Luke 1:39-56 –Mary’s Song of Hope

Lesson Focus:

Mary proclaims what God has done in the past because she understands that what is happening in her now is a continuation of God’s faithful saving acts toward his people.  It gives her hope for the future. 

Lesson Outcomes:

Through this lessons students should:

1.     Understand that Mary’s song is a testimony concerning God’s past faithfulness

2.     Understand that remembering God’s past saving actions gives us hope for the future

3.     Be encouraged to constantly remember God’s saving acts in hopeful anticipation of Jesus’ final coming 

Catch up on the story:

In the very early stages of this narrative, Luke has been weaving together two separate yet connected story lines.  The first story line is that of the elderly couple, Elizabeth and Zechariah.  They are from the priestly line of Aaron and yet are unable to bear children.  Zechariah, while working in the Temple one day, gets a visit from an angel proclaiming that the couple will soon give birth to a son.  The son’s name will be John and he will be no ordinary person.  He will be the one who will prepare the way for the Messiah.  Zechariah fails to believe and so loses his ability to speak until the baby is born. 

The second story line is that of Mary, a young woman who is engaged to be married to a man named Joseph.  Mary, who is a virgin, is also visited by an angel telling her that she will become pregnant, too.  Only, this pregnancy will not come about by the normal way, but will be a blessing from God.  Again, the boy she will bear, Jesus, will be no normal son; he will be called “Son of the Most High” and will sit on the throne of his ancestor David (1:32-33).  Mary receives the news with more faith than Zechariah does, yielding herself as a servant of God. 

Of course, Mary and Elizabeth are related and the angel informs Mary that Elizabeth is pregnant as well.  These two initially separate story lines are now about to come together.     

The Text:

The Journey and Greeting: 1:39-45

It is not long after Mary receives the news of Elizabeth’s pregnancy that she sets out to visit her.  In those days, young women did not travel once they had been engaged to be married.  Normally, an engaged woman would remain secluded in her home until she entered the bridal chamber.  She certainly would not have left unaccompanied on what was possibly a seventy-mile trip (Green, 94-95).  We are given no specific reason for Mary’s trip.  The angel did not command her to go.  Nevertheless, her journey to visit Elizabeth fits with Luke’s general journey motif.  Narratively, it also helps the reader get a clearer idea of how these two story lines intersect and who the true hero of the story is.  Or, perhaps her hasty visit was an attempt to flee some of the shame that came with being a young unmarried woman who was with child. 

Mary arrives at the home of Elizabeth and offers a greeting.  Upon hearing Mary’s greeting the child that Elizabeth carries in her womb begins to leap for joy and Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit.  We can assume that what fills Elizabeth now fills John, too.  The Spirit’s filling of Elizabeth and John enables them (and us now as witness to this event) to discern the significance of Mary and the child she carries.  As we will hear in Elizabeth’s speech, there is no doubt about the hope that is about to be fulfilled. 

Elizabeth’s Spirit-guided discernment also turns social custom on its head.  In her world, those of lesser standing, because of age and the like, travel to and visit those of greater standing.  The initial greeting is offered by the lesser person, too.  For her part, Mary acts accordingly, which causes Elizabeth to wonder why she has done so.  Elizabeth questions why such a good thing, that the mother of her Lord would come to visit her, has happened to her.  Elizabeth recognizes that due to God’s graciousness toward Mary, Mary is the one who is now the greater person in the relationship.  As a general rule, Luke’s gospel will constantly turn social norms and customs upside down.  This instance is but one of many. 

                                                                                              

Elizabeth also offers Mary a blessing.  The word used here, “blessed,” is the same word that Jesus will use in the Sermon on the Mount.  It is a word that is “spoken over those who are judged to possess what is necessary for a joyful life and especially over those who are the recipients of God’s gift of redemption” (Green, 96).  Mary has truly been blessed by God as she carries this child who will be the savior of the world.

Mary’s Song: 1:46-56

In response to Elizabeth’s blessing, Mary sings a song that takes the form of a declarative psalm of praise (like Psalms 8, 33, 47,100, 135 and 136).  Mary’s song uses bits of psalms, hymns and scripture that she would have been familiar with since young childhood.  The song itself functions a bit like the songs in a Broadway or Disney musical.  Songs in those types of productions do not usually advance the narrative, but they do help the viewer understand what has already transpired and, perhaps, offer a bit of foreshadowing.  Thus, Mary’s song does not advance Luke’s narrative, but helps us understand the significance of the events that have already taken place.

Mary’s song begins with Mary stating that, on the deepest levels, in her “soul” and “spirit” she is filled with joy.  Throughout the Old Testament, the idea of joy is bound together with God’s future saving events.  As we have already seen with John’s prenatal leap of joy, the expectation is that God is about to act in a decisive and positive way for his people.

As is normal with psalms of praise, there is the declaration of praise and then the reason is given for the praise.  Mary’s reason for being filled with joy is that God has looked on her (and her people) favorably in the midst of their “lowliness.”  Lowliness in this context has to do with Israel’s position as an oppressed country at the hands of the Romans.  Luke also uses the term in significant connection with “the poor” in both his gospel and in Acts (Green, 103).  What is clear is that Mary sees her self and her people as being oppressed, poor and in need of God’s saving hand.  Now, she believes, God’s hand is going to act in a mighty way to reverse the situation. 

Beginning in verse 48 Luke begins to use a series of verbs (looked, done great things, shown strength, scattered, brought down, filled the hungry, sent away, lifted up) that in Greek are in the aorist tense, or a past tense that is undefined.  In some places this means the result of the action of the verb has continuing consequences into the future.  In the context of Mary’s song and Luke’s gospel, this string of verbs ties together a testimony about God’s faithfulness with the events that are now taking place.  Additionally, these verbs link what has transpired in the past to the hope for what God will do in the future.  The subject for each of these verbs is God.  God is the one doing the action. 

Mary is proclaiming God’s faithfulness in the past.  Great things have been done.  He has shown mercy for those who wish to follow him.  God has shown the strength of his arm, he has brought down the powerful and lifted up those who have no power.  He has kicked the rich out while filling the poor with food.   All of this God has done because of the promises he has made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to Moses, to David and to those who returned from the Exile. All of this God has done because of his faithfulness.

