainly from his mother as well), and that his cousin was the much awaited Messiah, the Christ!

While Jesus first words are spoken here, it is impossible not to consider what has to be passed over to get to these, our first crimson words in scripture.

The genealogy tells a story of its own. It takes us to times past to the promised progenitor of the line of Jesus. Called from his home to a place he knew not, or even where that pl;ace was, Abraham accepted the will of the Father by faith and left Ur for sites unseen. The names of Boaz and Ruth appear from history reminding us of the grace, forgiveness and provision of the Jesus yet to come. Jesse, father of David, and David himself, a man after God's own heart are there in the text. David, King David, who like Peter was a man of many personal failures, but yet by faith and perseverance proved his love for the Lord.Mary and the virgin birth, while not being central to the purpose of this blog and the words of Jesus is central to what is dogmatic orthodoxy for the Christian faith.

While just beginning this walk to look at the words of Jesus, on my first steps I'm tripped up. I cannot even get to those first words without first stopping and spending some time in those chapters and verses that that tell us so much that we do need to know. While these verses and the whole of this information shared outside of those crimson words are no less important because of the task before us, they do merit our attention.

In this we learn that Jesus speaks in history as well, and all throughout the bible. Crimson conversations take place in both the Old and New Testaments. While some of the words may not be printed in red, the voice of God, Jesus, the very Word Himself is present everywhere in scripture. The Old Testament is replete with the actions of Jesus, the presence of Jesus, and the history of His coming incarnation and so much more. While we will be concentrating on the actual words of Jesus in the NT, it is certainly wonderful to know, and wonderful to see that Jesus is everywhere in scripture.