Monday, 09 May 2016 - "Elizabeth: surprised by motherhood for a mission"
Daily Scripture: Luke 1:5 In the days of Herod, King of Y’hudah, there was a cohen named Z’kharyah who belonged to the Aviyah division. His wife was a descendant of Aharon, and her name was Elisheva. 6 Both of them were righteous before God, observing all the mitzvot and ordinances of Adonai blamelessly. 7 But they had no children, because Elisheva was barren; and they were both well along in years.
8 One time, when Z’kharyah was fulfilling his duties as cohen during his division’s period of service before God, 9 he was chosen by lot (according to the custom among the cohanim) to enter the Temple and burn incense. 10 All the people were outside, praying, at the time of the incense burning, 11 when there appeared to him an angel of Adonai standing to the right of the incense altar. 12 Z’kharyah was startled and terrified at the sight. 13 But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Z’kharyah; because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elisheva will bear you a son, and you are to name him Yochanan. 14 He will be a joy and a delight to you, and many people will rejoice when he is born, 15 for he will be great in the sight of Adonai. He is never to drink wine or other liquor, and he will be filled with the Ruach HaKodesh even from his mother’s womb. 16 He will turn many of the people of Isra’el to Adonai their God.
24 Following this, Elisheva his wife conceived, and she remained five months in seclusion, saying, 25 “Adonai has done this for me; he has shown me favor at this time, so as to remove my public disgrace.”
57 The time arrived for Elisheva to have her baby, and she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard how good Adonai had been to her, and they rejoiced with her.
59 On the eighth day, they came to do the child’s b’rit-milah. They were about to name him Z’kharyah, after his father, 60 when his mother spoke up and said, “No, he is to be called Yochanan.” 61 They said to her, “None of your relatives has that name,” 62 and they made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him called. 63 He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s surprise he wrote, “His name is Yochanan.” 64 At that moment, his power of speech returned, and his first words were a b’rakhah to God. 65 All their neighbors were awestruck; and throughout the hill country of Y’hudah, people talked about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard of them said to himself, “What is this child going to be?” For clearly the hand of Adonai was with him.
Reflection Questions:Echoing Abraham and Sarah’s Old Testament story (cf. Genesis 15:2-6, 18:10-14), the divine messenger said elderly Elizabeth would bear the child she and Zechariah had hoped and prayed for. In their time and place, childlessness was a personal sadness, and most people also saw it as a divinely inflicted punishment. That’s why Elizabeth said God had removed “my disgrace.” Even more, the messenger promised that their child (John the Baptizer, Jesus' forerunner) would be “great in the Lord’s eyes” (verse 15)!
- When Elizabeth’s son was born, her neighbors and relatives shared her joy. “All the neighbors were filled with awe…throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things….asking, ‘What then is this child going to be?’” We’d say there was “a lot of buzz” about John’s birth. How did God use human curiosity (maybe even our urge to gossip!) to encourage John’s mother, and add impact to his later ministry?
- Luke also wrote (cf. Luke 1:39-45) that Mary, pregnant with Jesus and likely facing distrust and disapproval in Nazareth, went to Judea (several days’ journey) and spent time with Elizabeth, a woman who could understand her experience. Imagine the day-to-day support and understanding these two “miracle mothers” gave each other during that time. Who has blessed you with understanding and love when you really needed it? Is there someone who needs your support in the wake of Mother’s Day?
Lord God, you built mother love into your creation. Thank you for working through that deep-seated love to launch John’s and Jesus’ ministries, which changed my life and my world. Amen.Insights from Donna Karlen
Donna Karlen serves in Communications at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, creating and managing social media content.
As I write this on Mother’s Day, I confess that I really envy the moms of babies and young children. Not just because they get to experience all the joys, frustrations, hopes, scares – everything a parent goes through with their precious children (I feel like I blinked twice and my two babies grew up into the amazing adults they are today) – but also because today’s moms have…
Pinterest!
Are you kidding me with that? So many ideas for EV-ER-Y-thing! From the perfect memes for when you really could use a laugh that doesn’t involve blowing raspberries on a toddler’s stomach (e.g. You know you’re a mom when you’ve been washing the same load of laundry for 3 days because you keep forgetting to put it in the dryer), to birthday party themes that put to shame my feeble attempts years ago just having plates, cups and napkins that matched – you can find it on Pinterest.