It would be easy to read Mary’s song as a complete reversal of fortunes where the rich become poor and the poor become rich.  “This is not to obliterate the powerful so that the lowly can achieve the positions of honor and privilege to which they previously had no access.  Rather, God is at work in individual lives (like Mary) and in the social order as a whole in order to subvert the very structure of society that supports and perpetuates such distinctions” (Green, 105).    

Taken as a whole, Mary celebrates God’s work in the past and identifies that what is taking place in her and Elizabeth’s wombs is a continuation of those mighty acts.  Salvation, which God brought in the past, is now present in Jesus.   

So What?

Advent should be for us a powerful time.  It should be powerful for us because we are reminded of all of the ways in which God has acted on our behalf in the past and the effects that those acts have on our present and our future.  The song that Mary sings, she sings because she remembers all that God has done, in covenant loyalty, for her and her people.  Her remembering helps her make light of what God is doing through her now.  Mary’s story is our story.  We are children of Abraham.  We are children of the covenant and God’s faithfulness to it.  God has shown mercy to us from generation to generation.  Mary’s song is our song too.

Our celebration of the birth of Jesus is just a few short days away.  It is a celebration that rejoices in what God has done through the past work of Jesus.  At the same time, however, it is a celebration that rejoices in the present work that Jesus is doing in our hearts, lives, and community here and now.  When we, as individuals and as a community of faith, focus on the past and present saving works of God our eyes are cleared to see the possibilities for the future saving works of God.  It sets aside the fear that we might have for the way our world is going and places in our line of sight a bright picture of what is to come, the Kingdom of God in its fullness.  And what is to come rests securely in the arms of the one who is coming again, Jesus Christ. 

Advent is a powerful time for us because in remembering the past our fears are casts aside and replaced with hope, and as the Apostle Paul reminds us, hope that is from God does not disappoint us.     

Critical Discussion Questions:

1.     What does God look like in this text/Who is God in this text/What is God doing in this text?

a.     God is continuing his plan of salvation for his covenant people.  What God has done in the past, bringing about salvation for those who are faithful, God will do in the present and the future.

2.     What does holiness/salvation look like in this text?

a.     For both Elizabeth and Mary, their salvation and subsequent holiness is tied to their constant remembrance of the faithful acts of God on behalf of their people.  This allowed them to live in hope and the hope allowed them to be faithful and obedient servants of God.

b.     So often we forget what God has done in the past and our vision gets clouded by fear.  The fear steals our hope and faithfulness to God and keeps us from being obedient and hopeful about the future.     

3.     How does an encounter with this story shape who we are and who we should become?

a.     We should be a people who constantly retell the story of God’s faithfulness in the past, both through the biblical narrative and through the stories of our own lives.  God has been and continues to be faithful to us.  The phrase, “remember when God did this…” should always be on our lips.  It leads us to have hope and believe that what God has done in the past God will do again.   

Specific Discussion Questions:

Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.

1.     Mary sets out on a perilous three-day, seventy-mile journey to visit her relative Elizabeth.  Why would she do this?

2.     Why does the yet to be born John leap for joy in Elizabeth’s womb when Mary arrives? What does this say about who John will be in relationship to Jesus?

3.     Elizabeth offers a blessing to Mary and wonders aloud why it would be that someone so important would come to visit her.  Why would Elizabeth wonder why Mary would come visit her?

4.     Mary’s song begins declaring that her soul and spirit are filled with joy.  The rest of the song outlines why she is filled with joy.  Make a list of all of the things that she describes in the song that God has done.  What portion of those things are done for Mary and what portion of those things were done for God’s people?

5.     Why would one who is miraculously pregnant with the “Son of the Most High” recount all these things that God has done in the past?  What connection is there between what God is doing through Mary and what God has done in the past as related in the song?

6.     In Advent we not only celebrate Jesus’ birth but we expectantly wait for Jesus’ coming again. How does remembering what God has done in the past (like Jesus’ birth) help us view and understand current events in our life and give us hope for future events?

7.     As a group, try and compose a poem or song which outlines all that God has done for you in the past.  Keep it as a reminder that as God has worked in the past, God will work in the future.

[1] [2]

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[1] Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, Sixth Impression edition (Grand Rapids, Mich: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997).

[2] I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978).

Luke 1:67-79 –A Light in the Darkness

Lesson Focus:
Christ has come and is coming again.  We are called, just as John the Baptist was called, to prepare the way for the coming of God.

Lesson Outcomes:
Through this lessons students should:
1.    Describe how John the Baptist was to prepare God’s people for his coming.
2.    Understand what it means to walk in the way of peace.
3.    Identify themselves with the mission to which John had been called.

Catching up on the story:
The story of John the Baptist’s birth is, in some ways, plain and ordinary.  It’s plain and ordinary in two ways.  First, we know it so well.  Second, John’s birth narrative is similar to other great figures in Israel’s history where barren parents give birth to a child.  Yet, it is this similarity to other birth narratives in Israel’s history that makes it so earth shattering. 

The script goes like this: There is a barren couple who are old and well past their prime.  Barrenness, the inability to fulfill God’s command to be fruitful and multiply, was a mark of shame.  It was thought to mean that somewhere, somehow, someone in the family had sinned and this was God’s punishment on them.  Of course, we don’t think like that today.  Here we find Elizabeth and Zechariah in the same shoes as Abraham and Sarah.  Barren. 

Yet, in the midst of Elizabeth and Zechariah’s barrenness they are faithful, just as Abraham and Sarah had been.  One day, while Zechariah was doing his duties as a priest in the Temple, an angel of the Lord appears to him and announces that he and Elizabeth will soon have a son who is to be named John.  Zechariah is a little slow to believe because he and his wife are so old and past the years that people normally have children.  So, he questions the words of the angel.  Zechariah’s disbelief earns him the loss of his ability to speak until the day the child is born. 

John is born and eight days later, when the child would have been circumcised and formally given a name, the couple’s neighbors and family want to know what he will be named.  When Zechariah writes that his name will be John, immediately he regains his ability to speak.  All who hear of this story begin to wonder just what this child will become.  We don’t have to wait long to find out that this child, like the other children who were born by the power of God from barrenness, will become a great instrument in the hands of God.   It is from dark barrenness of all kinds that God does his most fantastic work.             

