The dawn from on high will break upon us (Luke 1:57-80)

 

Luke 1:57-80 (NRSV)

57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. 60 But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” 61 They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” 62 Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. 63 He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. 66 All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

67 Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a mighty savior[a] for us
in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
72 Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and has remembered his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us 74 that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
78 By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

80 The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.

December 18, 2016 Sermon Notes

Yesterday I was scheduled to be a part of the Wreaths Across America ceremony at the Bloomfield Veterans Cemetery. As I got ready to go I had to step out of the house into the garage which was still cold from a week’s worth of near freezing temperatures. It was cold enough in the garage that as soon as I drove out into the unseasonably warm weather we experienced yesterday the windows immediately fogged up. It was impossible to see anything and I was unable to go anywhere.

In many ways this is what happens to us when we are caught in moments of fear, anger, and grief. The difficulty of the situation in which we find ourselves prevents us from being able to see clearly.  The whole world seems to collapse in on us and it is impossible to see a way to move forward. Even when we know that the rest of the world is out there and the sun may be shining elsewhere, it really does not seem to matter. Right here, right now, the reality of this situation is preventing us from going anywhere.

This is very much the situation in which we found Zechariah, Elizabeth, and the entire nation of Israel a few weeks ago. Elizabeth was barren and there seemed to be no way for her to escape the shame that brought her in that culture. It was almost enough to make them give up and Luke made it clear that not even a visit from an angel was enough to make Zechariah understand that the promise of God was soon going to change their lives, and ultimately their world. Even though as a priest he had long heard the prophets’ words of promise, his vision for the future was completely clouded by his situation.

This is often the way that God works in our world. We receive unexpected reminders when we most need them. God has a tendency to send us angels, babies, and prophets to remind us that life still goes on. We have not been forgotten. There is still a path forward. The promise is real. As Jesus himself would soon say, the kingdom of God is at hand. John the Baptist was tasked by his father with preparing the people to receive that message.

A word of caution here, our Christian faith in God’s future does not invalidate the reality of the present. The pain that Elizabeth felt was real. Oppression at the hands of the Roman Empire was real. The grief that many people experience around the holidays is real. As nice as the weather was Saturday morning, the fog on the car windows was real. There was no way to go anywhere until the defroster had done its work. We are not expect to forget our pain or pretend that it is unimportant.

Instead, in the midst of our situation, we are given something to hope for. Jesus statement that the kingdom of God is at hand reminds us that the sun is still shining elsewhere. We are reminded that once our fog clears we will be able to see the Son face to face. In the meantime, we have people like Zechariah, Elizabeth, and their son John the Baptist offering to us reminders of all the promises that God already fulfilled and calling us to have faith that God will continue to fulfill those promises throughout the rest of our lives.