Luke 2:36-52

38Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

In today's verses, another person gives thanks to God for the salvation of Jerusalem. Both witnesses are described as devout and faithful to God and God in turn was faithful to them. God allowed them to see with their own eyes the salvation of Jerusalem and all mankind.

This is the second person in the chapter to give thanks to the Lord for delivering the salvation of Jerusalem. Jesus was just an 8-day-old baby, and yet these two people were able to recognize the coming of the Messiah. It may be that the testimony of 2 righteous and faithful servants makes a more compelling case than a single person's testimony, which could easily be discredited or ignored.

This is acknowledged as the second oldest gospel. Luke states in chapter one that many things have circulated about Jesus and that he undertook his own investigation to chronicle what Jesus actually did and did not do. The gospel is dedicated to Theophilus, and Luke wants to reinforce what Theophilus has learned about Jesus. Theophilus might have read the oldest gospel, Mark, which simply starts with the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. He may also have other writings that contained the teaching of Jesus. After hearing and learning about Jesus, people, Theophilus among them, must have been curious about the origin of Jesus. where did he come from? Who are his parents? His relatives? He couldn't have just appeared out of the dessert and began preaching, he must have come from somewhere. And there may have also been countless stories and rumors that were mostly wrong, and so Luke set about to answer some of those questions to clear up the confusion.

It is also interesting to note that the later the writing of the gospel, the further back in time the story of Jesus goes. The earliest gospel is Mark, and he starts off with the baptism of Jesus. The next is Luke which starts with the pregnancy of Mary and Elizabeth. After that, it's Matthew which starts with the geneology of Jesus back to Abraham. The last is John, which goes back to the beginning of time. Maybe it was the constant questioning of Jesus' authority and origin that forced the authors to go further back to justify his authority.

it's almost 3pm, I had to do it again...

It's just becoming useless rambling...someone, save us!