The Text:   
Our text picks up after John’s birth.  Luke has already reported for us the birth announcement from God to Mary.  When the time came for the child to be born the couple’s neighbors wanted to name him after his father.  Zechariah, on the other hand, had been told by the angel that the boys name was to be John.  As soon as Zechariah insisted that the boys name be John he was able to speak again.  Immediately following his renewed ability to speak he began to prophesy, as he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Israel at this time was under Roman rule and oppression.  They believed that God was going to send for them a savior who would free them from their oppressors.  Forgiveness would be given and national restoration would take place.  Some thought this would happen in a military campaign, others did not.  What was clear, however, is that Israel was also waiting for someone who would herald the coming of this savior.  Luke is telling us that this John is that coming herald. 

Blessed be the Lord!
This first part of Zechariah’s song, verses 68-75, deal with God’s continued faithfulness to Israel.  This hymn begins with a blessing directed toward God.  This hymn is often called the “Benedictus” because the first word, blessed, is benedictus in Latin.  With this blessing Luke begins to connect the narrative around John with Israel’s past and her hopes and dreams for the future. 

Why is God to be blessed? He is blessed because he has “looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.”  The NRSV’s translation of “looked favorably” can be more literally translated, “visited his people.”  In the Old Testament, when God “visited” his people it almost always had to do with bringing about deliverance (Nolland, 86).  Surely, at this point, Zechariah knows some of the significance about what is to take place through Mary.  In a very real way God will visit Zechariah and his people.  Redemption and deliverance is right around the corner. 

In verse 69 Luke begins to make a clear connection between God’s work and commitment to Israel in the past through the likes of David, and what is happening presently.  God is raising up a “mighty savior,” literally a “horn of salvation.”  The horns of an animal were seen as symbols of power and strength.  Here the image depicted is that God is raising up one who will be strong and powerful and will act in strong and powerful ways for Israel.  The one who will be this horn will not be just anyone, but one from the house of David.  Again, there is a strong connection between God’s saving acts in the past and the ones that are coming.

As we move through the hymn, an element of national salvation begins to emerge.  This mighty savior will come and will save Israel from her enemies and from the hand of those who hate them.  All of this will take place as a result of God’s covenant with Israel through Abraham.  Israel will finally be able to serve God without fear.  We might be tempted to read this in an overly political way, that Zechariah is celebrating the sure defeat of Israel’s political enemies.  The fact is, however, that by the time of Luke’s writing, Jerusalem had been conquered completely by the Romans and the Temple had been destroyed.  Without over-spiritualizing this part of the hymn, we must read it in a future tense.  Ultimately, we will be delivered from all things that oppress us, politically and spiritually, but it has not yet been completed.

The fact remains that Zechariah is celebrating the God who has been and will be completely faithful to his people.  God has not left his children to die, but has continued to work for them toward salvation and redemption.  Zechariah’s son is now an important part of Israel’s salvation history.    

And You Child…
At verse 76 the song shifts to speak more directly about John.  The language of this part of the hymn almost begs the reader to imagine a quaint scene where Zechariah and his wife are surrounded by friends and family.  Zechariah is holding his new son and is uttering this song.  At verse 76 he turns his gaze from those around him to his child.  Addressing his son, he says, “And you, child…”  Every parent spends some time gazing at their newborn child and wonders what they will one day become.  What an amazing thing it must have been for Zechariah to look down on his child and know that the life that he holds will be used in a special way by God.

“And you, child will be called prophet of the Most High…”  Here we begin to learn about who John will be and what he will do.  Whereas Luke refers to Jesus in 1:32 as “Son of the Most High,” John will be Jesus’ prophet, specifically the one who is called to go before this coming King Jesus.  Just as an earthly king would send representatives ahead of him to ensure that residents of a town he planned to visit would be well prepared for his arriving, here God is sending John ahead to prepare his people for the coming of God’s visit in Jesus Christ. 

How is it that John will prepare God’s people for God’s coming visit?  Zechariah tells us through a series of infinitives: John is going “to give knowledge of salvation…” “to give light…” and “to guide…”  First, Zechariah tells us that John will give to the people knowledge of salvation.  The phrase, “knowledge of salvation” may be a bit misleading for us.  It does not mean that John merely proclaims that salvation is coming or outlines the way in which salvation can be achieved.  That salvation was coming and specific ways in which it could be received was already known in Israel.  Rather, the phrase “knowledge of salvation,” is a Hebrew idiom that deals more with the actual experience of salvation.  John will not, in his own power, grant people salvation, but will practically lead people through the experience of salvation (Nolland, 89).  John will do this through his preaching and his leading of people to baptism.  As we look at the second part of verse 77, we notice that this knowledge of salvation will lead to the forgiveness of sins.  Again, John is not forgiving sins, he is leading people to an experience of God’s salvation and through that salvation their forgiveness of sins. 

The second infinitive is found in verse 79 but must be kept with the preceding verse, as the reason for the giving of the light is given there.  It must be noted, however, that John is not the one giving the light, as our English translation might suggest. God is giving the light, but John is the one focusing it on God’s people.  John’s job is to prepare the light, to present the light in such a way that the people will recognize it for what it is. 

Verse 78 points to the reason for the song, for John’s birth and for Jesus’ coming.  God, in his “tender mercy,” has decided to visit us (the NRSV’s “break upon us” is the translation for the same word we discussed above in verse 68, “visit.”  Remember there that God’s visiting carries with it a sense of God’s immediate action for the ones he is visiting).  It is through God’s compassion and tender mercy for his people that God decides to initiate his visit to us in the person of Jesus.  This visit will be like the coming dawn after a great, dark and hopeless night.  Those who sit in the shadow of death will not have that shadow removed from them.  The light is coming and with the light comes life.

The third infinitive, “to guide,” works off the second.  In a world filled with darkness it is hard to find one’s way.  There are many obstacles in the path and, if one is not careful, the wrong step can lead to death.  Here, the giving of the light will allow John to help guide God’s people in the way of peace.  Here “peace” is not just the absence of conflict; it is a state of being that is marked by blessing and favor from God.  The way of peace that is described here is the fulfillment of the Jewish greeting, shalom.  Shalom is the way things are supposed to be, it is the time and place and way of being that sees all things working for the glory of God their creator. 

