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Sunday, December 25, 2011
Living - Holding on to God
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Lesson for Dec. 25, 2011: The Lord Keeps His Promise (Luke 1:26–2:7; Galatians 3:6-18) | Christian Standard
Lesson for Dec. 25, 2011: The Lord Keeps His Promise (Luke 1:26–2:7; Galatians 3:6-18) | Christian Standard
(2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)The Lord Keeps His Promise
Lesson for Dec. 25, 2011: The Lord Keeps His Promise (Luke 1:26–2:7; Galatians 3:6-18)
(2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
This treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson is written by Sam E. Stone, former editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD.
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The Lord Keeps His Promise
(Luke 1:26–2:7; Galatians 3:6-18)
By Sam E. Stone
God always keeps his promises. The life of Abraham provides an excellent illustration of this. In recent weeks, we saw an elderly, childless couple become parents. Moving forward 2,000 years, today’s lesson reveals that from their descendants came God’s own Son, bringing the hope of salvation for all people.
The first section of our text is part of Mary’s song after she learned that she would give birth to God’s Son. Following the angel’s visit, Mary went to stay with Elizabeth, her relative in Judea. Elizabeth blessed her because Mary had trusted God would do what he said (Luke 1:26-45). Mary responded with a beautiful song of praise to the Lord. It is sometimes called “The Magnificat” because of the first word in the Latin translation.
Of the four Gospel writers, Luke is the one who gives the historical details and setting of Jesus’ birth. With careful research and guided by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, he records the wonderful news of Christ’s coming. The second part of today’s text describes that event.
Praising God
Luke 1:46-55
My soul glorifies the Lord. Mary’s song is similar to the one Hannah sang when God answered her prayers by giving her a son (1 Samuel 2:1-10). God . . . has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. Mary had no noble rank, no wealth, no earthly position. What she did have, however, was submissive faith in the Lord (Luke 1:38). She was content to be God’s obedient slave, come what may. God himself is no respecter of persons (Romans 2:11; 10:11-13). All generations will call me blessed. Recognizing Mary’s faith and how God honored it does not mean that she is to be worshipped, of course. The Mighty One has done great things for me. All blessings come from God (James 1:17).
His mercy extends to those who fear him. Fear suggests proper respect and reverence for God and his power (Psalm 111:10; Job 28:28). He has performed mighty deeds with his arm.Compare Isaiah 53:1—“Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” The “arm” symbolizes strength and power (Jeremiah 27:5). He has filled the hungry. . . . He has helped his servant Israel. Despite the suffering endured by the people of Israel for years, God remained true to his promises (Genesis 22:16-18; Micah 7:20; Galatians 3:16). The people’s hopes would be realized in her son, Jesus. Ours will be as well.
Promise Kept
Luke 2:1-7
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. The Romans were the dominant world power when Jesus was born. By using the emperor’s name and a specific event in his reign, Luke established the accuracy of his account. A. T. Robertson wrote, “Papyri and inscriptions have confirmed Luke on every point in these critical verses (2:1-7).”
And everyone went to his own town to register. All of the people went to their place of ancestral origin to have their information recorded. This meant going to the city where their forefathers had settled when Joshua divided the land years before (Joshua 13–18). So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went up in elevation but down in direction, coming from the northern region of Galilee to the southern area called Judea. Bethlehem is located about six miles south of the capital city, Jerusalem.
He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. Centuries before, Micah had predicted the Messiah would be born here. God used the decree of a pagan ruler to bring about the fulfillment of this prophecy (Micah 5:2). When the time came for the baby to be born, she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. It is not surprising that Mary and Joseph found a “no vacancy” sign, since many others were undoubtedly returning for the census as well. By describing Jesus as Mary’s firstborn, Luke obviously suggests that she had other children later (Matthew 12:46). The manger was simply a feeding trough used for the animals. It could have been located in a barn or cave. In this humble place, God kept his promise made to Abraham centuries before.
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
Infancy Gospel of James
Infancy Gospel of James
Estimated Range of Dating: 140-170 A.D.
