Midweek Advent Sermon on Zechariah

Sermon for midweek Advent service at St. Peter on December 11, 2020. The text is Luke 1:5-24, 57-80.

I’m going to try something a little different tonight. Instead of reading a lesson and then giving you a sermon about it, I’m going to interject some comments into the Scripture as we go.

At least here at St. Peter, we heard last week about John the Baptist, this wild man who appeared in the wilderness demanding that the people repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. Reorient your lives, change everything, because God is up to something. Turn back to God and see what God is doing.

John the Baptist’s proclamation is always part of Advent, so tonight, we’re going to hear his childhood origin story.

In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.

Once when he was serving as priest before God and his section was on duty, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense.

So first, remember that way back hundreds of years earlier, God set aside one of the 12 tribes of Israel to be the priests. The Levites are responsible for making sure Israel remembers they are God’s people.

But since they’re an entire tribe, they don’t all need to serve at the temple at once. 1st Chronicles divides up the priestly families, including Zechariah’s ancestor Abijah, and they rotate when they go to the temple and serve.

So Zechariah is a priest, but only part time. It’s sort of like being in the army reserves or something. He serves two weeks a year.

It says he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense. This is a daily ritual, but it’s a big deal for Zechariah. This is likely the only time in his life he’ll be in the Holy Place. It’s somewhere only the priests are permitted to go, and it’s right next to the Holy of Holies, the place where God’s presence dwells. Only the high priest goes into that room, and only once a year. This holy place is where heaven and earth meet. Going into this sanctuary is the most sacred thing Zechariah will ever do.

Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.

When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.

You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.

He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Quite the promise, isn’t it? Not only are Zechariah and Elizabeth’s prayers for a child answered, but their child is going to be something special. God has not forgotten them.

Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.” Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah, and wondered at his delay in the sanctuary.

I love that detail: This is the most sacred, profound moment of Zechariah’s life, but it’s just a normal morning for everyone else. The people aren’t expecting God to be up to anything. They’re just wondering what’s taking so long.

When he did come out, he could not speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept motioning to them and remained unable to speak. When his time of service was ended, he went to his home.

After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion. She said, “This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.”

From here, the story turns to the more familiar story we all know. The next verse says, “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth…to a virgin whose name was Mary.”
She gets the same sort of announcement as Zechariah and Elizabeth, but even though Mary has some questions, she believes God, so she still gets to talk. As Luke tells it, she’s also righteous like Zechariah, but she’s a little more faithful, a little more willing to believe.

Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, who it turns out is her relative, and Elizabeth and John in her womb recognize her and the child she carries. We pick up after their three month visit, in verse 57.

Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him.

He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God.

Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

This is the only comment Luke adds as an aside written to us. Just in case you missed it, the hand of the Lord is involved in this story. God is doing something. And everything for God will do in Zechariah’s son John, God will do even more in Mary’s son Jesus. John is the prophet who will prepare the way, the one who will get the people ready, who will proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is near.

Zechariah sets all this in context by prophesying through the Holy Spirit. God is doing what God has promised to do. God is redeeming God’s people. God is acting. And all that is still true for us today.

Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.

Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

The light is breaking into the darkness. God is entering our world. God who has been faithful before remains faithful. God has not given up on you. God is acting.

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