John, this prophet of the Most High, has been called to prepare God’s people for God’s coming by leading people to an actual experience of salvation and forgiveness that is present in this dark and chaotic world because of the great and tender mercy of God.  The light that John prepares the people to receive will be the light that fights backs the darkness of death and sin, the light that leads us to walk in the path of justice and righteousness.  This light, which dawns with the birth of Jesus, will guide our feet so that we might discover peace, God’s shalom, his hope for the whole world. 
      
So What?
I wonder if you and I aren’t called, by virtue of our baptism in Christ Jesus, to enact a ministry somewhat like John’s?  I wonder if, as we emerge from those baptismal waters as children of God, we could hear the words of God speaking to us that we “will go before the Lord to prepare his ways…?”

I don’t mean to say that we will be prophets, predicting future events.  I do mean that as we celebrate Christ’s first coming, and eagerly anticipate his second coming, we might lead God’s children –especially those lost ones– to experience God’s salvation and forgiveness.  This is more than just a verbal proclamation, but an actual concrete and physical leading of people to salvation.  I wonder if, this Advent season and beyond, we can become the kind of people who actively seek out and draw those who are sitting in the shadow of death into the dawning light of Christ?  I wonder if we can be a church that actively seeks out the way of peace, the way of God’s shalom, the way things should be, and lead others to that path, too?  By the grace of God, we will.   

Critical Discussion Questions:

1.  What does God look like in this text/Who is God in this text/What is God doing in this text?
1.  God is fulfilling his promises to God’s people.  Full and final salvation for God’s people is coming in and through the birth of Jesus.  But God’s faithfulness is not just motivated by a need to keep covenant, but also by a great sense of compassion and mercy for the world.  God’s salvation and light is coming because God is faithful and merciful.   
2. What does holiness/salvation look like in this text?
1. A people who are holy will engage in a ministry that prepares the way for Christ’s second coming.  A holy people will be like John the Baptist.  We will lead people to the actual experience of salvation and forgiveness, we will share God’s tender mercy with those who need it, we will direct God’s good and life-giving light to those who sit in the shadow of death, we will seek to walk in the way of peace and begin to lead others down that path, too. 
3. How does an encounter with this story shape who we are and who we should become?
1. I think this passage asks us to evaluate if we are messengers of God’s coming like John was.  It asks us to be a people who actively prepare the way for Christ’s continual coming in the Holy Spirit and his second coming.

Specific Discussion Questions:
Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.

1. In verse 68 the text says that God has “looked favorably on his people.”  The original Greek’s sense is that God has “visited” his people.  In the Old Testament when God “visited” his people it meant that God was about to actively work for the benefit of God’s people.  What stories in the Old Testament might be examples of God “visiting” his people?  How might those stories be similar to what’s happening here in Luke?
2. Verses 68-75 serves as a brief summery of God’s relationship with Israel to this point.  Why would Zechariah give such a summary? How might what God is going to do here through Mary and John connect to all that has gone before?
3. Why is John being called to “go before the Lord to prepare his ways?”
4. What does it mean to “give knowledge of salvation to his people?” In what ways might you give others knowledge of salvation? 
5. What does it look like, for us and those around us today, to “sit in darkness and the shadow of death?”  How might the dawning light of Christ help those who sit in the shadow of death?
6. John is said to help us walk in “the way of peace.”  Peace here is more than just the absence of conflict; it is the wholeness that comes from living in a state of blessing by God.  For the Jews, peace was encapsulated in the idea of “shalom.”  What is shalom?  How might we, as a church, walk in and help others walk in the way of shalom?
7. John was a special character in the story of God’s salvation for humanity, yet we may be called to be like John in the way he prepared the way for the coming of Jesus. Using this passage, how might we take up a role similar to John’s? How might we prepare people to receive Christ as he continues to visit us here and now?
8. Are you actively leading people to experience God’s salvation? Why or why not?      

Jeremiah 33:14-17 –Hope in Exile

Lesson Focus:
We are in exile waiting hopefully for our king to come again.  We must wait while proclaiming with our voice and our actions God’s desire for justice and righteousness. 

Lesson Outcomes:
Through this lessons students should

1. Recognize that the church in America is in exile.
2. Identify the season of Advent as a time of active and hopeful waiting.
3. Understand that our King has come and is coming again to finally and fully establish justice and righteousness.

Catching up on the story:
Jeremiah, a prophet from the southern nation of Judah leading up to and during the Babylonian invasion of Judah, is spoken to by God while in prison in the court of the guard.  God calls to Jeremiah and encourages him to seek God, calling on his name, so that God might reveal to him things that are hidden and secret.  Jeremiah must have complied because what follows is a series of promissory oracles which detail a positive future for Israel and Judah. 

A bleak vision filled with destruction is painted for us first.  This vision will contrast with the promises that God will make to Jeremiah for Israel and Judah.  A current detail of the destruction and despair that Judah has just or will experience is crucial for the message of hope that Jeremiah now brings. 

As we get ready to look at this text two things are important to note.  First, the promises that God will make in the following section concern the historical and sociopolitical future of the community.  Second, these promises are voiced and heard in the context of exile.  What Israel hears here is not predicated on their current circumstances, which aren’t good.  Rather they are heard and then proclaimed in spite of those circumstances.  God will bring about for God’s people what they have tried but failed to secure for themselves: safety, health, peace and a bright future.
 
The Text:
The text we are concerned with, verses 14-17, fall in a section of promissory utterances delivered by God to Jeremiah for the people.  Verses 14-17 tell of the renewal of the monarchy.  Only, this new monarchy will be unlike the kings who have gone before.  

This promissory utterance begins with the formulaic words, “The days are surely coming…”  Often when we hear these types of words what follows is dark and foreboding.  Here, however, that is not the case.  The formulaic statement jumps right into words which bring hope and comfort to a people in exile.  The days are surely coming, says God, when God will fulfill his promise to Israel and to Judah of a king who will be in the line of David.  This promise, which we find in Jeremiah 23:5-6, is not just for a king who will once again rule over Israel in Jerusalem.  It is a promise for a king who will be like David, a man after God’s own heart. 

