WORD!

     Silence is broken, and with a very big bang. We find the answer to our question from the last post.... after 400 years will anyone be listening. The answer is an amazing Yes.
     God could not have broken the silence with more drama or in a way that would cause all Israel to be talking about it.  Zechariah goes into the temple to offer incense and doesn't come out. And doesn't come out! Did God strike him dead? (He HAD been known to do that!) Whew! at last the old priest comes out but he's been struck dumb! (And maybe deaf, since all tried to talk to him with signs...that was a new thought!)
     Do you think the temple was buzzing? Do you think the priests were all up late talking about what happened? Do you think all the people in the courtyard waiting and waiting for Zechariah to come out talked to everyone ELSE in Judea about what happened? God broke the silence with a big bang. Even Twitter couldn't have spread the word faster.
    What will happen next?
    The people of Jerusalem may not have known that Elizabeth's cousin, Mary, came for a visit and Elizabeth's baby, filled with the Spirit even in the womb, jumped for joy in the presence of his Lord. But Zechariah knew, and he returned to Jerusalem for the circumcision of his son a changed man. No doubt about the angel choosing his son. No doubt his name would be John. High drama! All those Jewish Mamas talking at once, but there's no one in your family named John! You can't do that! What a year Jerusalem has had, and the shouting isn't over yet.
    Mary and Joseph came to Bethlehem in Judea to register for taxes. What a mundane excuse to bring Jesus to exactly the town he was prophesied to be born in. And what happens at his birth? Angels, shepherds. More singing and shouting and talking. More drama.
   The next event was Jesus circumcision; once again the temple in Jerusalem was to receive direct word from God. Simeon and Anna were both waiting to hear from God. When did God reveal to them that they wouldn't die without seeing the Messiah? Maybe when the amazing events around John's birth played out at that same temple. Surely by now the whole priesthood was talking about God moving in their midst. Surely by now all of Jerusalem was talking about it. Surely they were expecting something to happen.
    And then...... John grew up and went to the desert to await his call. Jesus went home to Nazareth to grow into a man. But the silence was broken. God was on speaking terms with his people again.
     Where did Luke, who is the only one to record most of what's in Luke 1 and 2, get his information. His inquiring mind must have spent many hours with Mary herself. Who else would have known these stories? What a miracle it is that someone thought to write it down! (LOL)
     We talked the first week about Luke's purpose of writing a historical document. Those interviews with Mary are part of what his introduction in 1:1-4 are talking about.
     Next week's passage begins with another excellent example of Luke's attention to historical detail. "In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar--when Pontius Pilat was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitus, and Lysanias tetrarch of Ablilene---during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word came to John....." We'll look at that word from God when we get together again, but look at the amazing historical information Luke gave us.
     I just did a basic google search on my phone and found the following dates:
        Tiberius was Caesar from 14-36 AD
        Pontius Pilate was governor 26-36 AD
        Herod Antipas was Tetrarch of Galilee 6-39 AD
        I didn't look anyone else up. Annas and Caiaphas are still around when Jesus is crucified, so they surely fit.
      But look at those dates? Those three men were simultaneously in office during the decade from 26-36 AD. That's a pretty narrow window in the sweep of history. [Aren't we glad we don't have to do that math BC any more?] Historical documentation. I'll repeat the quote from my linguistic Key.
"This reflects a conviction that the Christian faith is rooted not in speculative creation but in historical reality." [Ellis]
     Luke is determined in his book to drive that fact home. The things you believe are historical reality. I'm going to write his opening statement again so we can really have a sense of his heart and soul in writing this book as we go forward studying it.
    "Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught." Luke 1:1-4. 
    As we look next week at the very beginning of Jesus' ministry, what an exciting yet grounding thought. [Not a new thought, I know, but still.....] He's not a legend or myth. He's a historical person, the person God.