Plymothian

¹⁰ And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” ¹¹ And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics^[b] is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” ¹² Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” ¹³ And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” ¹⁴ Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

¹⁵ As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, ¹⁶ John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸ So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. ¹⁹ But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, ²⁰ added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.

Luke 2:10-20 Best Behaviour

John goes into the desert and prepares the way for Jesus’ arrival on the scene.  How is this done?  In this passage there is an attempt at a change in behavior that precedes salvation.  It shows a number of things.  Good behavior is still good behavior no matter who is doing it.  We should expect good behavior from the saved and the unsaved.  God’s standards of living are still God’s standard regardless of whomever is doing the living.  Reforming a life might not eternally save a soul, but it has value in redeeming God’s world and causing the world to operate in God’s peace.  Although humans can make some reforms in their attitude without Jesus, ultimately they will fall short in their efforts.  Efforts at being right with God will only lead us to more awareness of our own need.  People who are making moral reforms can only be completed in the one who completes the righteous requirements of the law which they are attempting to follow.

In our society today I have heard many Christians dismiss the moral behavior of those who are unsaved because they ‘don’t know Jesus.’  This is a horrible argument. Is the economy ruined by corporate greed and government mismanagement an excusable act because most of the players don’t know Jesus?  Is a lie told by an unsaved man to enable him to continue in an affair excusable because, after all, we can’t hold an unsaved man to such high standards?  Because God’s law underpins all reality, it is good for all people to live in subjection to it. Trying to live a better life will not get a person ‘saved’, but it will show them their moral flaws and hopefully lead to a profound desire for the grace and mercy that Jesus brings.

Prayer

I am not a fan of moralism, but I want to be a good man.  I want to be changed from the inside so that I don’t have to try to hard to behave because I am sitting in the presence of my God.

Questions

1. What does John preach?
2. What do the crowds ask John?
3. Why should the people of Israel reform morally if they don’t know Jesus?
4. Why promote morals and ethics at home, work, and school if people there do not know Jesus?
5. How could the USA and UK reform morally and ethically?

³⁹ And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰ And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favour of God was upon him.

⁴¹ Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. ⁴² And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. ⁴³ And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, ⁴⁴ but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, ⁴⁵ and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” ⁴⁹ And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. ⁵¹ And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man.

Frustrated with Growth

I have grown more than I expected this last year, especially in the last academic year.  In struggling to maintain my self-discipline, I have ‘grown’ 12 pounds in weight.  It’s nothing like I used to be, I am still thirty pounds less than that, but the trend is in the wrong direction.  My doctor and I have talked about it, but in my mind it has been a year to put wife and family first, and I have struggled to do that in a healthy way.  In putting others first, I have put them before God in a sense.  I do not consciously put others before God, but I create a ‘to do’ list for the day. I have felt some kind of pressure withing me to put others before myself or God.  I have not had faith that if I put God first, the other things that have to be done will be done.  I also argued that I could care for myself and my relationship with God at the end of the day.  I didn’t have to do it in the morning.  The result was that time to exercise, read good books, or pray came at the end of the day.  As you may have been able to tell by the decline in blog posts that didn’t work well.

The fact is, like Jesus in this passage, we must be uncompromising with our stance of putting God first.  All other disciplines flow out of this.  Another byproduct is that I was actually happier and more content when I was not putting children and family before God on the agenda. I was growing, and I think those around me grew more as a result.  

In this passage Jesus’ focus is on God, his Father first.  He is growing like a normal child in some ways, but through an education rooted in God Jesus grows in knowledge and wisdom.  He also realises the boundaries between what he is called to do and what his mother wants.  Notice how Mary should be apologizing for her neglect of her son, but like many parents when they have not done the right thing, she tries to pass the blame onto Jesus.  Jesus is growing in emotional, physical, spiritual and social knowledge.  In some of those ways he would have been dependent on his parents, but now there is a break.  There is a reversal of the usual order of a child learning for their parents and now the parent is learning from the child.