Jeremiah describes this king as a righteous branch.  Imagine that the kings of Israel from David on are represented by a tree.  David would be the trunk and those kings that followed him, both good and bad, would be the branches.  The exile amounts to a cutting down of this royal tree.  The branches were dead and lifeless and so the tree must be cut down leaving only a stump.  Yet God has no intentions of abandoning this stump or removing it completely.  Instead, Jeremiah tells us, new growth will spring from that previously lifeless tree.  This new growth will not take place because of anything that anyone in Judah, Israel or elsewhere does; the new growth will happen because God has decided, in his faithfulness, that it will happen. 

Notice, however, how Jeremiah describes the branch.  It will not be like the branches that died and caused the tree to be cut down in the first place.  Rather, it will be a righteous branch.  This righteous branch will work for justice and righteousness in the land, things that have been absent for a very long time.  Now, we have encountered these words, righteousness and justice, before in the context of Israel’s unfaithfulness.  Think back to our study of Hosea chapter 2.  Israel, who had been so unfaithful, will not be abandoned by God.  God was going to woo them back.  God proclaims that he will pay the “bride price” for her.  Only the price will not be livestock or money, but will be righteousness, justice, steadfast love, mercy and faithfulness.  We said that those things that God had given Israel for her hand in marriage were the very same things she was to give God back in return.  Now, Jeremiah joins in and echoes Hosea’s call for the people, beginning with their king, to live with justice and righteousness. 

These two concepts, justice and righteousness, are complimentary.  It would be hard to have one without the other.  Justice deals with the rights and integrity of relationships within society and on a personal level. God will work on Israel’s behalf to ensure that she receives fair treatment and has dignity as persons created in his image.  A king who seeks justice will be a king that works to ensure that people, especially those prone to mistreatment, the poor and marginalized, receive fair and proper treatment.  Righteousness, on the other hand, is characterized by actions taken so that others may experience wholeness and wellbeing, as we seek to live in right relationship with them. God will act on Israel’s behalf so that she might experience wholeness.

So What?
After reading these words of hope we might remember that Israel has been destroyed and Judah is carried off into exile.  David’s line is essentially cut off.  Jerusalem will be destroyed and so will the temple.  A political king, one from David’s line, never returns to Jerusalem even though it, along with the temple, will be rebuilt.  This passage, then, is often read in the light of the hopeful expectation for the messiah. Those who return from exile will cling to promises like these in hope that, one day, God will restore Israel to her former glory. 

Often times, though, we take the promises of God and reshape them to fit our own preferred future.  This is certainly what Israel did.  As we begin the season of Advent, this righteous branch that God will cause to spring up is none other than Jesus Christ.  This king comes to us to lead us in justice and righteousness in the midst of our own exile.  We may not experience exile as Israel did--our homes have not been destroyed and we have not been carried off to a foreign land--but the church is in exile anyway.  The church no longer possesses the kind of power it once had in society and we are increasingly living in a post-Christian world.  At times it feels like we are strangers in a foreign land.  And that’s ok.  Because it is in this place of exile that we hear these words of hope:  A king is coming.  Not just any king, but a king who will lead us in justice and righteousness, both in the future and here and now.     

In exile we have two choices.  First, we can constantly lament our situation.  We can wallow in pessimism and worry.  Or, we can embrace the hope that our righteous king has come and will one day come again. The embrace of this kind of hope leads us out to proclaim, alongside Jeremiah, that all is not lost.  It is not just a verbal proclamation we are called to, however.  The words used to describe the king in whom we hope, justice and righteousness, are active and relational terms.  May we be a place and a people who not only proclaim the hope of our coming king with our voices, but with our actions, through our care for one another and through our care for the world around us.

Critical Discussion Questions:

1. What does God look like in this text/Who is God in this text/What is God doing in this text?  
1. In the context of all that surrounds these short verses we are reminded that God is continuing his faithfulness to those whom he has created in his own image.  This continuing faithfulness is most evident when we think that all is dead and lost.  It is out of nothing that God created the world and it will be through seemingly dead and hopeless situations that God restores the world. 
2. What does holiness/salvation look like in this text?
1. We are called to enact the same justice and righteousness that our king enacts.  If the king comes to establish those things, and we subject ourselves to this king, then we must act in the same kind of ways.  We are saved because Christ comes to enact justice and righteousness, and we become holy by allowing the Spirit to work through us, transforming us so that we too might enact justice and righteousness. 
3. How does an encounter with this story shape who we are and who we should become?
1. If we, as the church in America, are really in exile, where we may not be in charge of our own destiny, then this passage calls us to examine how we have been and will continue to react to a place diminished power and influence in this world.   

Specific Discussion Questions:
Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.

1. The passage begins with the words, “The Days are surely coming…”  What days are those?  What is God promising will happen in those days?
2. Jeremiah is using the imagery of a tree that has been cut down.  Who is the trunk of the tree?  Who are the branches?  Why has the tree been cut down?
3. The text promises that a king from the line of David will always sit on the throne in Jerusalem.  Historically, after the time of Jeremiah and the Exile, a king in David’s line never again sits on the throne.  Many after the Exile began to read this passage in a way that looked for a future Messiah.  Today, who would we say is the “righteous Branch” that verse 15 speaks about?
4. What kind of king will this “righteous Branch” be? 
5. The concepts of justice and righteousness are not new to us.  What do they mean? Where do we need justice and righteousness to be practiced in our city?
6. The church in America might also be living in exile.  We are experiencing an ever-greater loss of influence in our world both socially and politically. How are Christians reacting to this? 
7. If the church is in exile, what is the church’s hope?
8. What might it look like for us to embrace the hope of a coming king that Jeremiah proclaims? 
9. Our “righteous Branch” has already come, beginning to establish justice and righteousness, but is yet to come again and finally make all things right.  Advent is a season of waiting and expectation. How might we actively wait for Christ to come again this Advent season?  Make a list with your group.

Amos 6:1-14 –Arrogance and Apathy

Lesson Focus:

Those who are affluent and apathetic about the needs of those around them will be the first to experience God’s judgment.

