According to the Promise
Or
Mary’s Song of Praise
Luke 1:46-55
Or
Luke 1:46-66; 2:1-7
International Sunday School Lesson
December 25, 2011
Commentary
By
Jed Greenough
Part I
It is always curious to see where people’s priorities are at Christmas. The season starts for many long in advance of the time.
For many in the world they recognize the season not because of Christ but instead for the fact that it is a holiday. That might mean an extra day off or a party to attend and not remember it the next day.
While for others it’s the day after Thanksgiving when all the best bargains begin and they plan out a strategy that would rival the D-day preparations as they assault the stores. Don’t stand in their way as the smallest of grandmas is like the largest of football linemen!
For some it is time to start preparing for church programs doing the massive number of things necessary to make them all a success. There is sewing and crafting, carpentry and painting, reading and writing, recruiting and inviting. They pour themselves into the preparation and pull everything off with a rousing success. But on Christmas morning they are absent and if they are present they are not able to fit in the Sunday School lesson if the class is held at all. All in consideration of the busyness of the season you know.
Others though, regardless of whether the classroom is closed or not, will dutifully prepare for this day or retreat to a quiet corner of their cheery holiday filled abode so that they can be in God’s word on this the most important of Sundays because it isn’t about them, but Him.
Although not included in today’s passage those verses that immediately precede today’s verses are vital. Did you ever notice how often I say that? Anyway, Elizabeth who is pregnant with John has just blessed Mary. Under the power of the Holy Spirit she has been made aware of Mary’s state and not just that she is with child but with the Savior.
What is Mary’s reply? For starters let’s not just note that Mary is singing a song or hymn but rather Mary in answer to this gushing blessing from Elizabeth is shedding all praise from herself and putting it squarely where it should be—on God.
Exaltation, I think is the word that would fit here for what we see Mary experiencing. And as she is feeling it though, it is clear that this well-being comes from the depths of her very existence, from her soul it says and from her spirit. But though it comes from these places in her reply to Mary, her song is not filled with I this or I that but rather the following:
She glorifies the Lord
She rejoices in God
He has done this
Humility
His name is holy
His mercy
He
He
HE
She carried our savior and she no doubt had pride in that but it is a pride that produces a song like this. What about us, we carry the savior within us as well. This Christmas when we are blessed by others as the result of the season what will be our response?
Part II
For those whose lesson is extended to include additional scripture you might wonder if the inclusion of verses 57-66 was the best choice and I would be right there with you. But you see God is a better writer and if it were a movie, director than we are.
If we were directing a movie on Luke and telling this story on Christmas these verses would have been left on the cutting room floor. Good thing we didn’t get the job because of the choice we would have made. Similarly we demonstrate by our omitting from today’s lesson and from many accounts of the Christmas story the verses of 67-80 we haven’t done a very good job now nor in the past.
The reason that God included this part (verses 57-80) is to show that He sent His son for us, man has a role and John would be the example. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit so that she would know something she couldn’t have known otherwise about Mary. Here we see Zechariah likewise filled and enabled to know what he could not. He tells us why this part about the birth of John is included in the Christmas story, “to give the people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins.”
That was to be John’s role and as Christians that is to be our role in sharing the gospel. A rather important part of telling the story of Christmas don’t you think?
For Discussion:
1. Pay very careful attention to Luke 1:45. Discuss that verse.
2. Challenge those in your class to take the time in private this Christmas day and sing a spontaneous Spirit led song to God.
3. Is there a better day than Christmas to share the Good News whether in a conversation or even in a Christmas dinner prayer?
4. Discuss why John, “lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.”
5. Was John a Nazirite?
6. Discuss why verses 2:1-7 are important. Reasons might include the documentation of man’s history being verifiable even to this day giving proof to a skeptical world, to show that from the beginning man has not had room for God, to show that man in his “wisdom” was not expecting a messiah like this. What else?
7. Have a blessed Christmas and thank you for being a part of this class in 2011. See you in the New Year! Jed
1-1-12: God Watches over Joseph (Guided by a Loving Lord) Genesis 39:7-21a
1-8-12: Joseph Finds Favor (A Discerning and Wise Leader) Genesis 41:37-45, 50-52 or
41:37-46, 50-52
1-15-12: God Preserves a Remnant (A Brother Revealed) Genesis 45:3-15
1-22-12: Joseph Transmits Abraham’s Promise (Reconciliation in the Family) Genesis 50:15-
26
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved
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