So let’s take a look at what Elizabeth may have pinned if this social media channel had been around in Bible times. There she was pregnant with her first child when most of her friends probably had entered into the joys of grandparenthood…
#Help for morning sickness
The angel had taken the guesswork out of both the baby’s gender and what to name him, but I’m sure Elizabeth couldn’t help herself…
#Names for boys
#Names for girls
#Nursery decor ideas for boys… for girls
Luke 1:39-45 describes a visit from Elizabeth’s cousin, Mary (who, as the one chosen to give birth to Jesus, was no doubt creating her own set of Pinterest boards!), and I’m pretty sure that during the cousins’ time together this must’ve happened:
#Baby shower ideas
And just picture the two women chatting up a storm about their hopes and dreams for their babies! They probably started following each other’s boards.
#Getting ready for baby
#Creating a spiritual home
The angel had told Zechariah that his baby “will be a joy and delight to you” (what parent wouldn’t love hearing that?!), but Elizabeth wanted to be prepared for anything:
#What to when your child…
And because her husband wasn’t talking (the work of the angel because Zechariah had questioned the prophesy of John’s birth):
#Communicating with your husband
And then the time came for Elizabeth to give birth to her baby boy. Neighbors and friends rejoiced with the elderly couple.
#Party ideas
And Zechariah and Elizabeth began that glorious, frustrating, scary, hope-filled journey of parenthood:
#Showing gratitude
#Prayers for your children
#Parenting
Visit pinterest.com/churchoftherez to see new boards coming, including “Just for moms.” And if you have ideas for boards, please email donna.karlen@cor.org.
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
As I write this on Mother’s Day, I confess that I really envy the moms of babies and young children. Not just because they get to experience all the joys, frustrations, hopes, scares – everything a parent goes through with their precious children (I feel like I blinked twice and my two babies grew up into the amazing adults they are today) – but also because today’s moms have…
Pinterest!
Are you kidding me with that? So many ideas for EV-ER-Y-thing! From the perfect memes for when you really could use a laugh that doesn’t involve blowing raspberries on a toddler’s stomach (e.g. You know you’re a mom when you’ve been washing the same load of laundry for 3 days because you keep forgetting to put it in the dryer), to birthday party themes that put to shame my feeble attempts years ago just having plates, cups and napkins that matched – you can find it on Pinterest.
So let’s take a look at what Elizabeth may have pinned if this social media channel had been around in Bible times. There she was pregnant with her first child when most of her friends probably had entered into the joys of grandparenthood…
#Help for morning sickness
The angel had taken the guesswork out of both the baby’s gender and what to name him, but I’m sure Elizabeth couldn’t help herself…
#Names for boys
#Names for girls
#Nursery decor ideas for boys… for girls
Luke 1:39-45 describes a visit from Elizabeth’s cousin, Mary (who, as the one chosen to give birth to Jesus, was no doubt creating her own set of Pinterest boards!), and I’m pretty sure that during the cousins’ time together this must’ve happened:
#Baby shower ideas
And just picture the two women chatting up a storm about their hopes and dreams for their babies! They probably started following each other’s boards.
#Getting ready for baby
#Creating a spiritual home
The angel had told Zechariah that his baby “will be a joy and delight to you” (what parent wouldn’t love hearing that?!), but Elizabeth wanted to be prepared for anything:
#What to when your child…
And because her husband wasn’t talking (the work of the angel because Zechariah had questioned the prophesy of John’s birth):
#Communicating with your husband
And then the time came for Elizabeth to give birth to her baby boy. Neighbors and friends rejoiced with the elderly couple.
#Party ideas
And Zechariah and Elizabeth began that glorious, frustrating, scary, hope-filled journey of parenthood:
#Showing gratitude
#Prayers for your children
#Parenting
Visit pinterest.com/churchoftherez to see new boards coming, including “Just for moms.” And if you have ideas for boards, please email donna.karlen@cor.org.
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
---------------------
---------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment