Micah 5:2-5a

Boy, really sounds like Micah nailed it with this prophecy, huh? But to be a prophecy, you have to predict things before they happen. Micah is writing from the perspective of the poor who are not being heard. He speaks angrily to the rich who want to live in their comfort and want the poor to just quietly go about their hard work and accept their meager earnings. Micah also predicts the Assyrians will be defeated even though those guys are doing pretty well when he writes this.

So how does he know Jesus will be born in Bethlehem? Or, did he choose Bethlehem for his prophecy because that's where David was born? This would be 200 years since David, so that would be "ancient days" to him. This sounds more like a desire for a conquering king, one who would reunite the tribes, than it does a prediction of a messiah who would be given the death penalty as a criminal. As we found out this summer, the book of Mark was written first and said nothing of Bethlehem. Did Christians go looking for prophecy to help them understand who their Jesus was, or did they use that prophecy to create the stories of where he came from?

Hebrews 10:5-10

This is near the end of a section beginning in chapter 9 that lays out the entire logic of the Christian gospel. Study this if someone ever says to you that you just don't get what Christ is about. This section features quotes from Psalm 40:6-8. You can find lengthy discussions on how precise it is, but I will skip those. It is pretty clear that "sacrifices and offerings" are not working and Jesus is going to abolish that and offer his body, "once for all". The preceding chapter discusses the copy of the true heaven, referring to the temple, but Christ comes from the true heaven. So it's those sacrifices that happen annually in the temple that he is talking about.

Much of this was covered at the end of Proper time for Year B, a month or so ago.

Luke 1:39-45, (46-55)

A traditional favorite. We get a little of the lead up to it this year, but we don't get an alternative like we normally do. It's a poem expressing joy of what's to come. I guess all those other guys were getting a chance to prophecy, why not these two?