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 3:1-17 –Bear Good Fruit!

Lesson Focus:

Baptism, the repentance that takes place before it, and the cleansing and rising to new life that takes place in it, are meaningless if they are not followed by the bearing of “fruit.” 

Lesson Outcomes:

Through this lessons students should:

1.     Understand that John the Baptist is a prophet like the prophets in the Old Testament who were to prepare the hearts and minds of God’s people for his coming.

2.     Understand that John’s call for followers of God to produce fruit is not just for the newly converted but for those who have been Christian a long time.

3.     Discuss what it looks like to produce good fruit as Christians. 

Catch up on the story:

The stage has been set for Jesus to appear on the scene as an adult.  We have heard all about his birth and what people are saying he is and what he is to do.  It is obvious to those who have read Luke’s story to this point that something great and expected is going to come from Jesus.  Before we meet Jesus, however, we meet John who is called the Baptist.  In the words and actions of John we will get a good idea of what Jesus is going to do.  John, it seems, is the last of the prophets pointing the way toward Jesus.

John, if you will remember, is the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth who were at an old age and unable to have children.  An angel visits Zechariah while he is working in the Temple and informed him that he would be the father of a special boy.  This boy will grow up and help prepare the way for God’s salvation to enter the world.     

The Text:

A Voice from the Wilderness: 3:1-6

John’s own birth was something of a miracle, marking him as a significant character in the story.  Luke begins this section with John by giving us a bunch of clues to his actual historical and social location.  Luke has done this in such a way as to make his readers draw a connection between John, what he will do and what he will say, with the prophets that Israel has seen before.  Many of the Old Testament prophetic books begin in similar fashion.  There is no doubt in Luke’s mind that John is a prophet who is to prepare the hearts and minds of God’s people for his arrival. 

Luke also tells us exactly what John is up to, “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  We are not told much about the actual nature of John’s baptism, how he performed it that is. This leads us to believe that what Luke (and John) find important about the event is not how it is carried out, but rather that what is happening before, during, and after the event. 

Baptism was not unknown in John’s day; it would have been one of the rituals a gentile would need to go through to convert to Judaism.  As such it was seen as an outward ritual signifying the washing away of sins.  Like other similar Jewish ritual washings, the symbolic action would have been deemed ineffective without a corresponding change in inward attitude and external behavior. (Marshall, 135).  Luke connects John and his baptism within the general flow of Old Testament prophecy.  He does this by quoting Isaiah 40:3-5.  John is the one whose voice is crying out from the wilderness urging people to ensure that things are ready for the coming King.  At the heart of the quotation is a desire for the hearts and minds of God’s people to be ready for his coming.  

You Brood of Vipers! 3:7-10

There is no need to understand this section as all taking place at one time and place.  It is rather likely that there were many opportunities for John to baptize people and to proclaim to them who he was and for whom he was preparing the way.  John obviously had enough popularity and name recognition that people were coming in waves to be baptized by him. 

Verse 7 begins with John announcing to the people what exactly it is that they are to be doing.  As prophets do, John knows the context of his people, what they will say, and the difference between what they think they want and what they really need.  John knows these people are seeking something –repentance and salvation– and they think it can be found in John’s baptism.

Just what they thought they were being saved from is different than what we commonly understand salvation.  While it is true that many were seeking freedom from their sin, the sin of the people was also thought of as having consequences for the nation as a whole: political consequences.  For some time leading up to the time of John, Israel had been ruled by the Romans.  It was common to think that this Roman occupation was a result of Israel’s unfaithfulness and what was needed was a new Exodus of sorts.  If Israel turned and repented, then God would bring about liberation from the Romans.   

It becomes clear, as we look at the passage, that some in the crowd believed that if they merely received the right kind of baptism they would be saved from the harsh reality in which they already lived.  After all, they were children of Abraham, God’s chosen people, and God had promised to be faithful to them.  Some thought salvation should be secure just because they are God’s people.   John, however, sees right through this and chastises the crowd.  He clearly points out that it is not just the baptism that will bring about their salvation, but their subsequent change of action and attitude. 

