“…to give his people the knowledge of salvation
    through the forgiveness of their sins,
 because of the tender mercy of our God,
    by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
 to shine on those living in darkness
    and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.” – Luke 1:77-79

This week the men’s Bible study here at Howard Memorial has finally made the jump from the Old Testament to the New. Woohoo! We thoroughly enjoyed the journey from Genesis through Malachi but we are more than ready for this shift!

Rather than Matthew, I started our journey in Luke’s Gospel, because the writer begins with the very first event of the new era – the appearance of the angel Gabriel to Zechariah and the promise of John the Baptist, a good 6-months before we meet Mary and she is told that she is expecting Jesus.

I love this story for several reasons. First, the way Gabriel responds when Zechariah expresses doubt. “You dare to question me!? Do you have any idea who I am? I am Gabriel; I stand at the right hand of God!!!”

Then, I love love love the words that Zechariah offers when he talks about the meaning of the coming of Jesus: He says that Jesus is the personification of God’s tender mercy, he points out that Jesus is the rising sun from heaven who will shine on those living in darkness, and that Jesus will guide our feet into the path of peace…

Zechariah offers hints of the character and the mission of Jesus, and he shifts the Messiah conversation away from war and conquest and into the realm of light and the path of peace.

Forgiveness, tenderness, light, guidance, peace.

This is the real story of following Jesus:

This is significant to me in that we live in an era and a moment where that kind of Jesus seems far from the minds of the religious nationalists who distort the message and the mission around what it means to be and to live as a Christian.

But the promise set out from the very beginning of the New Testament is that of light, and peace, and “the tender mercies of God”. The people who have co-opted church for the cause of nationalism know nothing of Jesus. The beginning of Luke’s account of the life of Christ makes it clear what kind of a Messiah to look for and who it is that we should follow.

Over the next few months our study will lay out the case for a Jesus who is outraged at such misrepresentations of the Good News. Not just misrepresentation but misappropriation. Jesus cares not a hoot for our “party affiliation,” but he does call us to love selflessly and to give generously and to welcome graciously and to practice hospitality without judgment.

“For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me… Truly I tell you, whatever you did (or did not do) for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” – Matthew 25:31-45

Forgiveness, mercy, light and peace – DEREK