The Timothy Conference

T H E T I M O T H Y C O N F E R E N C E

1. Born to poor parents.

(Luke 2.22-24) When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord [23] (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), [24] and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” Levitical law provided that after the birth of a son a woman would be unclean for seven days leading up to the circumcision and that for a further thirty-three days she should keep away from all holy things . . . .Then she should offer a lamb and a dove pigeon. If she was too poor for a lamb a second dove or pigeon sufficed instead (Leviticus 12.6-13). Mary’s offering was thus that of the poor.

Leon Morris, The Gospel According to St. Luke , Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1983), p. 87.

2. As a social outcast.

a. Born in a stable, Luke 2.7.

b. Under assumed illegitimacy, Luke 3.23.

3. He lives the life of the poor.

a. No place to lay his head, Matthew 8.20.

b. Oppressed by the established authorities—both religious and secular, Isaiah 53.7-8; Matthew 21.46, 22.15-16; Mark 3.6; John 7.32.

c. Supported by the contributions of others, Luke 8.3.

B. Jesus defined and validated his messianic mission by making the poor his central priority.

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