What would you like to Study?

During this holiday week, as we approach the beginning of 2010, the question arises:  What part of the Bible would you like to study? 

Question:  Old Testament?
          or New Testament?

Would you prefer to study a book of the bible?
   Or would you prefer to study scriptures relating to a specific subject?

Would you like to simply choose between several books in the bible?
    (such as Genesis, Job, Isaiah, Matthew, Acts or Galatians)

What would make this study most meaningful for you?

Sign in and let us know on a blog or e-mail the church at montereyumc@redshift.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

December 16, 2009 - Luke 1:46-53

December 16, 2009


General Bible Study Information
One way to use this study:  Read the scripture(s) from your Bible.  Read the commentary included here. If you have additional study information, you might want to look at it. Consider the Discussion questions.  Post comments or additional questions.  Return during the week (two weeks this session) to read other comments and add additional thoughts.

To post a comment or a question, type in comments in the white box,

Choose profile: Google Account
Click Post Comment
This will take you to an option of signing in (if you already have an account)
OR click: Create an Account now
Enter your e-mail address and follow instructions for passwords, etc.




Luke 1:46-53 - The Magnificat


     After Mary received the visit of Gabriel and accepted the calling to be the mother of Jesus, she went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth. Elizabeth was older, had never had children and by that time of life had not expected to ever have them. Yet now she was six months into her pregnancy.
     Elizabeth recognized what had happened to her young cousin. The Magnificat, as it is called, is the ecstatic song of praise that Mary spoke at that time.
     Scholars generally call upon readers to compare Mary’s Magnificat with the Song of Hannah in I Samuel 2:1-10. Both songs open with a couplet exalting the Lord.
     (A couple is a unit of poetic verse, consisting of two successive lines, usually rhyming and having the same meter)
     Mary said:
Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord,
Rejoice, rejoice, my spirit, in God, my savior

Hannah prayed:
My heart rejoices in the LORD,
In the LORD I now hold my head high;


     Hannah and Mary were in somewhat similar circumstances. Both were early in their pregnancies and neither woman had necessarily had cause to believe they would be expecting at that time. However, Mary was young and no doubt believed she would bear children at some time. Hannah had been married for many years to a man who dearly loved her, but their love had not resulted in the sons or daughters she desperately wanted.
     Hannah’s husband, Elkinah, was also married to Peninnah (this being legal at the time) for whom he had less affection. Yet this union had produced children, and the wife of this marriage was not always gracious to Hannah. (Remember that Elkinah loved Hannah and not Peninnah, which must have seemed terribly unfair to the woman who had been able to give him children.)
     Hannah prayed desperately for a child and she did become pregnant with Samuel. This gave rise to her song of praise.
     It may been seen as a reflection of the times and of the rivalry between Hannah and Peninnah that Hannah’s next words were less “elevated” than those of Mary. Both praise God, but Mary goes on in beautiful words to speak of how God has blessed her. Hannah expresses derision at her “foes.” Yet she quickly leaves that theme and returns to praising God.
     Both songs suggest that human pride is foolish in face of the one who is really in charge of the universe.
     Both songs point at the reversal of fortunes that human beings can experience. Strength is sometimes embarrassed, while the weak find strength. The rich may become hungry and the hungry can receive sustenance. As Hannah is acutely aware, being barren is not always an irreversible condition, while having children is not a guarantor of happiness. The powerful may be cast down and the lowly lifted up.
     Both songs end with confidence in God’s providence for the future.
     The overall stories of Mary and of Hannah are both different and similar. Hannah was a woman with experience of life and the world. Mary was a girl on the verge of entering the adult world.
     Hannah came to God, pleading, begging for a child. The prophet, Eli, thought she was intoxicated as she spoke without sound in her prayers. But when she spoke, he recognized her faith and sincerity. He expressed his hope that her prayer would be granted.
     We don’t know what Mary was doing when Gabriel came to see her. She is often pictured at prayer, but she could have been helping around the home or perhaps walking on a hillside. She was startled by the news, troubled by what it all meant. But she was willing to accept the task ahead.
     Both Hannah and Mary bore sons with special gifts and who did important things. Hannah gave her son to be raised by Eli—giving up that which she had wanted so badly. Mary was able to raise her son, but had to surrender him in the end, first to his great calling, finally to the cross.
    
Discussion Questions:


What life lessons arise out of the stories of Hannah and Mary?

If Mary remembered her “Magnificat” at the time of the crucifixion, how might she have reflected on those words?


In uncertain times (truthfully, all times are uncertain), how do we express faith in God’s providence for the future?

Session One

Wednesday December 2, 2009

Scripture Luke 1:5-25 (Please read in one or more of your favorite translations)

Verse five begins by dating the event. ‘In the days of Herod, king of Judeo, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.


Herod died in 4 b.c. This would indicate that John and Jesus were born before that date. The dating of Jesus’ birth has always been approximate.


Note the juxtaposition of someone like Herod with people such as Zechariah and Elizabeth. Although some scholars suggest that Herod wasn’t much different from many other rulers of the time, this could hardly be any comfort for the people of Israel. For political reasons, Herod murdered a great many people. Augustus is said to have once remarked that he would rather be Herod’s pig than his son. Among those whose deaths were caused by Herod were some brothers-in-law, his uncle, his wife Mariamne, his mother-in-law, and at least two of his sons. Although nominally Jewish (the offspring of converts to Judaism), he was not faithful to Judaism. The Interpreter’s Bible Dictionary reports that “he was the king of Judea, but never in any sense a Jewish king.”


