Bible Study with Bishop Miller
The Second Sunday in Advent
December 6, 2009
Dear Friends in Christ,
Thank you for joining me. I hope your reading of Luke's Gospel straight through was helpful for you. What struck me as I read through was Luke's frequent use of the word, once, and that there was much less emphasis on the end of times (apocalypse) than in Matthew or Mark. I am interested to hear what you noticed.
As I told you I am writing this week from where it all took place. I am staying at a kibbutz on the Sea of Galilee, which is home to a museum which houses a boat that dates back to Jesus' time. Today we visited Capernaum where Jesus began preaching and called his first disciples. Tomorrow we will go to Nazareth to visit the Church of the Annunciation the place where Mary heard the message that she would bear God's Son.
I invite you this week to re-read the stories of the birth of John the Baptist and the birth of Jesus. In what ways are they similar and in what ways are they different. You may want to outline the elements of each story side by side to help in your comparison. If you would like compare your notes with a friend and see where you agree and disagree on the outline and what stood out for each one of you.
Let me know what you find. Know, too, that as I visit that holy place I will be saying a prayer for each of you.
Yours in Christ,
The Right Rev. Steven Andrew Miller
3 comments:
I've always been fascinated by Gabriel's very different treatment of Zechariah's and Mary's disbelief/amazement at the respective implausible pregnancy announcements. (Zechariah gets struck mute for disbelief, Mary gets a patient deeper explanation. Hmm...)
I was surprised by the many similarities between the stories: in both cases it was the angel Gabriel who came, who said "Do not be afraid," who named the child. I found it interesting that in John's case, Gabriel visited the father but in Jesus' case he visited the mother.
When Gabriel visited Zechariah, a priest of the temple, a man whose life was devoted to God, a man one would expect to accept the word of God without question, he was sceptical. But when Gabriel visited the untutored peasant girl, she asked not "If," but only "How," implying immediate acceptance of his message, then said "Let it be done to me according to thy word."
The other difference that struck me was that Elizabeth delivered her child surrounded by kinsfolk and neighbors, who celebrated with her and supported her. Out of this loving, supportive community the boy grew to a man and was sent alone into the wilderness. Mary delivered in a strange town with only the unwashed scum of the earth, the shepherds, to celebrate with her. Out of this loneliness Jesus went out and built a community of disciples and followers who changed the world.
Like Karla, I was surprised at Gabriel's different responses to Zechariah's and Mary's seemingly similar questions. I wondered if the Greek/Aramaic/Hebrew for the questions showed more difference of tone. But Amedengenia has a good point, Zechariah was a religious "professional" and should have known better. I noticed the difference between their songs. They're both messianic, but Zechariah's focuses entirely on what the messiah will do (with a small note to his son at the end). Mary, however, also notes how the humble and lowly have been graced and uplifted. Her consciousness of this makes me like her song better.
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