(5–8 minutes, easy set-up)
Learners will discuss the similarities and differences between the birth announcements of John the Baptist and Jesus.
Provide a dry erase board and marker.
Call on a volunteer to read Luke 1:11-20. Then, read Luke 3:16 aloud to the group. Explain that even in these passages, Luke clearly showed that these two men were connected by more than a family relationship, and that, even in His birth, Jesus was greater than John.
Instruct learners to review Luke 1:11-20 and Luke 1:26-38 to compare the two birth announcement narratives. On the board, create two columns and label the first column SIMILARITIES and the second column DIFFERENCES. Then, lead learners to call out the similarities between both announcements. (Both Zechariah and Mary were troubled; both were visited by Gabriel who told them not to be afraid; both were told they would have a son; both were told what their son’s name would be; both sons would be great.)
Then, invite learners to call out the differences in the narratives that showed Jesus’ greater nature. (Although Elizabeth’s pregnancy was miraculous, Mary’s was even more impossible without God’s intervention; John’s ministry would be great in the sight of the Lord, but Jesus would be great without qualification and would be the actual Son of God; and although John will be filled with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit caused the conception of Jesus within Mary.) Emphasize that Jesus’ conception was not a human act that resulted in a child but the actual act of God.
Ask: Furthermore, what was the difference between Mary and Zechariah’s responses to God? (Mary’s faith was one of childlike trust, in which she trusted God above anything else; Zechariah questioned the ability of God to cause his wife to bear a child.)
Say: Both of these narratives together are related through the tight events and familiarity of the participants, but they also give us a picture of God’s plan to fulfill His promise to send the Messiah and His forerunner in a way that communicated God’s desire to meet the need of all of Israel and the world—the need for a Savior—in a way that only God could.