Lesson Outcomes:

Through this lessons students should:

1.     Understand that Israel is being judged for her over inflated sense of importance and apathy toward the needs of others in the midst of her own affluence.

2.     Be encouraged to examine their own life for arrogance and apathy.

3.     Discover ways to fight apathy.

Catch up on the story:
Amos has lamented the current state of Israel. He has sung a funeral dirge over the loss of Israel, even though her downfall has not yet happened. For Amos, Israel’s destruction is as good as done. Yet, Amos still calls Israel to seek God so that they might live. Israel is encouraged to seek God, not as she has done in the past, by engaging in ritual worship services at special places of worship, but in returning to living lives of justice and righteousness. God has rejected Israel, and her worship because she has rejected justice and righteousness.

The Text:

This week’s passage can be split up into two sections, verses 1-3 and 4-7. Amos continues to speak using the same themes he has previously used. The affluence of Israel is her main source of trouble. Although in this passage, Amos does not focus on how Israel got to be affluent, but on her attitude in the midst of her affluence.

We’re #1: 6:1-3

The opening, “Alas” (“Woe” as the NIV renders it) of chapter 6 tells us that Amos is continuing his lamenting over Israel. This “woe” would have been a common cry when someone had died. The effect on the hearers would have been one of chill and sorrow.[1] Amos continues to speak to Israel from a place of solidarity with them. While he does not participate in Israel’s injustices, he offers prophetic speech and mourns their fate as one of them. Amos does not stand on the outside looking in, judging from a place of superiority. Rather, he mourns for them and with them.

Amos is mourning because he sees the self-deception that has fallen over Israel. Israel, and Judah too (Zion) have come to believe that they are the “first among nations.” By all accounts, Israel was not the largest or richest or most powerful nation in the world, or even the region. Yet, in their affluence and comfort they began to see themselves as more important then they actually were. Perhaps they even thought of themselves as invulnerable. They “feel secure on Mt. Samaria.”

To counter this over confidence, Amos encourages his hearers to go to Calneh, Hammath and Gath. These three cities were important cities in the region. Calneh and Hamath were important city-states and trading centers to the north of Israel in Syria. Gath was one of the important Philistine cities.[2] Amos wants Israel to have a dose of reality. Israel is small and insignificant compared to her neighbors. In a rhetorical question, Amos asks, is Israel’s territory better than any other? Amos probably would have received a positive answer from his hearers, but the question itself demands a negative answer. In Israel’s affluence she has come to understand herself as overly important and invulnerable.

This first section ends with a lament. Amos laments over the fact that Israel, because she has deceived herself into thinking that she is important and invulnerable to the calamity that fast approaches. “O you that put far away the evil day…” Here Amos laments because Israel’s self deception, her unwillingness to believe that God’s judgement is near, has actually brought that day ever closer. Her arrogance has led her to reject any possible notion of repentance.

Oh Apathy!: 6:4-8

Next, Amos turns to describing, once again, the lifestyle of those who have plenty in Israel. Again, he begins this lament with “Alas.” Woe to the one who sleeps on a bed made of ivory, or who has time to spend lounging often on couch. Woe to those who have the luxury of eating lamb and calf. Keep in mind here, that eating meat was a privilege for only those who had significant means. To have a choice between two different kinds of meat was even more significant. The average person would have only been able to afford a little meat once or twice a year. Woe to those who sing idle songs and have and drunk so much wine that a normal wine glass is not sufficient to satisfy their thirst.

Amos offers these woes, not because fine furnishings, or meat or singing songs are wrong in and of themselves, he offers these woes because the wealthy in Israel enjoy these things while there is great need and suffering around them. The end of verse 6 is the kicker for these two sections of chapter 6, Israel engages in this opulent lifestyle but they “are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.” Joseph is another name for the northern nation of Israel. A little more literal translation of this phrase would go something like this, “Are you not sick…?” Amos wonders why Israel does not have a strong reaction that compels them to action when they are confronted with the needs of others around them. The point is clear, affluence that is enjoyed at the cost of less privileged people and while ignoring the need and suffering all around is affluence that is to be condemned.

The section ends with Amos declaring that Israel will indeed be first. They will be first to be carried off into exile. Their arrogance, their presumed importance and invulnerability, along with their apathy toward those in need while enjoying great wealth, will lead them to be the first to experience God’s coming judgment. God hates their pride.

So What…?

I wonder if here in America we don’t suffer from the same arrogance and apathy from which Israel suffered? We are indeed an affluent nation. We are indeed an important country in the global scene. It’s not sin to be proud of our country and the things that we have accomplished. We have been truly blessed with what we have, and we should be constantly mindful of those blessings.

But do we think more highly of ourselves than we ought? Like Israel, do we think we are invulnerable? Do we think that because we are who we are that God’s judgement may be a long way off? More importantly, do we enjoy the comforts of our material success while neglecting the needs and cries of pain all around us?

I think we do. Our affluence easily leads us to a misplaced conception of our on importance. Our affluence leads us to become apathetic about the needs of others, even while we have more than enough to share. While our church is moving in the right direction, as we allocate more time and resources to tending to the needs of others, I wonder how much more we might be able to do, personally and as church family?

The challenge of this chapter is very clear. Those who over value themselves, those who become apathetic about the needs of others while enjoying life’s comforts, they will be the first to experience God’s judgment. That judgment might not come for us until the hereafter, but it will come.

Critical Discussion Questions:

1. What does God look like in this text/Who is God in this text/What is God doing in this text?        
1. God is speaking clearly about what our priorities should be as his followers. Our priorities should be toward those around us, especially those who are in need. Those who think they are safe, because they worship rightly, or because they have amassed a sizable fortune, are not safe. God will judge those who think that they are. God is judging those who do not have their priorities straight.

2. What does holiness/salvation look like in this text?
1. Holiness in this text is using the gifts that God has given us in a proper way. The gifts God has given us are not just for our own enjoyment but so that we might alleviate the pain of others. As it has been said, there is no holiness except social holiness.

