Megan Langan

Expected

Re:Verse passage – Luke 4:14-30 (day four)

This is such an interesting text for Jesus to site at the beginning of his ministry. It is no soft introduction to who the Son of Man truly is. He deliberately states, in front of the community he grew up in, that he is the fulfillment of the prophets. He’s not only a great and respected man, but he is the One whom they have waited for. As we move towards Epiphany, this is the reality that we celebrate – Jesus is more than anyone thought he was; he is the Son of God.

Not only is he boldly stating his identity as the fulfillment of the prophets, he’s reminding them exactly who the prophets said would come – one who declares deliverance to the destitute. This claim responds to what his mother stated in her song during her pregnancy,

He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good things; And sent away the rich empty-handed. Luke 1:52-53

This is a message of profound hope for some, and a bitter, countercultural pill to swallow for others. This Messiah is long-expected, yet nothing like what many expected. Who are you expecting?

Heritage

Re:Verse passage – Luke 2:4-7; 3:23, 31-34, 38 (day four)

This lineage isn’t placed here just for the bookkeeper’s reference. As Danny said last week, Luke doesn’t waste words. This lineage is placed here to show that the birth of Jesus to Mary and Joseph, the very thing we celebrate today, was not haphazard. These events were lovingly planned in God’s omniscience. He didn’t suddenly realize the world needed a savior and begin looking around for the closest faithful couple. Jesus, born to this couple at this time with this heritage, was God’s plan from the beginning. The center point of all of history is located in a real family because he truly is Emmanuel, God with us. The eternal entered the temporal. The omnipresent entered a specific family line at a specific time.

This infant is the fulfillment of all of time, seen in the prophecies of Isaiah 11:1,

“Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.”

And in the prophecies of Jeremiah 23:5-6,

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
And He will reign as king and act wisely
And do justice and righteousness in the land.
⁶“In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell securely;
And this is His name by which He will be called,
‘The Lord our righteousness.’

When we celebrate the birth of Jesus today, we do so as those who participate in this heritage, grafted in by God’s power. When we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we celebrate that God keeps his promises.

Merry Christmas, church family!

Glimpse

Re:Verse passage – Luke 2:21-38 (day four)

When Moses saw a glimpse of the Promised Land from Mount Nebo, it’s a bittersweet picture. Moses had remained faithful in leading God’s people through challenging times, but his disobedience kept him from ultimately experiencing the land for himself. God, in his mercy, allowed Moses to see the promise from afar, giving him confidence that the Lord would lead his people into the land he had promised.

Simeon’s story is similar, but so much sweeter. Simeon not only caught a glimpse of God’s promise fulfilled, he got to hold that promise in his arms. That was all that was needed in order for him to experience the magnitude of God’s salvific power through Jesus. He was not simply holding an infant, he was holding the firstborn of all creation, the One who is before all things and the One in whom all things hold together. What an incredible kindness God showed Simeon. We, too, have been given the kindness to behold the Son of God.

Community

Re:Verse passage – Luke 1:57-80 (day four)

There is a character in this story that is easily overlooked – the company of “neighbors and relatives” mentioned in verse 58. This community intentionally came to rejoice with Elizabeth and Zacharias over the mercy God had shown them. This reflects the kind of community Paul calls us to in Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” We are called to a communal life, one in which we prioritize physical presence with one another, one where we are close enough to recognize and rejoice over the way God is working in each other’s lives.

It doesn’t stop there, though. Because this group had gathered, they heard the prophetic call on John’s life. They witnessed Zacharias regaining his speech, and they saw that the Lord was at work among them. The community grew in anticipation and faith because of what they witnessed with this family. The miracles God works in your life are not only meant to bless you, they’re meant to minister to the community you share your life with. An answered prayer for one person turns into a testimony that strengthens the faith of another. The act of interceding in prayer on your neighbors’ behalf allows you to anticipate a move of God with them. This requires that we set our minds on deepening our relationships with one another. To live the Christian life is to live a shared life.

Plans

Re:Verse passage – Luke 1:26-38 (day four)

We tend to think of Mary as the quiet, faithful mother of the Lord. She was those things of course, but Mary is no two-dimensional character. Mary had plans for her life. She was engaged to be married, after all. She had hopes, dreams, and fears. She knew the pain of living under an oppressive government. She experienced the troubles of living near the bottom of the social ladder. I wonder what she had been thinking about just moments before the angel appeared to her.

When the angel spoke to her, the plans she had for her life shattered. No longer would she live without being associated with scandal. No longer would she live in obscurity. No longer could she doubt God’s presence with her.