Online Text for Infancy Gospel of James
- Greek Text
- English Translation from Shelly Matthews
- English Translation from Andrew Bernhard
- Roberts-Donaldson English Translation
- English Translation from M. R. James
Online Resources for Infancy Gospel of James
Offline Resources for Infancy Gospel of James
- Robert J. Miller, ed., The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholars Version (Sonoma, CA: Polebridge Press 1992), pp. 373-389.
- Ron Cameron, ed., The Other Gospels: Non-Canonical Gospel Texts(Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster Press 1982), pp. 107-121.
- Ronald F. Hock, The Infancy Gospels of James and Thomas : With Introduction, Notes, and Original Text Featuring the New Scholars Version Translation (Polebridge Press 1996)
Information on Infancy Gospel of James
The Infancy Narrative of James is also known as the Protevangelium of James. In The Other Gospels, Ron Cameron says that the name Protevangelium "implies that most of the events recorded in this 'initial gospel' of James occur prior to those recorded in the gospels of the New Testament." The gospel received this name when it was first published in the sixteenth century.
There are about one hundred and thirty Greek manuscripts containing the Infancy Gospel of James, but the vast majority of these come from the tenth century or later. The earliest known manuscript of the text was found in 1958; it is now kept in Geneva's Bodmer Library. The manuscript dates to the third century; however, according to Cameron, "many of its readings seem to be secondary."
Cameron identifies three different sources for the Infancy Gospel of James: extracanonical traditions, the Old Testament, and the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The mythical element of birth in a cave, for example, is an extracanonical also known to Justin Martyr. Cameron states of the author's use of Jewish scriptures: "Not only are individual words, phrases, and even whole paragraphs reminiscent of the Septuagint; such discrete forms as the hymn and the lament of Anna also display conscious, direct 'remembrance' of the stories recorded in the scriptures." Concerning the use of the canonical gospels, Cameron observes, "Frequently the respective passages in Matthew and Luke are harmonized into a single story in the Protevangelium of James; in some instances the two texts are conflated. It is by combining composite traditions with a harmony of the synoptic infancy stories that theProtevangelium of James has constructed the dramatic scenes of its gospel."
F. F. Bruce writes of the Infancy Gospel of James (Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament, pp. 86-87):
There is, for example, the Protevangel of James, which begins with an account of the birth of Mary to Joachim and Anna in their old age, when they had given up all hope of having children. Like the infant Samuel in the Old Testament, Mary was dedicated by her grateful mother to the service of god in the temple, and there she was placed in [the] charge of the priest Zechariah. When she was twelve years old she was betrothed by her guardians to Joseph. The story of the angelic annunciation and virginal conception follows the nativity narratives of Luke and Matthew, with various embellishments: Mary's chastity is vindicated, for example, by the 'ordeal of jealousy' prescribed in Numbers 5.11-28. In a cave near Bethlehem Mary gives birth to Jesus, Salome acting as midwife. When Herod fails to find the infant, after the visit of the wise men from the east, he tries to lay hands on the child John (later the Baptist), but when he too is not to be found (having been hidden with his mother Elizabeth in a hollow mountain) Herod has his father Zechariah put to death in the temple court.
In The Complete Gospels, Ronald Hock divides the Infancy Gospel of James into three parts. In the first eight chapters, there is the story of Mary's own unique birth and childhood, wherein it is related that Anna, Mary's mother, becomes pregnant only after supplication to God. In the second eight chapters, the story starts "with the crisis posed by Mary's becoming a woman and thus her imminent pollution of the temple. The priests resolve the crisis by turning her over to a divinely chosen widower, the carpenter Joseph, who agrees to be her guardian, but refeuses to marry her." When Mary becomes pregnant, a priest suspects Joseph and Mary of wrong-doing and put the two to a test, which they pass. In the last eight chapters, we hear of the birth of Jesus with the visit of midwifes, the hiding of Jesus from Herod in a feeding trough, and even the hiding of John from Herod in the hills with his mother Elizabeth. These legends are embellishments upon the stories given in Matthew and Luke.
The author claims to be James, the stepbrother of Jesus. The author cannot have actually been James because the author seems to be dependent upon Matthew and Luke. Only Matthew tells us about the massacre of the infants arranged by Herod, while only Luke tells us about the birth of John to Elizabeth. Concerning the question of how John escaped Herod's wrath, Hock argues that the author "answered this question by having Zechariah choose death rather than tell of John's whereabouts and by having Elizabeth flee to the hills with John." Since James' death at the hands of Ananias occured in 62 CE and since the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were composed later, the Infancy Gospel of James must be pseudonymous.
