Advent Reading: Gospel of Luke

Next up, I was excited to read through Luke.  Confession: it took me longer than one week.  BUT there were added layers to reading through this gospel, as I was simultaneously beginning a more in-depth study of Acts with a friend.  As a result, some of the things that stood out to me had parallels in Acts (the second volume that offers follow-up to Luke).

In relation to Acts:
     I was intrigued that casting lots (like throwing dice) comes up 3 times in the two books: 1) Zechariah is in the temple (where the angel appears and tells him he'll have a baby) because priestly duties were assigned by lot.  Jesus' clothing was distributed by lot.  3)  In the book of Acts, the disciples cast lots to replace dead traitor Judas with Matthias.  I like the pattern of holy distribution (determined by none other than God) at key moments-- announcing the birth of John the Baptist, crucifying the Messiah, and anticipating the spread of the gospel through the apostles' witness.
     It also struck me that the description of "awe in the neighborhood" with the prophecy about John in Luke 1:65 foreshadows the "awe" about the community of believers in Acts 2:43.

Amazement at John's calling:
The extent of the prophecy about John is expansive, more than I had remembered:
"He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.  He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.  And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

New insight into Mary and Elizabeth:
I used to be pretty hard on Mary.  As a snotty adolescent Protestant, I read the Magnificat and thought, "good grief, she thinks she's hot stuff."  Come on, all generations will call you blessed?  Who talks like that???  But God invited me deeper into the interrelated stories of the cousins Elizabeth and Mary.  I had never before grasped  the deep shame that would probably follow Mary for the rest of her life as a result of this "blessing" from God.  I had not seen the layers of mercy that God extends to his servant Mary.  God offers her a companion (and refuge) in visiting Elizabeth, perhaps the one person in the world who would rejoice with Mary.  Mary also gets to share in the joy of Elizabeth, who has long waited for a child.  There is incredible grace woven through this-- that the old woman, righteous and long-suffering, is joined by a young woman confused, unassuming, yet blessed by God's favor.  There is no formula to God's promises-- here they fulfill what had been waited for AND what had hardly been imagined.

I really did read the rest of Luke... but the most applicable parts for the season were definitely these opening chapters dealing with waiting and expectation for the Messiah.

Lord, we read the promises about Jesus and John the Baptist and long for those very things.  We yearn for hearts turned and people prepared, and we wonder why it's not all squared away.  Would you show us your mercy, lift up the humble, and fill the hungry.  Give us mercy for your people and your world and enable us, too, to sing out how our souls magnify the LORD.

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Tue 27°F | 16°F Wed 32°F | 29°F Thu 44°F | 29°F Fri 37°F | 20°F             Thanks, Tennessee.  You know how I like it cold!        On my way/ hasta manana!

Advent Reading: Gospel of Mark

For those of you speculating... yes, when I decided to give this read-a-book-of-the-Bible-in-a-week thing a try, I figured that starting with the shortest gospel was the best way to ensure early success.

Three things I noticed while reading straight through Mark:
- In the first three chapters, it seems chock full of Jesus doing stuff on the Sabbath: teaching, healing, casting out demons, eating grain in the fields, etc.  It made me reconsider my own (sort of) strict ideas about Sabbath rest for myself that I've been trying to implement these past 6 months.  I'm not saying it's not important to rest, but I am taking seriously that Jesus' ministry is emphatically inserted into that day as Mark relates the good news.  It reminded me of a quote from a sermon (sorry!  don't know whose...): "Setting people free is precisely what the Sabbath is about."

-Then, it seems the focus shifts to EATING-- food is everywhere!  Sounds like Christmas to me... But seriously, again Mark writes of an involved and tangible Jesus who deals in tangibles, platters and place-settings.

-The healing of the deaf and mute man in chapter 7 stood out to me (v. 31-35).  I wondered why there was particular attention paid to the effort, physicality, and emotion that Jesus put into this healing.  The crowd just asked Jesus to "place his hand on the man."  Yet, Jesus takes the man aside by himself and he does the bizarre healing action of sticking his fingers into the man's ears, spitting, and touching the man's tongue.  Jesus sighs deeply, it says.  All of this immediately after the troublesome account of Jesus' brusque treatment of the Syrophoenician woman with a demon-possessed daughter.

So Jesus, help us to know you as a REAL person.  A person who sets free and eats well, who argues and sighs, who rests and prays and walks many roads.  Help us encounter you as the promised one this Advent.   Help our faith to overcome fear.  Help our unbelief.