Mary had built a strong faith despite her young age; and when her plans for her life were shattered by divine presence breaking into her heart and body, she replied, “May it be done.” Mary trusted God’s work in her and allowed him to build a new life for her in an instant.

When God breaks in and shatters our plans, how will we respond? May it be with the faith of Mary.

Shame

Re:Verse passage – Luke 1:5-17 (day four)

Zacharias and Elizabeth lived righteous lives, but they still wrestled with the realities of a broken world. Their inability to bear children was a point of hurt and shame in their lives, one they had dealt with for a long time. When the Lord confronts Zacharias in the temple, he gives him a promise that ministers to his deepest wound. This passage is meant to remind us of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel. Throughout our lineage of ancestors in the Kingdom of God, the Lord meets people in their hurt and shame and brings beauty out of that place. He not only gives Zacharias and Elizabeth a child, but he uses that child to prepare the way of the Lord and advance the Kingdom of God on the earth.

The Lord continues to work in this way today. He ministers to our hurt and shame in a variety of ways, but when we submit those things to the Lord, he is willing to not only heal us in that area, but use it to advance the Kingdom.

Prepare

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 3:10-18 (day four)

When some consider the end of the world, or the end of this present life as we know it, it causes them to want to live wildly, with reckless abandon. The thought is, “if this is all going away, let’s live it up while we can.” They figure if it’s all going to end anyway, there isn’t a long-term consequence to their choices now. We who belong to Christ, though, view things differently. When we consider the end of things as we know them now, we celebrate because a better thing is coming in its place. The perfected, redeemed, all-things-made-right heaven and earth is what we look forward to. So we don’t live as though there is no consequence; rather, we prepare for the greater things to come. We prepare like a bride for her groom. We prepare for the wedding feast of the Lamb. Our preparation comes through growing in holiness, gentleness, love, and mercy. Prepare well.

Time

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 3:8-9 (day four)

There is roughly a 400 year gap between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, ends with a promise that sounds a lot like Peter’s words,

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze…But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the Lord of hosts.

I’m sure this promise filled the Israelites with hope in the middle of the trying times they lived in. But 400 years later, many generations had passed without seeing this promise fulfilled.

The Greek language uses two different words for time. The time that we think about most is time that can be measured in seconds, hours, weeks, and years. This is “chronos.” The Greek language has another word for time, though, that represents something much deeper – “kairos” indicates the fullness of time, the right time, a divinely appointed time. When Jesus comes on the scene, he says “the time (kairos) has come for the Kingdom of God to be near.”

While there was a great deal of time (chronos) between the delivery of the promise in Malachi and its satisfaction, Christ fulfilled it at the exact right time (kairos). In the same way, though the time (chronos) is long and slow as we wait for Christ’s return, he will come again at the exact right time (kairos) to restore all things. He is not slow; he simply operates in the fullness of time.

Evidence

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 3:1-7 (day four)

Peter points out a fatal flaw in the argument of false teachers who claim that Jesus is not returning. These false teachers, and other scoffers, look around and see no evidence of God’s intervention. In their view, the days, months, years, and generations pass by without even a wink from the divine. They see no evidence to support the claim that Jesus made – that he will return to rule the earth and restore all things – so they live unconcerned with God and his kingdom.

Peter reminds us that our very existence, the planet on which we stand and the galaxies we see each night, are proof that God’s Word is trustworthy. It is by God’s Word that the heavens were made, it is by God’s Word that the flowers bloom, and it is by God’s word that you and I exist today. Nothing happens apart from God’s Word. It was the Word of God that took on flesh, died, and rose again. Everything in history has occurred just as God said it would. When we look around, we see abundant evidence that God’s Word is true, and that Jesus will return at exactly the right time, just like he said he would.

Freedom

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 2:17-22 (day four)

…promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.

A common mark of false teachers is that they portray their teaching, their way of life, or the product they’re pushing, as one that will bring you freedom. It might be the freedom to do what you want without consequences, the freedom to pursue worldly things without constraint, the freedom of sexual expression, or the freedom from the restrictions of traditional morality.

Americans might be especially susceptible to this. Freedom is kind of our whole schtick, isn’t it? If something is painted as a constraint to our freedom, we naturally want to cast it off.

Peter reminds us that Jesus also taught about freedom, but the freedom we see him offering looks very different from the false teachers described here. The freedom we’re offered through Christ is the freedom from sin, the freedom to serve, the freedom from fear, the freedom to approach the throne of God with boldness, the freedom to pursue a holy life, clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

This is true freedom. Be wary of messages that promote a kind of “freedom” that looks and sounds different from that of Christ, whatever the source. Galatians 5:1, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”