3. How does an encounter with this story shape who we are and who we should become?
1. I think this story should lead us to a good deal of self-reflection. If in that reflection we find that we have an over inflated sense of self worth, or that we are apathetic toward the needs of those around us, then we should seek the Spirit’s power to change our attitudes and actions.
2. Shifting from a place of apathy to one of active engagement is not easy. It takes practice and intentionality. If you cant pray that God would help you not be apathetic, at least pray that God would help you want to not be apathetic.

Specific Discussion Questions:

Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.

1.     Why would Israel have feelings of security? Why would she think that she was one of the “first nations,” first being most important?

2.     Why would Israel’s belief that the day of judgment is far away actually bring it closer (verse 3)?

3.     Amos describes Israel’s behavior as laying on beds made of ivory, lounging on couches, singing idle songs, drinking wine out of bowls because they have so much of it. Is there anything inherently wrong with these things? If not, why does Amos decry their behavior?

4.     Why does Amos say, in verse 7, that Israel will be the first to go into exile?

5.     Israel’s sins seem to be arrogance and apathy. They believe that their affluence has made them very important. Their affluence has also led them to turn a blind eye toward those in need. As Americans, are we guilty of the same sins? If yes, how so?

6.     Does Jesus take up these same themes? Read Luke 16:19-31.

7.     We are an affluent people. How might we guard against the apathy for which Israel was being judge?

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[1] James Limburg, Hosea: Micah (Atlanta: Westminster John Knox Press, 1988). 110

[2] Bruce C. Birch, Hosea, Joel, and Amos, Westminster Bible Companion (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997, 225.

Amos 5:1-25 –The Dark Day of the Lord

Lesson Focus:

Worship and justice go hand in hand. Worship without justice lacks substance.

Lesson Outcomes:

Through this lessons students should:

1.     Be able to define the biblical concept of justice.

2.     Be able to define the biblical concept of righteousness.

3.     Understand the connection between justice and right worship.

4.     Seek to examine our church’s worship and seeking of justice.

Catch up on the story:
Amos has made it abundantly clear that God’s judgment on Israel is coming. It is coming because Israel, among all the people of the world, were God’s chosen and special people. They were God’s covenant people. But they have engaged in oppressive and exploitative behavior so that they might live in prosperity and luxury. It’s not just those who actively engage in those behaviors who will be punished, but also those who benefit from Israel’s ill-gotten prosperity. No one is innocent. Even though Israel has been warned, even the clearest of warnings have not caused her to change her ways.

The Text:

This week’s text can be split up into two large sections, 5:1-17 and 5:18-25. Each section is likely composed of a collection of smaller speeches made by the prophet Amos and compiled by Amos or later editors.[1]

A Funeral Dirge: 5:1-7

Chapter 5 begins in the style of and poetic meter of a lament for the dead given by lamenting mourners. The voice here is that of the prophet. Later on in the passage the voice will switch to God’s. Here Amos lifts his voice and calls the “house of Israel,” the entire northern nation of Israel, to hear the sad words he is about to speak.

Amos begins his funeral dirge declaring that Israel is fallen. There is no more chance that she would raise from the dead then there would be for a virgin maiden who has been tragically struck down. In fact, Amos likens Israel to a maiden, an unwed woman who was in the prime of her life with so much ahead of her. Israel is a virgin maiden who has died. It is always sad when a person dies, but it is even sadder when someone so young with so much unfulfilled potential dies. Israel is here pictured as a young woman who has collapsed in a desolated land with no hope of help. Since the following images will be that of military defeat, the image of Israel as a maiden is meant to heighten the sense of Israel’s powerlessness and vulnerability in the face of an enemy army.[2] What may have been equally startling to those who first heard these words was that Amos is not speaking in a future tense. Rather, Amos is mourning as if Israel were already dead.

As we move on to verse three the image shifts to the aftermath of a battle. A city engaged in conflict with another power has sent out a thousand men to fight the battle. When the battle is over they will only have a hundred left. It will also be that way for the city that marched out a hundred men, only ten will be left. The image here is of an utter and complete defeat. Only one out of ten men survives. Indeed, it would be very hard to go out and fight another day with only one tenth of your original army. Israel’s defeat is as good as done. They are dead before the battle even begins.

In verse 4 the tone changes from that of a funeral dirge to that of a summons to seek God and live. If God has already determined Israel’s fate, why then do we have these words of hope? It may be that Amos is introducing a glimmer of hope, perhaps knowing that Israel will not change her ways. It also could be that Amos is using the phrase “Seek the Lord and live” as a segue into a section which talks of ineffectual ways to seek the Lord. For Israel, to “seek the Lord” was often associated with going to the sanctuary or Temple. This was particularly true in times of trouble. If God is in the Temple, then it seems logical that one should go there if one were in trouble. Even now this is not uncommon. Families or individuals often return to church in times of trouble, hoping that some good may come of it. Often times, when the trouble is over, commitment to church wanes.

The verses immediately following verse 4 challenges Israel to seek God, not in the ways they have become accustomed to, i.e., engagement in religious services, but in other ways. By the end of the chapter we will have a clearer understanding of what it truly means to seek the Lord. Bethel, Gilgal, and Beer-sheba are all places of religious practice for Israel. They will be destroyed or will go will into exile. It is not that Amos, or God for that matter, believes that engagement in regular worship activities has become unimportant, rather, for Israel these religious engagements have become ends unto themselves. Israel believes that if they engage in worship enough, it will not matter how they engage in life outside of the sanctuary. There is a disconnect between worship and moral and ethical living, as the next set of verses will display.

Amos is quite clear at this point. There are two possibilities for Israel. The first is death and destruction at the hand of God. The second is life as a result of doing justice. In verses 7-9 Amos describes why this judgment is coming. Israel has turned justice into “wormwood.” Wormwood is a plant that is well known for its bitterness and has often been used as an image for bitterness and trouble. Israel, because of her oppressive and exploitive ways, has turned justice, something that should be sweet and life giving, into something bitter. Justice often denotes a right and ordered society. It refers to the “claim of all persons to full and equitable participation in the structures and dealings of the community, and especially to equity in the legal system.”[3] In God’s eyes, Israel has ceased to be a right and ordered society. The one who will bring the judgment is the very one who ordered the universe in the first place. The one who made the constellations, brings rain upon the mountain, and brings day from the dark night. The God of order now brings punishment on a people who have brought about disorder.

