Luke 1:26-38

John’s birth announcement came in the middle of a crowded Jerusalem in the temple to a priest. Jesus’ birth announcement comes in a small village in Galilee to a virgin girl named Mary.
You just never know where God is going to work.
You would expect that the announcement of the Messiah – the long awaited Savior of Israel, would come with great fanfare, but instead it comes in a quiet, simple place. It’s a mistake we often make when dealing with God – He doesn’t always work the way we expect. We may think God has given up on us only to find that he is working in little ways to do great things in our lives. Very often we set in our minds that great things come with grandness, but very often they come with simplicity. We make faith complicated when what God offers is grace. And then when we ask, “How can this be?”, we don’t wait around to hear, “Nothing will be impossible with God.”
Is it possible that we have it wrong? Maybe God isn’t as much interested in fulfilling our ideas of how He should work as He is in fulfilling His will in our lives. Maybe God is right there in the simple things and we just need to look. Maybe he’s just waiting for us to submit to Him and be the “bondservants of the Lord” that He wants us to be.
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A quick historical side note: To say that Mary was engaged meant that Joseph had made a pledge and paid a dowry to her family. For almost all purposes she was considered to be his wife. In the culture of the time, about a year after this “engagement” they would begin to live together as husband and wife.

Luke 1:5-25
Sometimes, even the lives of righteous people just don’t go the way they want. Even though they had longed for a child for years and prayed to God for one – still in their old age they were childless. Then, a once in a lifetime event. Zechariah is chosen to bring the incense (the representation of the prayers of the people) – an opportunity that he would have only once in his lifetime. It was here that God finally answered their prayers.
The description of John given here is similar to words Malachi uses to describe Elijah. It clearly tells us that he is going to be a powerful prophet. (Just how powerful we will read about really soon!)
But what gets me above all other things in this passage is just how God does great things through fairly normal people. Zechariah and Elizabeth seem like they could be anybody – just faithful followers of God. And their response shows their faith. Even in asking for a sign Zechariah still remains faithful – even waiting for his time of service to be completed before going home.
Reading it makes me ask myself – Would I be that faithful? Would I have given up?
God, give me the strength to remain as faithful to you as Zechariah and Elizabeth.

Luke 1:1-4

I’m not sure who “Theo” is, but I sure do appreciate him. There really isn’t any clear idea among scholars as to who Theophilus was, but we do know a few things. He was most likely either a believer or at least a “god-fearer” (a gentile who converted to Judaism). He had some previous knowledge because Luke refers to “things [he has been] taught.” And we know that he is the one who most likely bankrolled Luke’s gospel account. Some would even say that “Theophilus” doesn’t exist and that the term refers to believers in general (Theophilus translates into “beloved of God”). Whoever he is, I’m thankful for the gospel that is written to him.
Luke’s account begins with a very classical opening common among Greek histories. He sets out to bring together “everything from the beginning”, taking into account the “eyewitnesses” and the accounts of the “servants of the word.” (early preachers) He expects to write an “orderly account” so that he can give his readers “certainty of the things [we] have been taught.”
What does this mean for us? It means that we can expect Luke’s account to be carefully organized around one purpose – assurance. He sets out to bolster faith and in reading his account we can expect our faith will be bolstered as well.
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One side note: Luke mentions that others have written accounts, which (presumably) he uses in his gospel as resources. Scholars think this is why there is a strong connection between Mark (believed to be the 1st gospel written), Luke, and Matthew. These 3 are what are called the synoptic gospels because they parallel each other so closely in providing a historical synopsis of the life of Jesus.