“Evangelical defeatism is a failure of Biblical perspective. After all, the risen Lord Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth and has been made head over all things for the Church; he is the ruler of the kings of the earth and he is currently putting his enemies beneath his feet; he has presumably asked the Father for the nations as his inheritance and the ends of the earth as his possession – and so he will receive them. All nations will bow to Jesus and all kings will serve him and his kingdom will grow to become the largest plant in the garden with the nation-birds finding rest in its branches. His kingdom is the stone which crushed the kingdoms of men in Daniel 2 and which is growing to become a mountain-empire which fills the whole earth. He is the firstborn from among the dead and therefore it is right that in all things he has the first place. He has been highly exalted and not only will every knee bow to him but every knee should bow to him.

“Evangelical defeatism is a failure of historical perspective. After all, the statistics are out there. It took 1400 years for 1% of the world’s population to become Christians and then another 360 years for that to double to 2%. Another 170 years saw that grow from 2% to 4% and then, between 1960 and 1990 the proportion of the world’s population made up of Bible-believing Christians rose from 4% to 8%. Now, in 2007, one third of the world’s population confesses that Jesus is Lord and 11% of the world’s population are “evangelical” Christians. The evangelical church is growing twice as fast as Islam and three times as fast as the world’s population. South America is turning Protestant faster than Continental Europe did in the sixteenth century. South Koreans reckon that they can evangelize the whole of North Korea within five years once that country opens up. And then there’s the Chinese church consisting of tens of millions of Christians who have learned to pray, who have confidence in Scripture, who know about spiritual warfare, have been schooled in suffering and are qualified to rule. One day in the next century that Church – tens of millions of Christians trained to die – will be released into global mission and our prayers for the fall of Islam will be answered.”

“Music, as I said, teaches patience, but that formulation is too intelluctualist, as if I am standing back, watching myself listen to music, and then concluding, ‘Ah, yes.  I see that I am supposed to learn patience from the experience of listening to music.’  Much better to say that music trains us in patience.  It trains us in moving through dissonance and tension toward resolution.  It trains us in waiting for the climax, waiting for beauty to build and build.  It trains us not to seize.  Music trains us in good sex, sex that takes time” (52-53).

Dr. Leithart continues to make his case, describing the musicality of a text, particularly in that music and text share the quality of their meaning being unfolded over time.  “Texts are musical in that they take time, and the time texts take is musical time.  The time of music and the time of texts always involves reaching for the next moment.  Music is always moving toward the next note, and we are always reading beyond the individual word.  Each sentence compels us to move forward; each paragraph carries us along to the denouement” (53).

These realities have profound implications, particularly in relation to our hearing the biblical text.  Given the instantaneous nature of our society, we must recognize the challenges that face us, as well as be aware of our tendencies.  “We are often impatient with music, and we are impatient with texts.  A writer lingers, and we want to grab him by the throat and say, ‘Get to the point, man!’  Evangelicals would reverently refrain from throttling an apostle, but the demand for practical Bible teaching often has this threatening subtext.  ‘Don’t give me all these names, lists, genealogies, stories.  Tell me what to do.  Tell me about Jesus.’

“God in his infinite wisdom decided to give us the a book, a very long book, and not a portrait or an aphorism.  God reveals himself in his image, Jesus, but we come to know that image by reading, and that takes time.  God wants to transform us into the image of his image, and one of the key ways he does that is by leading us through the text.  If we short-circuit that process by getting to the practical application, we are not going to be transformed in the ways God wants us to be transformed.  ‘Get to the point’ will not do because part of the point is to lead us through the labyrinth of the text itself.  There is treasure at the center of the labyrinth, but with texts, the journey is as important as the destination.  ‘Get to the point, man’ is the slogan of the the liberal theologian; it is a demand for the kernel without the annoying distraction of the husky twists and turns of the text itself.

“We cannot get the meaning of a text without taking time.  And as the text takes time, the meanings of earlier texts shift with the introduction of later texts.  The meanings of the texts emerge through the time of reading” (55).

1. Gabriel is sent to a city of Galilee (26).  Mary goes to a town in Judah (39).
2. Gabriel greets Mary (28).  Mary greets Elizabeth (40).
3. Mary reacts to Gabriel’s greeting (29).  John (in the womb) and Elizabeth react to Mary’s greeting (41-42)
4. Gabriel announces God’s favor and that Mary’s womb will bear the Son of the Most High (30-33).  Elizabeth announces blessing on Mary’s position among women and the fruit of her womb (42).
5. Mary asks a question (34).  Elizabeth asks a question (43).
6. Gabriel reveals the Lord’s plan and that Elizabeth is with child (35-37).  Elizabeth reveals her child’s reaction and blesses Mary for believing the Lord’s plan (44-45) (a subtle chiasm, perhaps?).
7. Mary responds to Gabriel’s words (38).  Mary responds to Elizabeth’s words (46-55).
8. Gabriel departs (38).  Mary departs (56).

At the very least, we can conclude that the text is masterfully written.  As to why Luke would employ this pattern is a more difficult question to answer.  However, if we examine the overarching patterns of Luke 1-7, we observe that the scenes switch back and forth between John and Jesus, with Jesus receiving the greater amount of attention and detail.  This might give us a clue as to what Luke is doing in chapter 1.  By employing these parallels, Luke is emphasizing the announcement of Jesus’ birth, and building the anticipation for its fulfillment.  But note again how Luke crafts the story.  No sooner does Mary depart from Elizabeth’ s home in v. 56, then the scene switches to the account of John’sbirth.  We are left in suspense for twenty-two verses!  We have to wait all the way until chapter 2 to read about Jesus’ birth.  Then, with the help of angels and shepherds, we begin to understand why Luke went to such great lengths to craft the accounts of chapter 1.