Quotes from Amy-Jill Levine

When people turn to the right path, when the disobedient turn to the wisdom of the righteous (so Luke 1:17), then they are "a people prepared for the Lord.

For Jews, Jesus is unnecessary or a redundancy; he is not needed to save from sin or from death, since Judaism proclaims a deity ready to forgive repentant sinners and since it asserts that "all Israel has a share in the world to come" (Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1).

Mary's Magnificat, together with her words to Gabriel and Elizabeth's words to her, explains why she should be blessed, even by Protestants. She was able to receive the angel's words and to accept them with both humility and grace.

In antiquity, the Gospel was not read by most people, in part because copying books was expensive, and in part because most people were illiterate. Instead, the Gospel was performed. We can picture the speaker, demonstrating angelic exasperation, wondering how he will deal with this obtuse priest.

and I'm sure I was not the only child who thought "Harold" was God's name and that we prayed not to be led into Penn Station.

People in the late first century, watching the Gospel of Luke performed, would be laughing. Try explaining, through hand motions, the angelic vision yourselves, and then try not to smile.

Our responsibility is to love God and to love our neighbour which is what Jesus taught and it's also what Judaism taught - and that would make sense because Jesus was Jewish.