What’s in your bucket list? A bucket list is a certain number of achievements or experiences that a person wants to accomplish during his or her lifetime. This idea was further popularized in American culture with the release of the movie, “The Bucket List (2007),” starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. Do you have a bucket list? Most of us do, even though it is unintentional. In other words, we all have a few things that we want to do before we leave this world. And in most cases that deals with us going to a certain part of the world that is unique and exotic. Or maybe we want to reach a certain position in our career or have a certain level of accomplishment in our workplace. Whatever the case might be our “bucket list” usually is numbered with “going somewhere” or “doing something.”

All throughout the Bible God represents himself through his creation. We see this in the Book of Exodus, where God speaks to Moses through a “burning bush.” In the Gospels (Matthew 3: 16, Luke 3:22) we see that the Holy Spirit is represented by the dove, which appears above Christ. In the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2) we see that the Holy Spirit comes as fire and wind. I want to focus on the “wind” as God’s way of representing himself to us, the reasons why he does so, and what it means to us as people of God.

Trees! They are a big part of the imagery and experience of reading the Bible. In Genesis 2-3, Adam and Eve are given the opportunity to eat from the Tree of Life, but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, (Genesis 2:9) they were strictly prohibited from eating its fruit. Nevertheless, they eat from it, and at that very moment, they felt ashamed and hid. (Genesis 3: 6-7) It is interesting to point out that in verse 7 it says that they sewed fig leaves to cover themselves like aprons. Some biblical scholars say that since they used fig leaves, and considering this occurs immediately after they eat of the forbidden tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was indeed a fig tree.

In the Gospel reading today we hear that a “great light” has shone in the darkness in the land of Nebulun and Naphtali. Nebulun and Naphtali were two of the twelve sons of Jacob (Jacob is also known as Israel). It was out of the twelve sons that the history of the Jewish people begins to unfold. The twelve sons are also known as the twelve tribes of Israel.

The Acts of the Apostles, Ch. 7, verse. 51-60, records the martyrdom of St. Stephen. Here, St. Stephen rebukes the Jews of their persecution of the prophets whom God sent to them in times past, including Jesus (who of course was God.) In vehement anger the Jews that were gathered there stoned St. Stephen to death. St. Stephen called out to God to “receive his spirit.” He also asked God to forgive his killers.

Look at the history of the Egyptians and the role they played for the Israelite people. The most famous story regarding the Egyptians is about how the Egyptians enslaved the Jewish people which sparked the Exodus. Apart from that, time after time we see how Egypt was a place of shelter for certain people. During times of famine, Abraham and Jacob found shelter in Egypt. Joseph, though sold as a slave in Egypt, was practically made governor. Now we read on how Jesus along with His mother and Joseph are told to flee into Egypt to be sheltered from Herod’s attempt to kill Him. Egypt is seen as a place where the children of God go to be saved from destruction. But as for us Christians, the Church has become that salvific place where we run to for shelter against the onslaught of temptations and sins.

The Gospel reading today is the genealogy of Jesus Christ taken from St. Luke chapter three. We might wonder why the genealogy of Christ is being read on a Sunday. It is dry, and quite frankly, boring read. Nevertheless, we must look beyond the lack of narrative excitement; and understand the reason why the Gospel writer sets forth the lineage of Christ, and why the church requires the reading of the genealogy on the Sunday before Christmas.

The word JUST can be used in the English language as an adverb, that is, to describe a verb. For example, I just finished my homework. Or it can be used as an adjective, that is, to describe a noun. In the Gospel reading, Joseph is described a being a just man in his dealings with Mary. He was willing to put her away secretly, rather than shaming her in public for being with a child that was not his. At that time for a man to make such a bold consideration meant that he had a sense of justice and compassion above and beyond what the Jewish law prescribed for such a woman in that predicament. Of course, Joseph is visited by the angel Gabriel and told exactly why and how Mary is pregnant. The point here is that Joseph is described as being a just man. What does the word mean? And how is it applicable to our Christian life at present?

In the Gospel reading today we encounter the birth of John the Baptist. At the time of his birth, his family members and even friends of the family were present. The question that arises is, “what should we name the newborn?” Elizabeth, the newborn's mother, wanted him to be named John, but the others stated that ‘no one among the relatives was named John.’ This is so because it is the tradition of the east to name the baby after a relative. For example, I was named Gheevarghese, after my uncle.

Read more: https://stlukemission.org/sermons/what-is-the-meaning-of-your-name

St. Mary's visit to Elizabeth (Luke 1: 39-56) - Brother Predeep Chacko by St. Luke Orthodox Mission Church