Over the weeks of Lent this year we went through the Gospel of Luke at our Chapel on Tuesday nights, watching the Lumo Project videos and following the narrative in our bibles. We also watched the version of the Gospel of Mark during our café church. Viewing both provided a different perspective on some events. Sometimes watching the Gospel’s (the video series use the NIV version) allows us to recognise things that were not immediately obvious to us; we can pick up on visual clues as much as audible clues. This certainly became evident during our discussions after watching where we could see emotion expressed through the video.
Our church has the DVD’s but you can find them on Youtube and on bible.com too:
One of the things we picked up on in discussion is that Luke’s Gospel includes a lot about the humanity of things, such as when Mary went to see Elizabeth. I suppose with being a physician, it is appropriate for him to write about the reaction of John in Elizabeth’s womb to the sound of Mary’s voice; he takes a similar approach in other parts of the narrative where he brings out the human nature of things. It is a very human experience, two mothers to be getting together, supporting each other, but at the same time we have John’s reaction; unrestricted, without physical boundaries, he shows clearly how joyful our spirit can be, through family, through Mary, through Jesus.,
Mark’s Gospel was dynamic, and quick at first, it had to be for the intended Roman audience, but he slows the pace during the last days of Jesus’s mission among the people of Israel to bring out the ‘drama’, and I would guess to emphasise the importance of it all. It provided a nice contrast of narrative styles, with plenty of crossover but also some elements set apart between the Gospel narratives, and the narrative of Mary and Elizabeth is one you’ll find in Luke but not in Mark.
Luke 1:39-45 New International Version (NIV)
Mary Visits Elizabeth
39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfil his promises to her!”
We can have great joy in knowing Jesus, as John the Baptist did, and like Mary, we can ponder all it brings within our hearts.
PrayBee 