Wednesday, December 9, 2015

"The Song" - Doug Rehberg

There is a line in Psalm 23 that speaks of fear, danger, and loneliness. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…” In commenting on this verse, Max Lucado tells of a young friend of his who worked for a pharmacy while attending the University of Texas in Austin. His job was to deliver supplies to nursing homes and local residents who could not get out to retrieve these items.

One delivery occurred every four days. He would pick up a large jug of water and place it on his shoulder. From there he’d walk about fifty feet or so, behind the pharmacy, to a building on the other side of the alley. The customer was an older woman, perhaps in her seventies, who lived alone in the dark, sparce, and tarnished apartment. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling. The wallpaper was stained and peeling. And every four days Lucado’s friend would knock on the door, enter the apartment, and place the large jug of water on her kitchen counter and remove the empty one. He’d receive the payment from the woman, thank her politely, and then leave.

Over the weeks he began to wonder about the purchase. Why would this woman buy water in large jugs every four days when city water was available at a fraction of the cost? The answer? She was lonely. Indeed, she was so lonely that she opted to spend considerably more money just to have a regular visitor.

As we implied last week, our culture today is wedded to rabid individualism. It affects every area of life, including our faith. One of the first lessons in the great Bible study curriculum – The Bethel Bible Series – is to “Think Hebrew”. Bethel makes it clear that there  is a striking contrast between the way we (Greek thinking people) think and the way the Hebrew mind processes information. To the Hebrew the corporate is far more important than the individual. And so it is throughout the Scriptures.

Now think of Mary and the aftermath of her divine exposure. Gabriel, the angel most associated with divine judgment, appears to her and remarkably dispenses divine grace. In the first four words he uses the word “grace” twice. He announces God’s intentions. “The power of the Most High will overshadow you. The child born to you will be called holy – the Son of God.” Imagine her sense of fear, danger, and loneliness at the announcement. And yet, instead of basking in her solitude, she surrenders to the urgings of the angel and makes haste to see her equally pregnant cousin, Elizabeth. And it’s here in the presence of Elizabeth that the full measure of God’s exposure to Mary is realized. Simply put, without her visit to Elizabeth, there’d be no song. There’d be no proclamation of the Gospel by Mary. There’d be no justification for her statement in verse 38, “Behold, I am a bond slave of the Lord…”

This week in a message entitled, “The Song”, we will be examining the aftermath of Gabriel’s visitation to Mary in Luke 1:39-56. In preparing for Sunday’s study, you may wish to consider the following:
  1. What is the distance that Mary travels from Nazareth to the house of Zechariah?
  2. What would that journey have been like for her?
  3. Why does she go?
  4. What does the location of Zechariah’s house tell us about Gabriel’s visitation to him earlier in chapter 1?
  5. What does Luke mean when he says that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit when she heard Mary’s greeting?
  6. How does God expose Himself to Mary through Elizabeth?
  7. Why is Mary’s song – the Magnificat – called the greatest Christmas carol of all time?
  8. What is the great shift that occurs in Mary’s song?
  9. How does the message of this song perfectly reflect Micah 6:6-8 and the essence of Jesus’ signature?
  10. What is the difference between Mary’s song and most of the Christmas carols we sing?
See you Sunday!