Read Luke 1:26-33

This is the second appearance of an angel in the gospel of Luke, this time to a young woman. Her reaction to the angel was similar to Zechariah’s: fear. I mentioned before that I believe Zechariah’s fear had less to do with the appearance of an angel as it had to do with what his presence might mean. This is most certainly the case with Mary, as we know “…she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be“.

I find it amusing that Mary was so troubled merely at the angels choice of words, almost like Gabriel could have pitched up as a talking sack of potatoes and it would have had the same impact. I guess it’s hard impressing woman even as an arch-angel, and you still have to be careful what you say.

Why was Mary so troubled at his greeting? It sounds like regular Church speak to me: “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” I guess it’s ‘regular’ for those who underestimate the word ‘favored’, or for those who believe they deserve this favor.

In this context ‘favor’ means ‘indue with special honor’, as much an outrageous statement for a poor young virgin as a barren old woman. The meaning is not lost on Mary, nor the means, as she certainly seems to have no concept of how this honor could be bestowed on her. Her genuine humility is what leads to her anxiety.

Gabriel re-assures her, again reminding her of the special honor given to her. But he doesn’t dwell there long. Into her humility he drops the treasure: the prophecy of the Son of God being given life through her. I guess only humility could have caught and carried that honor.

READ Luke 1:18-25

And I thought I had faith issues. Of course it is quite something to believe that a biological clock so broken it has lost both it’s hands and feet will suddenly be fixed. But I think it’s quite something else to have a massive arch-angel chatting with you.

And yet still Zechariah finds it all too hard to believe. “How can I know?” he says. “Well I’m standing right here telling you”, bellows the monumental angel. Point taken.

I love how ordinary these people are. Zechariah’s flimsy faith, and Elizabeth’s self conscious insecurities. At least I think that’s how she felt, for why else would she hide away for five months? Was she afraid people would not believe her, and thus waited for an appropriate bump in the belly? Was she afraid something would happen and they’d lose the child? Was she incredibly humble and did not want to show off? I’m thinking insecurities of some sort.

What I am sure of is that this is the story of real people with real doubts and real fears whom God’s sovereign hand decided to touch in an incredible way. Which is good news for all of us.

READ Luke 1:14-17

This prophecy about John the Baptist sustained me for a whole year, on a whole number of levels:

“You will have joy and gladness” – A statement of fact, like a sovereign gift of God. I pray every morning for the sovereign gift of Joy, knowing it is ultimately my strength (Neh 8:10)

“He will be great before the Lord” – Notice that it is not great in himself or great before men, but great before the Lord. John the Baptist fulfilled this prophecy as he lived only to make Jesus greater and himself less (John 3:29-30). Inspiring.

“Will be filled with the Spirit from the womb” – This creates a bit of a theological tangle, but the principle is that God fully invested himself in a human life, even before birth. And I don’t think it applies only to John the Baptist (see Jer 1:5, Ps 22:10, Eph 2:10).

“He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God” – I think this is the duty of every Christian, helping turn the hearts of people to the Lord their God.

“He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah” – Elijah: Obedient, not afraid to ask, power in miracles, boldness to speak, extreme confidence in God, aggressive, prayed endlessly, but also had his moments of fear and flight (1 Kings 19:1-3).

“He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared“ – Thats an awesome job description, one which may be written in the small print of all of ours…

READ Luke 1:8-13

I’ve always wondered why people were so afraid at the sight of angels. Hagar was. The shepherds certainly were. It was happening to Zechariah. And it would soon happen to Mary.

Perhaps I can accept the fear the shepherds experienced, for they were alone in a field at night; an ideal setting for scary movies and equally scary Angelic appearances. Maybe I can even sympathise with Hagar, for it’s not every day an angel’s voice booms out the sky. But if there ever was an expected place for an angelic appearance the Holy of Holies would be it.

I’m pretty convinced then, that Zechariah’s fear was not because of the sight of the angel, but at what his presence might mean. Immediately the angel re-assures him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard…”. Maybe Zechariah expected some kind of judgment. Maybe he was expecting bad news. But he got the best possible news.

I wonder how often God does answer our prayers but instead of rejoicing fear falls like a blanket. Maybe it’s because we don’t think we deserve the answer we got. Or maybe it’s because we didn’t realise the extent of what we were asking for in the first place. Zechariah was praying for a baby, but God gave him a miracle.

I reckon that happens a whole lot more than we think…

READ Luke 1:1-7

I hate waiting. Maybe it’s the immature side of me, like the child who cant wait for Christmas to unwrap presents, or cant get to the holiday soon enough. Patience is definitely one of the fruits of the spirit that fell to the ground and rotted long ago.

But waiting in traffic is nothing compared to waiting for answered prayer. Especially if it’s a matter of life or death. Take Elizabeth and Zechariah for example, who are ‘well advanced in years’ and have desperately been praying for a child. But through all the years God is silent, and they have had to wait.

It seems a bit cruel and heartless, and so we’d be tempted to say that it is perhaps due to some kind of sin in their life, a barrier producing the barren. But that is to put ourselves in the well-meaning but far-off-the-mark company of Job’s friends, for “…they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord”. Even the Saints had to wait.

But not for too much longer. For every prayer gets it’s day. Every request receives it’s answer. Every wish has it’s design. There may be only a few words between desire and fulfillment, but chances are they may represent years. Sigh. I guess we should enjoy the wait.

Most people visiting this site will be very familiar with daily devotionals, those little bite-size fridge-magnet verses with polite commentary. There are some great ones out there for sure. I used Oswald Chamber’s My utmost for his Highest three years in a row, and gave Charles Spurgeon’s Morning & Evening a good long run. Both their work is available on-line daily, Spurgeons’ here and Chambers’ here.

So whats this one all about then? In my opinion, daily devotionals are useful only if they somehow inspire someone to go read the text for themselves, and to somehow hear God for themselves through them. That means the most useful bit is the verse you read, not the authors comments on it.

That being said, there is a large overlap in the verses used in the thousands of devotionals out there, meaning lots of people are going to the same old verses for daily inspiration. Which is not bad on it’s own, I just think all of scripture is profitable for devotional use.

So in this daily devotional I’m going to work through whole books in the bible, starting with the gospel of Luke. Please note that it’s a devotional, not a commentary. That means I’m not trying to put together a systematic theology of Luke, but rather try to lead a devotional journey through the book.

If you join me for the tour it will mean you’ll read very slowly and meditatively through the book. That on it’s own will do wonders in your life. My comments are just that, my comments, from my own devotional journal. It will record the aspects of the scripture that were meaningful in a devotional sense to me.

But please, first read the verse for yourself. Slowly, meditatively, chewing on the words. Then look at the comments. You may have discovered a whole new devotional insight in the verse for the day. If so, please share it as a comment. That way we’ll all be involved in the journey together…