John introduces a metaphor that Jesus will pick up on and use, that of bearing good fruit.  A tree that should bear a certain kind of fruit but does not is a tree that is not worthy of the ground it is using.  John says, if you want this baptism to mean anything, then you must begin to bear the fruit that comes along with repentance.  Repentance without fruit is worthless, it seems!

Then, John sends out a very sharp warning: even now your tree is about to be cut down.  If you do not get it together the ax will strike the trunk and you’ll be cut down and used for firewood.  There is no need to press the “thrown into the fire” image here.  John is not making claims about what happens to those who are unrepentant.  The fire pit is a place you put wood that has been cut down. 

What Then Should We Do? 3:14

Realizing that John is indeed right, the people respond by putting a question to John, “What then should we do?”  In other words, the people are interested in bearing fruit but they are not exactly sure how this is to happen.  What does it look like? 

This question, even though it seems so simple and, perhaps, only suitable for those who are seeking new faith, is for us too.  Remember, John is not speaking to the unconverted here; he is speaking to those who are deeply familiar with the story of God’s working in, through and for Israel.  This question comes from those who are “in” so to speak.  Certainly, most of those who will attend your group this week are “in” as well.  Let this question speak to them too.     

To the first group John responds, “Those of you who have two pairs of underwear give it to those who have none.  Likewise, if you have food share it with those in need.”  John is not saying that just those who have abundance should give, -they should- he is saying that even the poorest of poor have something to give. If you’ve got more than one pair of underwear and someone needs some, you should give them a pair of yours.  For this first group of people, who were perhaps the poorest of the poor, bearing good fruit is taking care of the needs of others.

Luke goes on telling more of the story, showing that it wasn’t just the poor ones that came but even tax collectors and soldiers (probably Jewish men assigned to protect the much hated dishonest tax collectors, or perhaps soldiers in Herod’s army).  They came and asked the same question, “What should we do?”  John responds with simple advice that should not seem too burdensome.  These tax collectors and soldiers were to be satisfied with what they were paid and were to quit oppressing those from whom they collected taxes.  Often collecting taxes was a contract job that went to the highest bidder.  Payment was expected upfront and it was left to the tax collector to recoup his money from the people.  This was often done in harsh and exorbitant ways.

Here, again, Luke places John within the same vane as all of the Old Testament prophets.  John is calling God’s people to live with justice, righteousness and faithfulness in relation to their neighbors.  The fruit which John calls us to bear is not just morality as we often understand it (a list of don’ts), it’s a way of living in relation to those around us that sees their dignity and humanity and seeks to ensure that others can live abundant lives.  Repentance and the baptism that signifies it is not just for purity’s sake; it is also always for the sake of the other.

One Who is More Powerful: 3:15-17

The people who were gathered to hear John and receive his baptism are amazed.  Something new yet remarkably familiar is happening through this man.  Their hearts begin to stir, and they begin to wonder if John himself might be the one they are expecting.  John realizes what they are thinking and puts an end to that kind of talk.  He is not the one who is coming.  John’s baptism is not the end; it is but the beginning of what God is going to do.  Indeed, John says, there is one who is coming who is much more powerful and who will bring a baptism that will be like nothing you have seen or experienced.  It will be a baptism of fire, not water.  If water can wash away dirt and filth (symbolizing forgiveness), fire sterilizes (symbolizing the transformation of the human heart).  The fire that is coming is the fire of the Holy Spirit. And it is for this purpose that Jesus came: to pour out God’s Holy Spirit upon people, and thereby change their hearts.

So What?

For Luke and his hearers John’s “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” is a public rite of washing that represents the opportunity for a new start in life, a renewal of things.  Luke is saying, however, that baptism by itself is worthless unless those who receive it “bear fruits worthy of repentance” (v. 8).  The change in direction must be validated by changed behavior. 

One cannot rest on the fact that one has been “saved” or that one was born into a Christian family or that one has been a Christian his or her whole life or for a long time.  What matters is that one responds to the grace and forgiveness that has been received with a change in direction and behavior.  One must now produce good fruit (with the help of God’s Spirit of course).  What does the production of good fruit look like?

