Read Luke 1:57-80

It had been a long eight days.

Zechariah hadn’t been able to say a word for more than nine months. He thought surely when his and Elizabeth’s son was born, then the Lord would free up his tongue. But no, the birth came and he was still mute.

On the eighth day, friends gathered to circumcise the baby and name him for his father. No. True to the angel’s instruction, Zechariah wrote, “His name is John.” In that moment of obedience, his ability to speak returned (v. 64).

And what words he spoke! Like Mary, Zechariah never directly thanks the Lord for the child. Instead, Zechariah spends two-thirds of his song praising the Lord for His kindness to Israel. Finally, Zechariah addresses his new son, predicting his role in Messiah’s work (v. 76).

Six months older than Jesus, John would become the “voice of one calling in the desert,” that Isaiah predicted, the one to “prepare the way for the Lord” (Isaiah 40:3). Zechariah, faithful old priest, ends with a joyous recital of God’s love. Through these two little boys God would “give his people the knowledge of salvation.

”With forgiveness and tender mercy, God’s light would rise. The promise is to us all. Born in the darkness of sin and the shadow of death, God’s light will shine on us, “to guide our feet into the path of peace” (vv. 77, 79; Isaiah 9:2).

Read Luke 1:39-56

Pregnant women claim unborn babies always pick the wrong time to be active.

At bedtime when you want to be quiet, or in the middle of a lecture or concert, fetuses decide to turn into whirling dervishes. Elizabeth’s baby was more selective. He leaped when Elizabeth heard Messiah’s mother speak (v. 41).

The home folks may have wondered about Mary’s status, but her cousin Elizabeth had no such doubts. After her husband’s experience with the angel Gabriel, his being unable to speak for six months and counting, and her unexpected pregnancy, she believed without reservation that this was God’s Son and His mother who were favoring her with a visit.

Mary, probably a teenager, with minimal education by classical standards, is so overshadowed by God’s creative genius that she speaks one of the sublime poems of all history.

She begins with personal praise for what God has done for her (vv. 46-49). She exalts God for His mercy extending to those who fear Him, to the humble, the hungry, to all of Israel. The Lord brings down those “who are proud in their inmost thoughts,” even if they are rulers or rich. But His blessings on those who fear Him are forever (vv. 50-55).

Mary’s song moves from praises of God’s goodness to individuals to God’s kindness to Israel as a nation, ending with the faithfulness of God. What He promised to Abraham and the prophets He has done.

Read Luke 1:26-38

Mary could have asked a lot of questions.

She could have said to Gabriel, “You mean after Joseph and I marry our first child will be a boy and do all these things?”

Or she could have asked, “What do you mean, ‘He will reign forever’? Are Joseph and I supposed to establish a new line of kings for Israel?”

Or she could have asked that time-honored question, “What will mother say?”

It would have been understandable if Mary had assumed that Joseph would be Messiah’s father. She didn’t. She seemed to grasp immediately that this was God’s child (v. 34). She accepted that, but it puzzled her.

What this would mean in terms of misunderstanding in a close-knit place like Nazareth must have shot through Mary’s head: “They’ll think I’m a harlot. I’ll lose Joseph; he won’t marry me now. They’ll stone me. I’ll die.”

She probably thought all of those things. She may have thought about something else, Isaiah’s words, “The virgin will be with child…Immanuel,” God with us (Isaiah 7:14). She accepted God’s call.

Luke reinforces a great foundation stone of Christianity here, the virgin birth. If Jesus were not God’s Son, all of our vast Creator God somehow compressed into a man’s body, then the whole thing fails. He could not redeem us because He himself would be nothing more than another sinful man. Praise God for Mary’s gentle acquiescence to God’s plan.

Read Luke 1:5-25

Never in his wildest dreams could Zechariah have envisioned all that happened to him that day in the temple in Jerusalem.

This was the high point of Priest Zechariah’s career. He was chosen to burn the incense, something that usually happened to a priest only once in a lifetime.

By the time he finally came out of the temple, people were beginning to ask, “What’s taking him so long?” To make matters worse, when he did emerge, he found he could not speak. On his highest day, he could not give the waiting faithful a benediction.

Even though Zechariah came away from his duties that day struck dumb because of his imperfect faith, he could not think the day was a failure. He left the temple with astounding promises from God. In spite of his flawed faith, God had promised to bless him and his wife, Elizabeth, with a son. This was after he and Elizabeth had given up on having a family. He showed up with a fresh vision of God’s power, the angel’s words still ringing in his head.

Where are you standing faithfully? At home caring for children, aging parents, a chronically ill spouse? At the office? Traveling on business? Wherever you are, ask God to reveal Himself to you in a deeper way, to give you God’s handmade special blessing—just for you.

Read Luke 1:1-4

Why did he write it?
People have called Luke’s life of Christ “the most beautiful book in the world.” Like all of the New Testament, Luke wrote his biography of Jesus in Greek. He never gets his Greek grammar mixed up. He is never repetitious. About half of Luke’s material is exclusively his own. His gospel contains many parables not otherwise recorded.

Luke was a physician. So far as we know, he is the only Gentile who wrote books included in the Bible. (He wrote Acts, also.) One of Luke’s motives for writing may have been to explain to Roman authorities that Christianity was not a subversive cult, bent on destroying Rome.

Another reason was to give us an orderly account of Christ’s life (v. 3). Luke dates the events of his book by the same method the classical Greek historians used to date their histories. He catalogs seven rulers or leaders in a list (3:1-2). The period of time when all seven of these men were in power simultaneously narrows the time considerably. By using the method of the professional historian, Luke relates his story to the wider context of world history.

If Luke is writing, as we think, sometime between 58-63 A.D., he has a long perspective, with a wealth of knowledge of facts and deep love for Christ and His followers. He produces an account of Jesus’ life filled with gladness, praise, and tender, human interest. Let’s explore it in the weeks to come.