We might expect that the next chapter will open with Jesus at age 13 preaching to the world, but Jesus still had to grow and develop.  The essential element though is that Jesus’ source of growth is established.  His parents do not have to mediate the things of God for him any more.  He has developed a razor sharp focus on what really matters and he will pursue God his Father wherever he leads.  His family comes second, if they did not he would not grow.

Yesterday I did not post because I put my grading first on the to-do list.  I was thinking that God has given me a job and the grading dead-line is today, so I must finish the grading before everything else.  It is a common standard of the world, but today’s reading calls me back to where my primary focus must be for growth.

Prayer

Father, I am not happy where I am physically, intellectually or spiritually.  I have made decisions more in line with the world’s standards than yours.  My mind, body, and spirit are moving in the wrong direction compared with where they should.  If there is a pattern of growth recently it has been in the wrong areas.  I pray that you would be my vision.

Question

1. How is Jesus’ growth described?
2. What is the source of his growth?
3. How is Jesus a model for us in relation to his mother?
4. Does you family serve God or does God serve your family?
5. How can you more align yourself with God and live the harmonious life to which he has called you?

²¹ And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

²² And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons”. ²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. ²⁷ And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, ²⁸ he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

³³ And his father and his mother marvelled at what was said about him. ³⁴ And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed ³⁵ (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

³⁶ And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, ³⁷ and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshipping withfasting and prayer night and day. ³⁸ And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Retirement

I was talking with someone about retirement and we were asking whether anyone in the Bible truly retires.  There was no welfare system that took an aging person in, changed their diapers, and let them die in obscurity.  A family was inconvenienced by the fact that the aged were all very much in the center of the family until they died.  In the Grohmann Museum in Milwaukee artifacts are gathered that show work through the ages.  One picture shows a family in the fields.  The children run around playfully gathering vegetables, the mother and father diligently glean what they can from the land, grandma is present and contributes what she can although her body is past its strength.  Do we insist that she be carted away because such toil is suffering or do we compliment her on her diligence?

Anna and Simeon were elderly people who faithfully fulfilled a task that God had set before them.  They went to the temple and they were waiting for the hope that would save Israel.  They were common people and they had seen hardship in life.  Anna in particular seems to have led a life of particular pain.  However, it is often through those who endure pain and hardship in order to serve others that particularly meaningful moments occur.  

My mother comes to America and takes care of a 5 year-old and a 2 year-old.  She lives in the lower floor of our house and far from enduring her we are thankful for her.  She is a godly example and some days she is sick and other days she is tired, but on those days she lives out her life before God with patience and gratitude.  If I am able to read to her or sit with her, she does not take it as her right, she lightens up as one who sees God’s grace very easily in a world that is darkened by sin.  Simeon and Anna see blessing, but they see darkness.  When they declare the arrival of a light in the darkness they have credibility because of their life experience.

Prayer

May I be like those who have endured and been faithful.  May I choose the higher road even when it takes something out of me.

Questions

1. How would you describe Anna and Simeon in your own words?
2. What is their role in the story of Jesus?
3. How does God use suffering?
4. How do you treat those who have reached a ripe old age and still serve God faithfully?
5. How has suffering revealed your own heart and the heart of God to you?

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ And all went to be registered, each to his own town. ⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, ⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. ⁶ And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

⁸ And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. ¹⁰ And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² Andthis will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

¹⁵ When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.¹⁷ And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. ¹⁸ And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰ And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

²¹ And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

A Picture of Christmas

If we were asked to draw a picture of Christmas we might draw shepherds, angels, three wise men, a manger, Mary and Joseph, a star, lots of animals looking serenely into the face of a sleeping Jesus who has wisps of blond hair and a glowing halo.  It’s all quite Hallmark, but surround these religious details with robins, snow-flakes, and reindeer and we seem to have lost the point completely. Our view of the ‘stable’ is obscured by the details we have added, for example it doesn’t say about any animals being present.  N.T. Wright suggests that Mary and Joseph were housed on the ground floor of a two-story structure in a room that was duel purpose.  It could be used for animals, but also could be used for a spare room.  The analogy might be to see the room more like an American garage than like a barn.

