I've been feeding on Luke 1, slowly going through it, meditating and pondering and praying in this portion of scripture. I'm only up to verse 35, as I'm chewing slowly and prayerfully. Several things in this chapter have spoken to me, but one thing in particular has stuck out. This portion is all about barren (or virgin) women and supernatural child-bearing. An angel shows up and prophetically declares that they are about to birth a movement. Regarding John, the angel says, "It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (vs. 17) And of Jesus, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High...and His kingdom will have no end." (vs. 32-33)
Due to my culturally Hellenistic approach to the scriptures, I have had to realize that this is not just doctrinal/conceptual teaching. This is the story of real people and how God dealt with them. Real women, real pain: Elizabeth with the stigma of being barren, and Mary with the stigma of being pregnant outside of marriage, and God's real purpose in the midst of it. But it's also about real children. Both John the Baptist and Jesus were born bloody and messy just like the rest of us. Weird.
Anyway, God is helping me to rediscover the Story that I'm now part of (His story) from a holistic, real life approach (as opposed to the separated, compartmentalized, sanitized, conceptualized Hellenistic approach that I'm accustomed to).
I can relate to these portions of Luke. I was recently pregnant and had my first child not that long ago. And now I am beginning to get a much deeper understanding of just how sacred the ministry of motherhood really is (just as all aspects of my life are sacred). The transition wasn't immediate for me. As much as I love missional living, and continue to seek that lifestyle, I have a mission right here in my household that is very, very important to the Lord. And I have this awesome sense of responsibility and stewardship in it. Even a healthy fear of the Lord in wanting to do it well. Reading about how part of John's ministry (in the spirit and power of Elijah - doesn't it sound so grand - Shaba-daba-da!) is turning father's (and mother's) hearts towards their children.
Pondering women and children, and birthing and motherhood, I also came across this passage: Is 66:9,12-13, "Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?" says the Lord. "Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?" says your God. For this is what the Lord says: "I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem."
Since God is beyond gender, I can learn from (Him) how to be a good mom, as God models both fatherhood and motherhood for me. Wild. Awesome. The gospel of Luke starts with women and children. Wow. Radical.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Women and Children in Luke
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7 comments:
Sarah, really great thoughts as usual. The verses you quote from Luke 1 concerning the fathers returning to their children is interesting because they are the last two verses in the Old Testament. They read there:
"Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD.
6"He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and (M)smite the land with a curse."
The last words of God for several hundred years are also some of the first words spoken when he picks up his story again. Then when Mary sings the Magnificat she is for the first time in the New Testament writings picking up the great theme of the Old Testament concerning the restoration of the righteousness and justice of God that will be fulfilled in her son Jesus.
By the way, my favorite woman in the New Testament is Mary. What a wonderful person who lived under a cloud all her life for becoming pregnant prior to her union with Joseph. I can just hear the whispers behind her back as she walked the streets of Nazareth. What a strong person. Sorry, I am going on far too long. I really like your taking your time through the first part of Luke. There is so much there in the lives of real people who were servants to the living God. We have much to learn from them.
Traveller, thanks for your comments. Ya, I'm really getting tons out of it. Especially regarding John's forerunner mission to return many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God, the returning of the fathers toward their children, and the making ready a people prepared for the Lord. Well, lots of other stuff too.
But it struck me how this story (the gospel of Luke) begins with women and children. Around the world, usually women and children come last. That's why it struck me as kind of radical...
It is only radical to us because our culture, in its fallen state, twists what God has intended all along with regard to the equality of genders. I would suggest it is not radical to God but just normal life. How I wish we could get to that place in the ekklesia.
Thanks for pointing this idea out. I like it and will explore it further myself.
Right. And I think children are often sidelined as well (and not just in our culture, but in many cultures around the world). But, like you say, God really isn't concerned with our social status hangups - He values us all the same! White males included! :)
I agree with you on children also. Sometimes the wisest person in the room is a child.
I have a friend who almost impulsively (clearly at the leading of the Spirit) started an orphanage in India a few years ago. It’s an incredible story of a man whose heart was broken for some kids Jesus loves very much. He recently sat and shared with me about all of the thrills and heartaches of the adventure. In the course of our talk he asked, “Do you know who the first gospel martyrs were?”
My first thought was Stephan, but I knew better. “Who?” I asked.
“The children of Bethlehem who were slain for the Lord,” he said. “The Lord showed me that, and I know He has a very special place in His heart for children.”
Profound!
Ken, thanks for sharing. Yes, that is a profound revelation...
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