We have a beautiful boy living with us. I delight in him daily. Today, for the first time, we walked around the house with him just holding one hand. I don’t know what he will become. I don’t know who he will be. I need to wait and see if he will even be with us for more than a few months. Contrast that with one who is born in fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Sense the joy that people felt on seeing a five hundred year old prophesy fulfilled in a little boy.
Luke 1: 67-70; Luke 2: 33-35
- Who was filled with the Holy Spirit?
- Why should the Lord God of Israel be blessed?
- What were Jesus’ father and mother amazed about?
- What is amazing about what is being revealed to the parents in these passages?
- Do you maintain a sense of awe and wonder at God’s work?
Going Deeper
Observation
- What part of an animal has been raised up?
- In whose house has one been raised up?
- How did God speak of old?
- Who blessed Mary and Joseph?
- What will happen to Mary’s soul?
Interpretation
- What is the significance of a horn?
- Who has just been born to Zacharias?
- Does God still prophecy?
- How is it a blessing if a sword pierces your soul?
- How are the pronouncements of Zechariah and Simeon related?
Application
- Have you ever been filled with the Holy Spirit? What does that look like?
- Has God’s redemption come to Israel in a different way than to the church?
- How have people you know fallen because of Jesus?
- How have peole you know risen because of Jesus?
- How does the fact of Jesus bring opposition even today?
Plymothian 
The Virgin’s delivery of a child does to all births what the Eucharist can do to all meals. It colors them with God’s new creation colors. Because one night in a sleepy town in Bethlehem, God entered space-time by exploding through Mary’s womb into Joseph’s(?) arms, every single explosion out of a womb speaks of God’s glory and encourages humans to love each other (Christ is present to be ministered to in every human face).Just so, the Eucharist reminds us that all of life, particularly every meal, is to be a celebration of the loving, merciful Creator. All of life is a sacrament. The inescapable ordinariness of bread and wine remind us that God can, as He does in Holy Communion, meet us every time we taste, chew, swallow.May our souls continually see God bigger and bigger. We will always put God in a box, so let’s ask Him to make our box bigger all the time. May we live lives of Magnificat, souls magnifying the Lord.