Verses 10-13 again stress Israel’s sins. The city gate was a place where the elders of the town mediated disputes. It has ceased, however, to be a place where justice could be found. Those who speak truth at the gate of the city are hated. Part of a right and ordered society is that justice could be found for all, especially the poor and powerless. Israel, however, has actively denied justice to those who need it most. What is worse, they have denied justice to the poor and powerless so that they could increase in wealth and power themselves. Consequently, they have built houses of stone and they have planted vineyards (a crop of the wealthy because of the time investment needed). Because they have obtained these things in an unjust manner, they will no longer live in these houses they have built for themselves.

Once again, in verse 14, Israel is encouraged to seek the good and reject evil. Israel has claimed that God is with them, only because of their unjust ways, he has not been. But, God proclaims, that if Israel rejects the evil and seeks the good, he will be with them. Seeking good here is establishing justice and righteousness in the gate so that there might be an honest and equitable court system where the exploited and wronged my seek relief.

The Dark Day of the Lord: 5:18-25

The first section, 5:1-17 mourns the loss of Israel because of her lack of justice and righteousness. While she has been encouraged to seek God and reject evil, her fate is all but sealed. The remainder of chapter 5 deals with the Day of the Lord, which for Israel, expressed hope and expectation for the day when God would descend and bring judgment on Israel’s enemies. The Day of the Lord was to be a glorious time, when Israel would be vindicated and all would once again be right.

Amos turns this idea of the Day of the Lord on its head. This day will not be a day of light, as they had expected, but will be a day of darkness and fear. Verses 19 and 20 describe the day as going from bad to worse. The Day of the Lord will be like a man who is fleeing from a lion. He narrowly escapes the lion only to be met by a bear. Or, the man escapes the lion by running into a house. As he rests his hand on the wall to catch his breath a snake reaches out and bites him! The image is clear; the Day of the Lord will not be a good day, and just when Israel thinks she finds safety and respite from danger, she will be confronted with a fatal threat. Trouble will follow trouble and death will not be far behind. Israel thought she was safe and protected because she was God’s people. Only she has forgotten that God’s protection of her has always been contingent upon her faithfulness to the covenant, of which justice and righteousness are the cornerstone.

Verses 21through 24 forms the climax for this section of Amos, if not the book itself. Here God himself speaks to Israel declaring that because Israel has not paired justice and righteousness with her worship, her worship is meaningless. God hates her religious festivals and takes no delight in her worship gatherings. They offer the right sacrifices at the right time and in the right amount but God will not accept them. He will not listen to their songs. They are a useless noise. “God has become numbed to Israel’s efforts to draw God’s regard toward them.”[4]

Instead, God says, justice should roll down like the water of a waterfall. Justice and righteousness should flow through the land like an unrestrained and unending river. Water, even small amounts, has the power to dramatically shape the landscape. Even very hard rock can be shaped by the constant application of water. Righteousness and justice, even in small amount, have the ability to radically reshape our world. What God makes very clear, here in chapter 5, is that Israel, even though she engages in right worship, has neglected justice and righteousness, therefore her worship has been rejected and so has she.

So What…?

This passage should give us pause. It forces us to ask ourselves a very crucial set of questions, Are we like Israel? Have we neglected justice and righteousness? Has our material comfort been purchased at the expense of the ability of others to live above poverty? Do we help perpetuate a justice system that is more accessible to the wealthy? Do we place more emphasis on our worship than we do living lives filled with justices and righteousness?

If we answer yes to any of the above questions, and I think as Americans we have to, then we are in danger or ending up like Israel. The good news is, even though we may live in a land where injustice seems to rule the day (maybe not for us directly, but for many Americans), as the church we are called to work for justice and righteousness. Our worship will be pleasing to God when we are challenged to examine the ways in which our consumption of material goods affects the lives of others. Our worship will we be pleasing to God when we are sent out from our sanctuary to seek justice and to live in righteous and right relationship with our neighbor. Through the work of the Holy Spirit we have the ability to go forth like an ever-flowing stream of justice so that the landscape may be dramatically altered!

Critical Discussion Questions:

1. What does God look like in this text/Who is God in this text/What is God doing in this text?        
1. God is just as concerned that we live with justice and righteousness, as he is concerned with our engagement in worship. God is bringing judgment on Israel because she had not lived lives of justice.

2. What does holiness/salvation look like in this text?
1. Holiness looks like allowing our times of worship to prepare us to go forth into the world to seek justice and righteousness. The perfected love of holiness propels us to seek for the good of those who are poor and powerless. Sometimes this means the sacrifice of comfort and wealth on our part.

3. How does an encounter with this story shape who we are and who we should become?
1. Justice and righteousness are extremely important to God. Our worship becomes meaningless if we do not live lives that seek justice and righteousness. Therefore, we must constantly examine the ways in which we live to see if we are seeking after justice and righteousness.

Specific Discussion Questions:

Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.

1.     Why does Amos tell Israel not to go to Bethel, Gilgal and Beer-sheba, all centers of religious activity, to seek God?

2.     What does Amos mean when he says that Israel has turned “justice to wormwood?”

3.     The city or town gate was where the elders would gather to mediate disputes between people. What kind of activity does Amos say is taking place in the gates? What kind of place should the gate be?

4.     What is the Day of the Lord and why would Israel want that day to come? How does Amos understand what the Day of the Lord will be?

5.     In verse 21, God says to Israel that he hates their festival and solemn assemblies. What has caused God’s hatred? Why has completely rejected their worship?

6.     Instead, God wants justice to roll down like water, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Why does God use this water imagery to illustrate what justice and righteousness should be like?

7.     Define both justice and righteousness.

8.     In what ways might we be like Israel in this passage? Do we work toward justice? How do we ensure that our worship is acceptable to God?

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[1] Hans Walter Wolff, Joel and Amos: A Commentary on the Books of the Prophets Joel and Amos, trans. S. Dean McBride Jr, and Waldemar Janzen, (Philadelphia: Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 1977), 231.

[2] Bruce C. Birch, Hosea, Joel, and Amos, Westminster Bible Companion (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997), 212.

[3] Birch, 215.

[4] Birch, 219.