In this current passage it looks like:

·      Giving of one’s surplus to those who do not have

·      Not taking more than you deserve

·      Not extorting money (or anything) from people of lesser authority

·      Living with justice and righteousness toward others

In other places it is:

·      Loving your neighbor as yourself 

·      Caring for the orphan, the widow and the refugee

·      Living with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:16-26)

It seems apparent that John is demanding from those who have gathered to repent and be baptized that merely being baptized or being Jewish isn’t enough.  It translates for us today that things like going to church, being baptized, saying the sinner’s prayer, aren’t enough.  What is necessary is bearing fruit worthy of the salvation we have received from Jesus Christ.  It is a response to the love and grace that has been given to us that leads us to produce the fruit we talked about above. 

Some of us have been “Christian” for so long and our lives have been initially changed. We have been saved from all sorts of maleficent things.  Could it be that now we are guilty of resting on our once received salvation?  Do we fail to continue to live into our salvation by continuing to bear fruit worthy of our repentance?

As we approach our celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas, John reminds us that we can never rest on God’s past actions in us or our own past fruit, but that we must always bear good fruit. We must have regular practices in our lives whereby we do the sorts of things mentioned above. We also need to be continually baptized by the Holy Spirit, who empowers us to bear fruit more and more.

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’s desire and God’s call on our life displayed in this text is the same as it has been throughout almost all of the Old and New Testament.  God is ultimately concerned that we live in right relationship with him and others. He is concerned with how we treat one another, especially those who are unable to care for themselves.

b.     God is using John to prepare the hearts and minds of his people for his coming in the person of Jesus.  God does not want to surprise us with his expectations of us; he always helps us know what it is that we must do or not do to be prepared for his coming.  We can hear and know what God desires of us if we are willing to listen and obey.  

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

a.     Certainly, salvation is God’s gracious gift to us through his Son Jesus Christ. It is the gift of forgiveness of sins, symbolized by the baptismal washing. It is the transformation of our lives, through the power of the Spirit. Yet salvation is never a one-way street.  There is always an appropriate way for us to respond to the salvation we have received.  In this passage it looks like producing fruit, and that fruit looks a lot like seeking to act with the same justice, faithfulness, steadfast love and righteousness we talked a lot about this summer.  God’s requirement of his people does not change with the coming of Christ.  Yes, God is doing a new thing, he is becoming one of us, but that new thing that we celebrate at Christmas is so that we can live in right relationship with God and with others, which is not a new command.    

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

a.     John’s call to those who came to seek his baptism is an appropriate call for us today.  We may be baptized; we may be Christians; but are we truly producing fruit that is worthy of our repentance?  What this passage calls us to do is to question how it is that we are living our lives, as individuals and as a church, to see if we are indeed bearing good fruit.  If we are not, and if we persist in not producing fruit, then our lives and our church will eventually be cut down.   All is not lost, however; we are constantly called toward this fruit producing life and it is never too late to change.  

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.     Who does Luke believe John to be?  

2.     Luke tells us that John came proclaiming a baptism for repentance and the forgiveness of sins.  Baptism was a ritual used when someone converted to the Jewish faith and symbolized the washing away of sins.  So, John’s baptism was not completely unusual, but it was unique.  Why were so many rushing out to be baptized by John?

3.     In verse 4 Luke quotes Isaiah 40:3-5.  What is that passage about and why would Luke quote it in regards to John? 

4.     Obviously, John did not come just to baptize.  What was the role that John and his baptism were supposed to play? 

5.     It’s apparent that some in the crowd believed that their salvation was secure because they were Jews and had Abraham as their father.  After all, God had promised to Abraham and his descendants that he would always be faithful to them.  How might we have similar attitudes to some of those who were going out to see John?

6.     After John warns the crowd, they want to know what it is that they should do.  John tells them to produce fruit worthy of their repentance.  What does that mean?  Read verses 11-14 again.  What kind of action steps does John tell the crowd to do?

7.     John’s call to produce fruit worthy of the repentance is not just for those who are new believers.  Those of us who have been Christians for a long time often fail to continue to produce good fruit.  Take some time to quietly examine your life, are you producing good fruit?  After you quietly reflect, share your thoughts with the group. 

8.     What are some of the ways we might produce good fruit as individuals and as a church?

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?      

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.