December 20, 2015: Zechariah’s Song

Luke 1:5-13, 57-80

⁵ During the rule of King Herod of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. His wife Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ They were both righteous before God, blameless in their observance of all the Lord’s commandments and regulations. ⁷ They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to become pregnant and they both were very old. ⁸ One day Zechariah was serving as a priest before God because his priestly division was on duty. ⁹ Following the customs of priestly service, he was chosen by lottery to go into the Lord’s sanctuary and burn incense. ¹⁰ All the people who gathered to worship were praying outside during this hour of incense offering. ¹¹ An angel from the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zechariah saw the angel, he was startled and overcome with fear.

¹³ The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayers have been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to your son and you must name him John.

⁵⁷ When the time came for Elizabeth to have her child, she gave birth to a boy. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives celebrated with her because they had heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy. ⁵⁹ On the eighth day, it came time to circumcise the child. They wanted to name him Zechariah because that was his father’s name. ⁶⁰ But his mother replied, “No, his name will be John.”

⁶¹ They said to her, “None of your relatives have that name.” ⁶² Then they began gesturing to his father to see what he wanted to call him.

⁶³ After asking for a tablet, he surprised everyone by writing, “His name is John.” ⁶⁴ At that moment, Zechariah was able to speak again, and he began praising God.

⁶⁵ All their neighbors were filled with awe, and everyone throughout the Judean highlands talked about what had happened. ⁶⁶ All who heard about this considered it carefully. They said, “What then will this child be?” Indeed, the Lord’s power was with him.

⁶⁷ John’s father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied,

⁶⁸ “Bless the Lord God of Israel
    because he has come to help and has delivered his people.
⁶⁹ He has raised up a mighty savior for us in his servant David’s house,
⁷⁰     just as he said through the mouths of his holy prophets long ago.
⁷¹ He has brought salvation from our enemies
    and from the power of all those who hate us.
⁷² He has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
    and remembered his holy covenant,
⁷³         the solemn pledge he made to our ancestor Abraham.
He has granted ⁷⁴ that we would be rescued
        from the power of our enemies
    so that we could serve him without fear,
⁷⁵         in holiness and righteousness in God’s eyes,
            for as long as we live.

⁷⁶ You, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High,
    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.
⁷⁷ You will tell his people how to be saved
    through the forgiveness of their sins.
⁷⁸ Because of our God’s deep compassion,
    the dawn from heaven will break upon us,
⁷⁹     to give light to those who are sitting in darkness
    and in the shadow of death,
        to guide us on the path of peace.”

⁸⁰ The child grew up, becoming strong in character. He was in the wilderness until he began his public ministry to Israel.

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Introduction:

Perhaps you’ve found yourself “fast-forwarding” through a movie you’ve already started in order to get to the part you haven’t yet seen. It’s time for us to do something similar in these devotions. Last week the exiles from Judah had returned from Babylon, rebuilt the Temple and worshiped God amid tears of joy.  It was around this time that, in addition to being called “the people of Israel” they also began to be called “the Jews” or the “Jewish People.” They carry this name to this day. 

Prophets had spoken about one who was to come in the future, an individual who would make all of God’s promises come true in a way that hadn’t happened before: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel had all spoken about this in one way or another.  Time passed, a lot of time! They continued to worship the LORD, to sacrifice at the Temple and to study the Scripture that was compiled by scribes.  As the “Old Testament” ends, they are in Promised Land, but the one promised by these prophet had not arrived: the Jewish people were still waiting.  It can be hard for us to wrap our heads around the “gap” between the Old Testament and the New Testament, but it was major. Imagine fast-forwarding through a movie…a LONG movie like Gone With the Wind, The Ten Commandments or Lawrence of Arabia (In the old days of VHS you’d have to switch to the second tape on the way). The Jews had been waiting for awhile for God’s promises to come completely true. In the meantime they kept up their relationship with God, it was a way of life.

The Technical Stuff:

After their return from exile (515 B.C.E.) the Jewish People remained a part of one empire after another: first the Persians (515 B.C.E. to 333 B.C.E.), followed by the Greco-Macedonians (333 B.C.E. to 160 B.C.E.). At this point they achieved political independence under the Maccabees (also called the Hasmoneans). This independence was limited at first, but eventually became complete.  After nearly one hundred years they were conquered by the Romans in 63 B.C.E. Those are quite a few dates and perhaps you are a bit overwhelmed, but the important thing to realize is that empires came and went, but the people continued.

As Empires rose and fell around, they continued to worship, study and pray while waiting for a savior. “Judah” became known as “Judea” and King Herod ruled the land, under the overall domination of the Rome.  In other words, Herod could do what he wanted…as long as he stayed in line with Rome.  Herod was a great builder who began to improve the Temple in Jerusalem and many other sites, but he was also extremely cruel, paranoid, and bloodthirsty.  No one thought that he could be the Messiah.  There was no one “image” of what this savior or “messiah” would look like. Some thought he would be a military leader like King David or the Maccabees who brought political independence. Others thought he would be a supreme spiritual leader who would usher in a theocracy and a transformed world. Others still combined these two images in a variety of ways.  If you asked ten Jews, you’d probably receive eleven different opinions! Still, there was hope that a savior was to come.

In our lesson today, Zechariah receives a visit from an angel in the Temple, telling him that he and his wife Elizabeth will have a son. Despite the fact that he is a priest of Israel and a faithful man Zechariah doesn’t believe the message and is struck dumb by the angel (in contrast to Zechariah, a young girl named Mary from Nazareth is able to believe and is called blessed by the angel Gabriel).  He regains the ability to speak after the child is born and uses his voice to great effect: singing about the greatness and goodness of the LORD, the God of promise, relationship and life.  The promises are coming true:

Bless the Lord God of Israel
    because he has come to help and has delivered his people.
⁶⁹ He has raised up a mighty savior for us in his servant David’s house,
⁷⁰     just as he said through the mouths of his holy prophets long ago.
⁷¹ He has brought salvation from our enemies
    and from the power of all those who hate us.
⁷² He has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
    and remembered his holy covenant,
⁷³         the solemn pledge he made to our ancestor Abraham.
He has granted ⁷⁴ that we would be rescued
        from the power of our enemies
    so that we could serve him without fear,
⁷⁵         in holiness and righteousness in God’s eyes,
            for as long as we live.

His son, named John, will also receive another moniker when he grows older: “the Baptist.” He will proclaim the coming of the savior, the Messiah, who is named Jesus.

    

What Does This Say to Us?

This has been a long story with many twists and turns over the centuries. There is approximately as much time between the time of Jesus and Abraham (2,000 years give or take a few hundred) as there is between Jesus and our own time.  Plenty has happened and we’ve certainly needed to “fast forward” through centuries. Again and again, however, we come back to our central themes of God’s promise, our relationship with God and each other and the good, abundant life that this brings.  The promise might feel delayed and the relationship can be strained, but there is still life in God’s name.  The experiences of the people of Israel apply to our own existence as well. This “applicability” makes their story, OUR story.  We are in need of a savior, just as they were.  We can rejoice in the rescue, salvation and freedom of which Zechariah sings. 

We can also follow in the footsteps of Zechariah’s infant son, John. We too can tell people about the salvation that comes from the forgiveness of sins, fear and death. Like John, we too can point to Jesus so that others can receive the same hope that we have.  We can remind people of the promise of God’s love, invite them into a relationship with Jesus and encourage them to have life in his name.