Category: Ethics

Red Letter Year: 6/18

Luke 1:39-56

39 A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town 40 where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. 41 At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

42 Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. 43 Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44 When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”

46 Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.

47 How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!

48 For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed.

49 For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me.

50 He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him.

51 His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.

52 He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.

53 He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands.

54 He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful.

55 For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.”

56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back to her own home.

Comments

Mary uses some strong language in her worship song. God’s mighty arm has scattered the proud and haughty. God has knocked over thrones and those who sit on them. God has emptied the bank accounts of the rich. God has shown mercy to the lowly. God has exalted the humble. God has given good things to those who had nothing. Sounds like a Robin Hood story. Sounds like the messianic expectations that Jesus refused to meet in Matthew. But it should also make you think of the Temple clearing we read recently (and a number of Psalms). Luke highlights Mary’s song at the very beginning of his Gospel, not to present misinformed messianic expectations, but to tell us at the very outset that this is what his Gospel is about – that this is an essential part of the kingdom Jesus inaugurates. Matthew told us the “poor in spirit” were blessed. Luke alters that to say the poor are blessed. This does not necessarily contradict Matthew, but it adds an important dimension to the overall Gospel of Jesus Christ that these four accounts together give us. Luke wants us to know that going in, he wants to put us on alert to be looking for this as we read. Mary’s worship song serves as Luke’s thesis statement.

The New Living Translation (NLT)Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Monday meditations John 10.11: good and bad shepherds

“A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10.11

In this passage, the main point Jesus is making is about his own impending death. At the same time Jesus was also explaining the example he was setting and laying out his expectations for those who would respond to the call to pastor in the church he was about to build. There seems to be a clear (underlying) reference here to the prophecy against the shepherds of Israel in Ezekiel 34 which leads into the messianic promise that the Lord himself will come and shepherd his people (the echo of Ezekiel 34 is unmistakable in Jesus’ teaching in John 10). In the Ezekiel passage you can see the juxtaposition between how good shepherds act and how bad shepherds act. To sum it up:

A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A bad shepherd does the opposite. 

Which  reminds me of the story of how Saul’s reign ended. Saul knew he had been rejected as king of Israel. When the Philistines attacked, the Lord refused to give Saul any direction, so he consulted a medium who told him he and his sons were going to die in the battle. Since he was king, he knew this meant many others would die and yet, despite this knowledge, he went into battle anyway, needlessly risking the lives of his entire army and even his own sons. Why? Because pain, death, and destruction seemed better to him than relinquishing his power. The result? “The Philistines attacked Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them. Many were slaughtered on Mount Gilboa.” (1 Sam. 31.1) Saul could have walked away, but he chose to let his own people (even his own sons) die instead. He laid down the sheep to save himself. Except it doesn’t work that way. Saul died anyway, he just took everyone else down with him. Because that’s what bad shepherds do.

There are many good pastors in the church Jesus built, but there are also many bad shepherds. Most are like Saul, they began well (having been chosen by God) and even in their latter state are still loved by their people (Saul’s men went willingly into battle that day because they loved their king; they went again later to retrieve his body). But when it comes to it, they sacrifice others to save themselves. The move from good to bad may be gradual, it may not always be easy to tell, but this is how you know: Does the shepherd lay down his life or the life of others? This is the test.

Meditate this week on Jesus’ statement. Think about how he backed up his words with his actions and how he called his followers to do the same. Then answer these questions (based on the test above, not how you may feel): Are you following a bad shepherd? Are you being a bad shepherd? Are you defending a bad shepherd or tolerating one having care over a flock you have responsibility for? Good shepherds lay down their lives for those they are called to pastor (because when you lay down your life, you gain it). Bad shepherds try to save themselves and their positions, but they do a lot of real harm to the souls they were supposed to protect and still do not save themselves (because when you seek to save your life, you lose it).