Passage: Acts 13:16-33
In Acts 13 the Apostle Paul addresses a synagogue in Antioch. His audience is a mixed crowd of Jews and Gentiles, all of whom believe in the God of Israel. Paul’s intent is to convince them that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God’s covenant promises to Israel – to point out the ways their scriptures come to perfect expression in Jesus. In this relatively short speech Paul highlights God’s faithfulness to his people; their struggles to remain faithful to God; and God’s persistent, remedial action in response to his people’s need for reconciliation. Paul traces the history of God’s intervention: first through miraculous acts; then through God-fearing kings; next through prophets, and finally through Jesus. Paul contrasts the temporal efficacy of God’s prior interventions with the ultimate efficacy of Jesus’ intervention when he cites John the Baptist. John, whom Jesus called “the greatest of the prophets” – God’s greatest human representative to date – said of Jesus, “I’m unworthy to untie his sandals.” John, a person of incomparable godliness, says he’s not even close to being in Jesus’ league. Jesus is a person like no other. He is, as Paul concludes, the Son of God. Not a son by association; not a son in the way that all people are “God’s children.” Jesus is the Son by virtue of divine parentage. Jesus is a breed apart – not the offspring of two human parents, but the offspring of a human mom and a divine dad. This, says Paul, is what makes Jesus exactly what humanity needs. A sacrifice sufficient for our sins; a Savior selected and sent by God; a champion powerful enough to defeat death. No mere human could do all this. Yet only a human could be what Jesus is for us: perfect priest; legitimate representative; surrogate sacrifice. As do the other Apostles, Paul recognizes Jesus' divine-human parenthood as an inextricable and integral part of God’s plan of redemption.
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