In Luke there are no kings and some of the other details found in Matthew are missing.  The common man is highlighted as empowered by God as messengers of good news.  There will be peace on earth.  There will be shalom.  God is reharmonizing, reconciling and embracing the world through a strange birth with a baby in a feeding trough.

In all the many details of Christmas we may miss the point.  

Prayer

God, I don’t know when you came to earth in the person of Jesus.  Jesus, I don’t know all the details of your birth.  However, I do know that you gave up the best situation in the world to enter the squalor of our world.

Questions

1. What details are present in the story that we associate with Christmas?
2. What details are absent?
3. What is the point of the story?
4. How does Philippians 2 apply the events of this story?
5. How do you bring the story of God’s peace to those who lack peace, especially peace with God?

³⁹ In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, ⁴⁰ and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, ⁴² and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³ And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

⁴⁶ And Mary said,

⁵⁶ And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

Magnificat

After the confusion of finding themselves pregnant and the mixture of joy or apprehension that must have consumed the women each day, Elizabeth and Mary spark each other into a moment of worship and praise.  Mary speaks words of truth over the baby in her womb, John the Baptist reacts to the presence of Jesus in utero showing a metaphysical connection.

I was told in my undergrad that no-one believed Mary and Elizabeth were cousins any more.  I was told when I woke up this morning that a blogger writes about how she misses the experience of being a Christian now that she has developed her intellect and walked away from the faith.  It seems that people grow out of these stories of virgin pregnancies and rejoicing embryos.  Hegel promoted the idea that faith in God was a step on the path to a life of reason.  Kierkegaard reacted with his book Fear and Trembling.  In that book he shows multiple ways that faith is actually the more mature stance over one of self-referential rationalism.  Why does life work more in harmony with the universe when it is lived in faith?  When tough questions come, why do people often find their faith can not cope? When I was in my undergraduate school, my head ached because the reasons for walking away from the faith were far more extensive for the reasons for continuing.  However, faith carried me forward in some way beyond easy explanation.  I found that the intellects who taught me to be a cynic were actually quite dishonest and only recently do I see the pattern of the elevation of man in the extensive body of faithless theology.  

There is a faith that rejoices in the miracle and the improbable.  It is not a blind faith that eliminates thought as subversive.  It is a faith that entertains reason, but does not worship at its altar.  It worships at the throne of grace and sees joy in God’s provision, even when the good is hidden from plain sight.

Prayer

My soul magnifies the Lord,
⁴⁷     and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
⁴⁸ for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
⁴⁹ for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name.
⁵⁰ And his mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
⁵² he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
    and exalted those of humble estate;
⁵³ he has filled the hungry with good things,
    and the rich he has sent away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
⁵⁵ as he spoke to our fathers,
    to Abraham and to his offspring for ever.”

Questions

1. Who meets in this passage (beyond the obvious)?
2. How do all four parties react?
3. Why do you think some believe a relationship between Elizabeth and Mary is fabricated?
4. How do you react to the idea of God’s incarnation?
5. How would you respond to those who doubt these events happened?

²⁶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favoured one, the Lord is with you!” ²⁹ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

The Servant of the Lord

Mary understood that her body was at God’s service and so she submitted to the prospect that God would make her pregnant.  God does not overpower her like the muscle-bound gods of Greece.  God overshadows her and his mere presence produces life in a fertile womb.  However, the will of Mary is in line with the will of God and she willingly submits herself to his designs.  She does not know what the future will bring, but she walks into the future with God.  

For many of us, the future is a scary thing.  We want to feel safe and so we fight for control.  True faith surrenders control to God and walks by faith not by sight.  This does not mean that those who do it are witless.  Mary would have known what pregnancy meant. She would probably have grasped that this would be difficult to communicate with her betrothed at best.  It may lead to scandal.  However, putting aside guilt and shame, she enters into a posture of submission.