As commentator, Walter Russell Bowie, indicates, many people might judge an age because of the newsmakers. “But meanwhile – in Herod’s time there was another sort of person, quiet, inconspicuous and yet more important than Herod, men and women who were the sound core of society and gave it such real wholesomeness as it did possess.” ...These are those “in whom the strength of the present and the promise of the future lie.”


Zechariah and Elizabeth are described as righteous before God. Bowie also underscores the fact that such comments remind us that it was out of the “heritage of Israel that Jesus himself came and that there was in Judaism a spiritual force which would produce souls that were accounted righteous before God.”


Zechariah was a priest in Israel. He was a priest by reason of ancestry. Every direct descendant of Aaron was automatically a priest. But this means that there were too many priests for practical purposes. Thus they were divided into 24 sections. Each section would serve for a week at a time, twice a year. Even then, there were too many to carry out certain functions of the priesthood. Lots were cast to select the ones who would be responsible. When the lot fell upon Zechariah, it must have been a high point of his life.


Zechariah was married to a woman who was also of priestly descent. They were both very good people, but there was one sorrow in their lives. They could not have children. Elizabeth was barren and they had grown old waiting.


Childlessness was then considered a tremendous tragedy. Society of the time judged it as a failure. At that time in Israelite history, childlessness was seen as a sorrow that eliminated the possibility that the Messiah would be among your descendants.


At one point, the Rabbis even included childless couples among those who were excommunicated from God. Childlessness was considered grounds for divorce. No doubt, the blame for the condition was usually placed upon the wife.


As the Luke passage makes clear, Elizabeth and Zechariah’s barrenness was not a result of their lack of virtue. It was not a judgement against them, although Elizabeth certainly seems to have felt it was. (Note that although the barrenness was seen as belonging to Elizabeth, Zechariah had not chosen to divorce her, perhaps indicating a large measure of love and loyalty in their relationship.)


When the lot fell on Zechariah to be in the temple, it was his responsibility to burn the incense. In fact, the incense is mentioned three times in this passage. It was an important ritual.


The burning of incense is not a familiar practice in Protestant churches and it had not been always used in Judaism. In early days of Israelite history it was regarded as one of the marks of heathenism, likely connected with ideas of a human-like god who could be pleasured by the scent. It later became part of Jewish worship as a symbol of the ascending prayers of souls that reach up to God.


No doubt Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed many times for a child. Perhaps this was in his heart that day, or at least the grief of knowing it no longer seemed possible.


As Zechariah burned the incense in the temple, a great multitude was gathered outside in prayer.


Suddenly Zechariah saw an angel of God.


Fear is a common experience of those who encounter the holy. Isaiah cried in distress that he was a man of unclean lips who dwelt among a people of unclean lips. Moses hid his face, afraid to look at God. Considering Moses’ career to that point, he certainly had justification for fear when encountering utter goodness. Even Zechariah, who is acknowledged as righteous before God experienced fear.


But the message of the angel was one of good news. His prayers had been heard. He and Elizabeth would have a son and name him John. John must never drink wine or strong drink. This prohibition. This seems to indicate that John was to be raised in the Nazarite tradition. Nazarite means one who was consecrated, devoted, or set apart. The two marks of a Nazarite was abstaining from wine or strong drink, and not cutting of hair. Samson was a Nazarite. But only the abstention from wine is mentioned in Luke. The scholars of the Cambridge commentary note that there was an ancient suspicion about wine, marking as it did the settling and raising of vines and the spiritual decline that took place at the same time.


Instead of strong drink, John would be filled with the Holy Spirit. He would prepare the way of the Lord with the spirit and power of Elijah. There was a long held belief that Elijah would return as the forerunner of the coming of the Messiah. Here it is not said that John would in a sense be Elijah, only that he would act with the spirit and power of Elijah.


Zechariah was very human and had trouble believing this amazing thing could happen. He raises the question of his age and that of his wife. The angel declares that he will be unable to speak until the great event has taken place.


When the priest burning the incense came out of the temple, it was expected that he would say a blessing over the people who had gathered in prayer. Zechariah was unable to do so and the people understood that it was a consequence of seeing a vision in the temple. Zechariah completed his week of service and returned home. Elizabeth conceived, but hid herself for many months. She was glad, believing that God had lifted the reproach under which she had lived because of her childlessness.


Discussion Questions (not in any particular order):




Do you think ancient attitudes about childlessness affect the way people feel today about infertility?




Why do you think Elizabeth hid herself?




Zechariah is described as experiencing fear in encountering the holiness of God. Why do you think fear is such a common reaction in spiritual encounter?


Why was Zechariah unable to talk after his vision? What was the purpose of it?




Zechariah had grown used to his life and found it hard to believe something good could happen. What do you think he would say to people today who find it hard to hope for good things?


How do you think John felt as he grew up learning about what happened that day in the temple? What would you feel?




Although modern worship does not include the use of incense, it does include things that involve the physical senses. Which ones do you find most meaningful?

Prayer Concern: On our prayer list at MUMC, we have three couples who are praying for the blessing of a child. Please keep them in your prayers.

Online Bible Study

Trying this again

The Monterey United Methodist Church is starting a new adventure with an online Bible Study.  Please be patient as we discover the new world of blogging!

The way this study will work is that the scripture will be posted with background information and discussion questions.  Read the scripture and material.  Study any additional information you might have in your personal library.  Ponder the questions and post your own comments and any further questions.  Check back to see other comments for a week-long discussion on the scripture.

Our first scripture will be Luke 1:5-24, starting (barring technical difficulties) on Wednesday December 2.   This is the story of howZechariah learns that, despite infertlity and old age, he and his wife Elizabeth will become the parents of a son called to remarkable responsibilities.