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Celebrating Advent - December 9

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Sing: O Come O Come Emmanuel

Reading: Luke 1:24-25
After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

Summary (for your preparation): By having a child we are told Elizabeth's reproach/shame is removed among the people. Why would there be shame in the first place? It seems there are at least two reasons: First, having children for a woman was a way to validate her usefulness in providing her husband with a family heritage. Second, and perhaps more applicable, Elizabeth's inability to have children would have been understood or assumed as sin on her part. In their cultural thinking, Elizabeth would have done something to receive such a severe punishment from God.Consider John 9:1-2. Obviously Elizabeth was hiding some type of sin for God to withhold the blessing of children. We also see something about the character of Elizabeth, that she stays hidden as long as she can. One would think she would be proclaiming her pregnancy throughout all Judea to vindicate her name. Rather, we see her humble and content in her God.

Teaching Tip: As we wrestle with these small portions of Scripture pray that your children and yourself will be able to enter into the story as best as you can. Try to feel what they felt and see what they saw. With Zechariah being muted for 9 months they would have had a LOT of time to really wonder at what was about to unfold. Luke allows us to witness the birth of Christ through the perspective of Zechariah and Elizabeth, who, besides Mary and Joseph, would have perhaps had the most unique view of it's significance. Let their wonder and expectation be our wonder and expectation!

Questions/Responses:

 Elizabeth found out that she is having a baby! Do you think she is excited? Yes

 Can you imagine praying for something for such a long time and then finally getting it? Elizabeth was giving thanks to God!

 Why did people around her treat her shamefully for not being able to have a baby? Because they would have thought that she had sinned/was sinning and that God was punishing her by not letting her have a baby!

 Does the Bible tell us that Elizabeth was being punished for her sin? No, the Bible tells us that Zechariah and Elizabeth trusted God. 

Do you think it is fair that people would assume that Elizabeth was sinning? No, sometimes God lets people who trust him suffer for reasons that we don't know or understand.

Does Elizabeth run out and tell everyone that she is pregnant? No, she stays hidden for 5 months!

 What does this tell us about Elizabeth? She is humble and trusts God. She loves God and finds her joy in him.

Prayer and Ending

Prayer: I would like to encourage you to use the prayer guide on pages 13-14 of "I Have Hidden Your Word." On any given day there are two prayer focuses:

 December 9: Pray that you would know the hope to which God has called you (Romans 15:13)

 Friday: Pray for those who are sick and hurting. Pray for physical and emotional healing for individuals and our culture. Pray that people will turn to Jesus to find healing and forgiveness for their sins.

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