According to Hock, a major development found in the Protevangelium of James is this: "Mary, the central character, is no longer a virgin in the ordinary sense of a young woman of marriageable age, but a virgin of extraordinary purity and unending duration." Hock goes on to argue: "Indeed, Mary's purity is so emphasized that it becomes thematic and thus answers the fundamental question which guides the narrative: why Mary, of all the virgins in Israel, was chosen to be the mother of the son of God. The answer: no one could have been any purer. Thus Anna transforms Mary's bedroom into a sanctuary where she receives no impure food and is amused by the undefiled daughters of the Hebrews (6:5). When she turns three years of age, these young women escort her to the temple in Jerusalem where she spends the next nine years in absolute purity and is even fed by the hand on an angel (7:4-8:2). When, at age twelve, she is made the ward of Joseph, she spends her time spinning thread for the temple with the other virgins from Israel (10:1-12:1). When she is later suspected of impurity, she passes a test and has her innocence proclaimed by the high priest (15:1-16:7). Finally, when she gives birth to Jesus, two midwives certify that she remains a virgin (19:18-20:11). In short, it is through her purity that Mary fulfills the blessing which the priests made when she was only one year old: that she might be blessed with a blessing that could not be surpassed (6:9)."
Cameron also sees another theme in this infancy gospel: "In using and expanding the infancy narratives, theProtevangelium of James has carried forward the aretalogical tradition of the gospels, including in the traditional enumeration of heroic feats the birth of the holy family. The bucolic scenes in the narrative of Jesus' birth recall other stories of the birth of 'divine men' in antiquity, and are part of that tradition of Christian propaganda which sought to demonstrate the superiority of Jesus among heroes and gods."
The terminus a quo is set by the use of Matthew and Luke. The terminus ad quem is set by a reference from Origen and by the Bodmer papyrus. Within this range, a dating in the middle of the second century is most likely. This dating is suggested by the prevalence of harmonies of Matthew and Luke at this time, as shown from Justin Martyr. The Infancy Gospel of James itself may have been dependent on a harmony of Matthew and Luke, but in any case it stands in the harmonizing spirit of the era before the four canonical gospels were considered to be sacred scripture.
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The Day before Our Greatest Gift
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SILENCE
In the Silence, I am strengthened and renewed.
Before I begin my day, I rest in the silence of the morning, close my eyes and breathe in deeply. A smile comes to my lips as I feel the loving presence of God.
In silence there is power, depth, beauty and strength. I can never be alone, for God dwells within me. Silently, my prayers go forth to bless a dear one, and silently, I meditate upon the joy within.
It is in the silence that God strengthens my faith and fills me with courage. In the silence are born new aspirations, new inspirations and renewed faith. In the silence, I walk and commune with the indwelling Spirit and rest in God's sustaining love. Peace, be still. I am in the presence of the Almighty. In glorious wonderment I travel on holy ground.
Be silent, all people, before the Lord.--Zechariah 2:13
Friday, December 23, 2011
To Find The Real Christ
Home | Daily Word To Find The Real Christ is to understand The Joy of Jesus...
REDISCOVER
I rediscover the Christ in me.
Now is a fitting time to rediscover the meaning of Christmas. As I greet people with a sincere "Merry Christmas," the light of Christ within me shines forth.
I am merry as the joy from my Christ consciousness radiates outward. The Christ in me expresses through the love I feel and share with my family and friends. It shines through me as I worship, as I sing, and as I welcome guests into my home. The light of Christ is the love and appreciation I express for gifts given and received. It shines as I give thanks around the dining table and as I meditate quietly in the candlelight.
Christ in me is forever one with God's good. I rejoice in the Christ Presence shining forth from within and greet this holy season with a heartfelt "Merry Christmas!"
Christ is formed in you.--Galatians 4:19
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
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Scripture: Psalm 100 (New International Version) Psalm 100 A psalm. For giving thanks. 1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Worsh...
