Consider: Why did fear come upon their neighbors (v. 65)?
Learn: Read Luke 1:57-66. After the birth of John and all the events surrounding his circumcision and naming, Luke relates to us the response of those who lived nearby. What does the response of the neighbors indicate? How were they afraid?
A response of fear could mean a number of different things. The neighbors could have been scared or frightened, but that’s probably not it. Another meaning could be that the neighbors were anxious about what happened. Their thoughts could have been worried thoughts, What does this mean? But this doesn’t seem to be the kind of fear they experienced, although some could have. It’s most likely that we should think of their response as a sense of awe.
Kent Hughes describes it well for us. “They could sense God was at work, and an exhilarating reverence coursed through their souls. This resulted in ongoing spiritual conversations – an eminently healthy state…. Spiritual reflection, a wise and spiritually healthy state, is rare in our unthinking age of sound bytes and limited attention spans and a hurried pace… It is a great privilege to treasure spiritual truth and ponder it in our hearts, and then to ask the right questions about who we are and who God is.”
They were excited about what God was doing among them. They reflected on God’s work among them, and pondered God and his ways more fully.
Apply: Take some time to do the same thing: ponder God’s continued work, because of Jesus, in your own life and in the lives of those around you.
I Commend Joy! 