This week’s readings are all from Luke 1. Click here to see a full listing of each day’s reading and the full chapters of Luke 1. Full readings of each day’s smaller segments of the readings will be posted on this site during the week.
Today's Reading
67 Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied,
68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
because he has come to help and has redeemed his people.
69 For he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago,
71 that we should be saved from our enemies,
and from the hand of all who hate us.
72 He has done this to show mercy to our ancestors,
and to remember his holy covenant—
73 the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham.
This oath grants
74 that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,
may serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before him for as long as we live.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High.
For you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.
78 Because of our God’s tender mercy
the dawn will break upon us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
80 And the child kept growing and becoming strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he was revealed to Israel.
What extraordinary words Zechariah uses to describe his son, a son he would most likely never see grown. John, the prophet who would go before the Lord to prepare his way to give “knowledge and salvation to his people .”
Once again the Life Application Bible provides an understanding of scripture that I had not thought of…the question raised was “why was John raised out in the desert?”…the answer was” Prophets used the isolation of the uninhabited desert to enhance their spiritual growth and to focus on their message on God. By being in the desert John remained separate from the economic and political powers so that he could aim his message against them. He also remained separate from the hypothetical religious leaders of his day. John’s message was different than theirs, and the life he lived proved it.” 🤔🤔🤔…anyone want to move to the desert with me😉🙏🤗👍
So I really like reading these words
in Luke that are not in the other gospels (right?!?!)… Mary’s song of praise and Zechariah’s words (prophecy/praise). They both seem so powerful and I am amazed at their faithfulness. The entire first part of Zechariah’s words are not even about his son, but Jesus! I guess I am just thankful today for the words of Luke, that are a bit different, so we can see and hear from these followers of God and crazy important, normal folks who played such a huge part in the story of Jesus.