Friday, December 13, 2013

Zechariah and Elizabeth


  


Luke 1:5-23, 59-79

Zechariah, a priest in a division called Abijah, served in the temple for two weeks at a time.
The priests were divided into 24 divisions. This meant that his division served, on average, two times a year. The privilege of offering incense to God was granted by drawing lots. This was a once in a lifetime experience for most priests.1

We glean from the scriptures that both Zechariah and Elizabeth were descendants of Aaron. They were an older couple, she beyond the childbearing years. The society at that time placed great emphasis on a couple having a male heir to learn to do the work to help the family survive. It was an embarrassment to any couple who were childless.

Elizabeth was a relative (some say a cousin) of Mary. In Elizabeth’s sixth month, Mary was paid a visit by the angel Gabriel. After that Mary traveled to the town in Judea where Zachariah and Elizabeth lived.

Elizabeth recognized that Mary was with child and that child was the Son of God. Elizabeth called her blessed among women.

Now Zechariah was troubled when he saw the angel Gabriel and then he became skeptical when he received the message from the angel. The angel took away his speech. Zechariah didn’t speak until he wrote that his child’s name was to be John. Those who knew this couple couldn’t understand—there wasn’t any John in Zechariah’s family. I wonder what that crowd of well-wishers thought when Zechariah spoke after writing down “His name is John”.

Zechariah and Elizabeth were obedient to God’s command.   
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1.)    The Discovery Bible, Zondervan, © 2004, page 1332 –Footnote

     Graphic: monasticsonajourney.blogspot.com

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

And the Winner Is!


The winner of the mustard seed necklace is :

Rhonda
Schrock


Congratulations.
Please email me @ cll4him@ sbcglobal.net and give me your mailing address. I will  notify you when I get this in the mail.


For those who were waiting for the winner to be announced, I made a mistake and set this for Monday. I tried to reschedule it for Wednesday. I have a sinus infection and couldn't get to it until the early morning hours on 12/11/2013. Sorry for the confusion.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Joseph

“Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and 

 did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.”   Matthew 1:19(NIV)                                                                                             





Joseph felt overwhelmed when he discovered Mary’s condition. He loved her and yet he was disappointed. He, being a just man, thought about how he could end their engagement.

Joseph knew he had two options. He could very publicly humiliate Mary and her family by having her stoned, or he could quietly divorce her, and go on with his life.

An angel came to him as he slept one night and spoke. Joseph learned that the child Mary carried was because the Holy Spirit had caused her to conceive. Then, the angel told him that Mary would give birth to a son and that son’s name was to be Immanuel—“which means ‘God with us.’” (Matthew 1:23)

Joseph awoke and obediently brought Mary into his home as his wife. (Matthew 1:24) 

Joseph was blessed with two more visits from an angel of the Lord. We have recorded information that each time an angel appeared Joseph obeyed and moved Mary and the child Jesus to safety.


If you would like to read more about Joseph and Mary, I suggest two books. Two From Galilee by Marjorie Holmes and The Handmaid and the Carpenter by Elizabeth Berg. Both of these novels point out different aspects of the story of Joseph and Mary. Both these authors did a lot of research in order to write their novels.

Graphic:www.sjaindia.org

God Alone

  Jesus and the children at our church's prayer walk.          I will both lie down in peace and sleep;  For You alone, O LORD make ...