What future might God have for you?  Do you believe that it will end well?  Are you open to God using you in ways that can lead to death or suffering?  John the Baptist was announced to great joy, but he was beheaded.  Jesus was announced in a miraculous way that would have led to great expectations, but his mother would watch him seemingly lose his mind and claim to be God.  Then she would watch him tortured and killed in hideous horror.  Both the lives of John and Jesus had great purpose, but the power of their lives was in contrast to the suffering that surrounded them.  Are you surrendered to a God who can give you a house, a car, a beautiful spouse and family?  Are you surrendered to a God who can reach the world through your suffering?  God wants to reach you and then reach the world through you.  Can you say, “Behold I am the servant of the Lord?”

Prayer

God I am nervous about submitting to you because the adventure of life with you can be costly.  However, the great price you demand is on a level with the great reward you give.  What is my life about except proximity to you?  Mary was filled with your presence and it caused life to be conceived in her womb.  If I am surrendered to your presence, what life might you change around me?

Questions

1. Who talks with Mary?
2. What does he announce?
3. How does Mary respond?
4. How surrendered are you?
5. What is God’s vision for your life?

⁵ In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶ And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. ⁷ But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

⁸ Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, ⁹ according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lotto enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. ¹¹ And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. ¹³ But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. ¹⁴ And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, ¹⁷ and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

¹⁸ And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” ¹⁹ And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. ²⁰ And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”²¹ And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. ²² And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. ²³ And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.

²⁴ After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, ²⁵ “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

Elizabeth and Zachariah’s Pregnancy

The story of Elizabeth and Zachariah’s pregnancy harks back to many pregnancies in the Old Testament.  Pregnancy was a bigger issue in ancient days because it was often seen as the sole reason a woman was alive.  She was the recipient of the man’s seed, so it was presumed. His seed was to be fruitful in her womb and then she was honoured by the raising of offspring.  Unfortunately many women bore the brunt of shame and scorn from the community around them because their role as child bearers was not fulfilled. Sarah was barren but brought the sugnificant child of promise to Abraham.  Rachel was barren until God opened her womb to bring the blessing of Joseph to her husband because of the Lord’s hand.  Manoah and his wife were childless but God gave them the deliverer Samson, although they spoiled him and he was deeply flawed.  Hannah was barren and cried out to God so that Eli thought she was drunk, but God gave her a great son in Samuel who was dedicated to God as the last in the long line of the Judges.  At the beginning of Luke’s gospel the scene is set for another miraculous birth.  However, this is a birth that will be a precursor to a greater birth, the birth of Jesus.

John’s birth is remarkable because his parents were old and yet he would be a prophet in the spirit of Elijah.  Elijah was a bold man who spoke truth in the northern kingdom of Israel when Jezebel was queen.  John would speak truth with boldness to the sons of Herod the Great, and for his boldness he would lose his life.  However, this was only after the purpose of God in his life was worked out.  God’s hand directs history and moves key players into key positions.  He performs miracles to ensure outcomes.  he silences those who are doubtful of his abilities.  His will is done.

Prayer

Christ, you are the apex of history but you are also its beginning and end.  You fill the Creation as we walk in it and you touch history as events unfold.  Help us not to be cynical and distant, but help us to believe and then live appropriately.

Questions

1. Describe John’s parents.
2. What was John’s purpose?
3. Why doesn’t the book just cut straight to Jesus?
4. How have you seen history reveal God’s hand?
5. How does God use infertility to work for his glory?

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, ² just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, ³ it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴ that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

Gospel Truth

Luke endeavours to write a real history for serious minded people.  We do not know if Theophilus is a real person or a literary device for all lovers of God.  However, Luke has made a careful survey of those living in Israel to find out the details of what really happened.  

Prayer

Jesus, help me to believe more about what is written about you.  I want to be organised this summer and go from reading the Bible each day to more intentional reflection.  For your glory.

Questions

1. Who was Luke writing to?
2. Is this a literal person?
3. How can a historian be confident of Luke’s gospel?
4. What is the level of your confidence in Luke?
5. How do you get to know Jesus through a book written about him?