Luke 1:5-7

Luke 1:5-7

It became in the days of Herod, king of Judea, some priest – by name, Zechariah – out of Abijah’s division and a wife to him out of the daughters of Aaron, her name is Elizabeth.  And both were righteous in the sight of God, while living blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.  And there were no children to them because Elizabeth was unable to bear children.  And both were having advanced in their days.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Luke opens this story about Christ by speaking about some priest and his wife.  These are ordinary people.  Had God not intervened in their life to bring them into the story of Christ, they would have lived and died anonymously with respect to the lens of history.  But why does Luke lift them up?  They were both righteous with respect to God’s commandments and regulations.  This can teach us two things.  First of all, God does respect, notice, and work through righteous people.  Second, the world doesn’t often take note of righteous people.

Who are the righteous people around you?  Has god ever worked through you because of your righteousness?

Second Thought:

Luke investigation begins to open the door on God’s power.  We hear that Elizabeth was unable to bear children.  We don’t know how Luke knows this.  Maybe Elizabeth was never able to conceive.  Perhaps Elizabeth had conceived and miscarried.  We don’t know the reason, but we do know that Luke is certain that she is unable to conceive a child.  Luke begins his letter to Theophilus by looking at the amazing power of God to overcome nature.

Has God shown you that He can overcome nature in your life or the world around you?  How big do you think God’s power actually is?  What words would you use to describe God’s ability to act?

Third Thought:

As we look forward to the power of God, we note that Luke’s research gives us another detail: they were advanced in years.  This is Luke telling us quite politely that they had gotten old enough that nobody expected them to bear children.  Once more we hear that God is capable of working well outside the realm of human expectation.

When has God done the unthinkable in your life?  Have you ever heard others talk about how God has acted beyond human expectation in their life?  What do these stories do within you?

Passage for Tomorrow: Luke 1:8-11