In today's devotional, we read about Jesus, after a night on prayer, chose 12 amongst his disciples to be the closest to him, and called them his apostles. We also noted that strangely, as detailed as the book of Matthew is, it does not record this. Only Mark and Luke record the chosing (not calling) of the 12 apostles. The second part of today's study takes us to the sermon on the mount and here, the book of Matthew which pays the most attention to Jesus' teachings, shines forth. Matthew uses 3 chapters; from 5 through to 7 to meticulously give us some of the teachings Jesus shared with the people. The book of Mark entirely skips the sermon on the mount while Luke uses 30 verses in Luke chapter 6 on the same sermon. Again this clarifies our observations that Matthew did not copy the book of Mark, it includes too many details that Mark skipped, and especially the teachings of Jesus.

In today's devotional, I explained why verse four is omitted when we read John 5:1-47. I explained the important role of manuscripts in giving us our New testament Bible, and how depending on how old a manuscript is or the closer they are to the original copies, the more accurate. I also explained how this strengthens our faith rather than dilute or destroy it like critics of the Christian faith would think. In today's reading, we also saw Jesus make claims the Pharisees just could not accept, they could not discountenance the miracles and works he was foing, those were too many to deny. Their only option was to accuse him of blasphemy. "Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him." John 5:19‭-‬23 NIV.

In today's devotional, we learn a very important lesson the purpose of sabbath and in turn the law God gave Israel. When Jesus said; "then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

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Mark 2:27 NIV. Jesus was saying, the sabbath was given to man not to constrict and restrict him, but to enable him to love God and in turn love other people. When Jesus asked them; "Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

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Mark 3:4 NIV. He was not only confronting their prejudices, but he was also helping them and us see that the whole purpose of the law and sabbath is to love; love God and love man.

In today's devotional, we continue to explore and learn from the events that occurred in Galilee during Jesus' ministry. Today, we complete the story of the paralyzed man by taking Luke's account Luke 5:17-26. We reviewed Matthew or Levi's call to become a disciple and how that one event attracted a large crowd of sinners to follow Jesus. Lastly, we discussed Jesus' response when his disciples were chided for not fasting like the disciples of the Pharisees and John, Jesus' response is earth-shaking; "no one pours new wine into old wineskins." Matthew 9:14-17, Mark 2:18-22 and Luke 5:33-39.

In today's devotional, the harmonisation of the gospels helped us gain a better understanding of some of the key events during Jesus' Galilean ministry; Jesus' decision to start going around, the healing of the first leper in the New testament, and the healing of the paralyzed man. Only by doing an harmonisation do we begin to fully understand what really took place; why Jesus for example abruptly started travelling to teach and heal. Starting from Capernaum and Galilee, Jesus begins to preach in the Decapolis, Judea, Jerusalem, etc. We now understand what the Bible meant when it says; "and Jesus saw the faith of the friends of the paralyzed man", he saw their desperation to see their friend healed.

The majority of Jesus' ministry; teachings and miracles took place in Galilee. The story of the first disciples or apostles he called was in Galilee. And today, using the harmonic threading of the events, we were able to understand how Jesus really "called" his first four disciples; Andrew, Peter, James and John. Reading Matthew and Mark, you would think he was just walking by and called them and the left their father; Matthew 4:18-22 and Mark 1:16-20. But on examining Luke's account of the event; Luke 5:1-11, Luke elaborates. Matthew and Mark seemed to summarise the event using five verses each. Luke moves closer and explains in eleven verses the events of that day. We were also able explain the reason why; Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the synoptic gospel, all three recorded these events; the call of the first four disciples, the visit to Peter's house and healing of his mother-inlaw, and lastly the events of the evening of the same day where Jesus healed many people and cast out demons from the oppressed.

Today, we conclude studying the beginning part of Jesus' ministry, this includes his return back to Galilee, his trip through Samaria and the encounter with the woman by Jacob's well. If there is one thing I take from the start of his ministry, it is that despite the oppositions and rejections, Jesus faced, he was determined to do the work set out for him by the Father. Who says doing God's will means things would be easy? When everything seem to turn on their heads despite the fact you know you are doing exactly what God told you to do, that is the time to dig in and refuse to compromise. "And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Luke 4:17‭-‬21 NIV.

In today's devotional, we continue our study of the beginning of Jesus' ministry while paying particular attention to the gospel of John. Here we see the first disciples called. We also see the first miracle Jesus did in revealing himself to the public. I also explained the difficulties that arises whenever you are translating from one language to another. We used the example of simply saying; "I am hungry" in English. In French, you would say; "J'ai faim" which when literally translated does not mean I am hungry, but, literally; I have hunger. Now imagine if you had to translate either the English or French to the Yoruba language. You would say while translating English to Yoruba that hunger is killing me. And from French to Yoruba, you would say; I possess hunger. This is the difficulty that exist when translating from one language to another and we see this demonstrated in Jesus interaction with his mother Mary at the marriage feast. When Jesus said; “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

John 2:4 NIV. In English, he might sound disrespectful, but no so in the Greek.

Today's devotional takes us to the accounts by all four writers of the gospel to the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. All four of them records his baptism and temptation and indicating the importance of both events to the start of his ministry.

In today's devotional, we took a look at the early years of Jesus; the magi visit, and his visit to the temple with his parents. We also read about the beginning of John the Baptist's ministry; his demeanour and his message. We compared all four gospels and noted the slight variations in the details each paid attention to.