{"id":499,"date":"2012-06-19T14:41:56","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T18:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=499"},"modified":"2012-06-19T14:44:53","modified_gmt":"2012-06-19T18:44:53","slug":"var-_gaq-_gaq-_gaq-push_setaccount-ua-25646250-2-_gaq-push_trackpageview-function-var-ga-document-createelementscript-ga-type-textjava-45","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=499","title":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/javascript\">    var _gaq = _gaq || [];   _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25646250-2']);   _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);    (function() {     var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text\/javascript'; ga.async = true;     ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:\/\/ssl' : 'http:\/\/www') + '.google-analytics.com\/ga.js';     var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);   })();  <\/script>  <\/heat> Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Background<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Please keep in mind that history for the Hebrews is not concerned with who does what to whom; in other words, this passage is not about history in any modern sense of that word.\u00a0 Rather the Hebrews understood history in terms of the mighty acts of their God who is Lord of history. \u00a0Christians understood Jesus as the very Word of God acting in human history. So this passage is about the mighty acts of God in Christ Jesus; that is what is happening.<\/p>\n<p>So when you turned your gaze to the words below, look first to find God at work in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 As is our custom, let us ask ourselves some questions to focus our attention.\u00a0 Who are the characters in this passage?\u00a0 Will you list them?\u00a0 When [the \u201cwhen\u201d of the passage] does this passage occur?\u00a0 [Would anyone venture to identify the when of the author and the community to whom he is writing? ]<\/p>\n<p>Hint, Luke is a Gentile writing to Gentiles. Now the order of spreading the Good News of Jesus was from Palestine where the Good News was preached to the Jews in Aramaic and Hebrew; to the Jews of the Diaspora \u2013 Jews everywhere else who lived primarily in a Greek culture, spoke Greek, read Greek; and finally to the Gentiles \u2013 everybody who wasn\u2019t Jewish and had no meaningful background in the Jewish Scripture.\u00a0 It was among this group that Jesus\u2019 title of The Messiah, The Anointed One, became his last name, Christ, [Christos] The Anointed One and from whom we are named, Christians.\u00a0 Such preaching took place over time and it took time for people to say yes and no and then for the preachers to respond to the yes\u2019 and the no\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>There is always too your \u201cwhen;\u201d the period of time in which your life is being held.\u00a0 What is happening to you?<\/p>\n<p>The last formal question, what is the plot of this story?\u00a0 Why is it being told to Gentile Christians?\u00a0 As you read, attend to yourself \u2026 what questions, comments, observations emerge inside of you?\u00a0 They are very important.\u00a0 Notice too that verses 67 to 79 are omitted by the church for this Sunday\u2019s celebration.<\/p>\n<p>Of course you can read the introductory notes to Luke&#8217;s Gospel, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/scripture.cfm?bk=Luke&amp;ch=\">http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/scripture.cfm?bk=Luke&amp;ch=<\/a> and \/ or the notes to this passage, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/luke\/1\">http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/luke\/1<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Reading &#8211; Lk. 1:57 \u2013 66, 80<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When the time arrived forElizabethto have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, &#8220;No. He will be called John.&#8221;\u00a0 But they answered her, &#8220;There is no one among your relatives who has this name.&#8221;\u00a0 So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.\u00a0 He asked for a tablet and wrote, &#8220;John is his name,&#8221; and all were amazed.\u00a0 Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God.\u00a0 Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea.\u00a0 All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, &#8220;What, then, will this child be?&#8221;\u00a0 For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.\u00a0 The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel.<\/p>\n<p>In your comments, answer any one or more of the questions. Note that you can add your comments by clicking on the \u201cComment\u201d word at the very bottom of this post.\u00a0 Once you make a comment, it will appear on the list on the right side of the page.\u00a0 There you can click any one of the comments, read the dialogue, and join in if you are so inclined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Background\u00a0 Please keep in mind that history for the Hebrews is not concerned with who does what to whom; in other words, this passage is not about history in any modern sense of that word.\u00a0 Rather the Hebrews understood history &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=499\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,5],"tags":[15,7,18,6],"class_list":["post-499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-literal-interpretation","category-scripture","tag-historical-method","tag-modern-scripture-scholarship","tag-religion-and-culture","tag-scripture-criticism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=499"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":503,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions\/503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}