Weekly Theme December 7 though 13

Joseph

 “...Joseph Son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

  -Matthew 1:20b-21

We all learn from how our parents raised us and the personality traits that we experienced in their lives.  Isn’t it interesting how as we grow older we notice things that we do and we make the comment, “Oh, my gosh, that is exactly what one of my parents would do.  I’m becoming my parents.”  For some of us that could be a scary proposition.

However, for most of us we learned and received far more positive influence than we did negative influence from our parents.  Today, we are looking at the life of Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph.  I want to look at Joseph’s life from the perspective of what he was able to pass on to Jesus and how Joseph’s influence helped make Jesus the earthly person that he became.  Yes, Jesus was the Son of God, but when he took on human flesh he left all the privileges of being the Son of God and he needed to be taught and develop into the kind of person who could respond to the mission of giving his life for the salvation of the world that Jesus’ heavenly Father would ask him to fulfill. 

God didn’t pick just anybody to be Jesus’ parents.  God picked two very special people.  This week we will look at the life of Joseph and how his life affected the life of Jesus.  We will also attempt to see what significance the relationship between Joseph and Jesus has for each of our lives.

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Luke 1:76-80

⁷⁶ And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, ⁷⁷ to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,⁷⁸ because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven ⁷⁹ to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”⁸⁰ And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

Reflection

We end the story of Zechariah, Elizabeth, and now John who will go on to prepare the way of the Lord. That is what this time of advent is all about, preparing the way of the Lord in our hearts. What are some ways you can prepare your heart to remember the light of Christ that has come into the darkness and to prepare for the fact that one day that light will extinguish the darkness?

Friday, December 5, 2014

Luke 1:67-75

⁶⁷ His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:⁶⁸ “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,    because he has come to his people and redeemed them. ⁶⁹ He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David ⁷⁰ (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), ⁷¹ salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—⁷² to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, ⁷³     the oath he swore to our father Abraham: ⁷⁴ to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear ⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

 Reflection

Zechariah has been unable to speak for Elizabeth’s entire pregnancy. (Some would say this is part of Elizabeth’s many blessings.) But then eight days after his son’s birth

Zechariah’s voice returns, and he does not speak but sings praise to God. Our only response to the life that God brings is praise. What do you need to praise God for today?

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Luke 1:21-25, 57-66

²¹ Meanwhile, the people were waiting for

Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. ²² When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.²³ When his time of service was completed, he returned home. ²⁴ After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. ²⁵ “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace  among the people.”⁵⁷ When it was time for

Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.⁵⁹ On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, ⁶⁰ but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”⁶¹ They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”⁶² Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child.⁶³ He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” ⁶⁴ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, 

praising God. ⁶⁵ All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. 

⁶⁶ Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

Reflection

Multiple times we hear that God has shown Elizabeth great mercy. We need to focus on this phrase and not get caught up in the biology. Yes, a woman who was barren gives birth, but we need to see the bigger picture of the hopes and dreams that were lost by being barren.  How do you think this mercy shown to Elizabeth mirrors what will happen through the grace of Jesus Christ? 

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Matthew 10:24-31

¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. ¹⁴ He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ 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.” ¹⁸ Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” ¹⁹ The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. ²⁰ And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

Reflection

Here we see  Gabriel tell Zechariah the good news that

Elizabeth is pregnant. Zechariah like many of us wants proof. He asks the angel, “How can I be sure of this?” Have you ever found yourself wanting proof of God’s love? This is not

necessarily a bad thing but like Zechariah we can miss the obvious signs that God is at work. Think about this.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Luke 1:5-10

⁵ In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. ⁷ But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

⁸ Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God,⁹ he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

Reflection

This is our introduction to the Christmas story from the

historian Luke’s perspective. The gospel of Luke is the only place we see the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah. Their

story perfectly sets the stage for what the love of God will do through Jesus Christ. This is because God’s love in Jesus Christ brings life to barren places. Elizabeth and Zechariah come face to face with desperate hopelessness that was

Beyond their ability or power to change or control. What places in our lives do you think parallel this hopelessness? What hope can we hold onto that God can bring life in

barren places?

Monday, December 1, 2014

Isaiah 64:1-3

¹Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! ² As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you!³ For when you did awesome

things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.

 Reflection

Today, we hear from the prophet Isaiah who is calling for God to come down and fix things. Have you ever felt this way in your life? Have you ever wanted God just to come right then and fix what was going on?