From the Daily Lectionary for Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Advent
Luke 1:5-25
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. 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.” 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. 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.”
The coming “Good News” is all about new life and renewal, the well-being and sustainability of a people. It has forever been thus in the biblical history of Israel. God, from generation to generation, is ever about the process of salvation. Luke is again relying on scriptural typology in making such a proclamation. The reference to Elizabeth being barren and at an old age is of course reminiscent of Sarah, the wife of Abraham. The reference to John and the caveat to refrain from “strong drink,” the one who will baptize and preach repentance, is likened to the legendary figure of Samson, the conqueror of the Philistines.
There is nothing new about the strange figure of John, nor is there anything new about Jesus. They are dramatis personae in the unfolding epic of God’s life in earth. They fit the ancient thematic pattern: The shamed and abused are raised up to dignity. Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her cousin Elizabeth are two prominent examples. Tyranny will be upended and justice will flourish. The poor will be “filled with good things.” The role of the prophet, Zechariah in this case, is to call attention to this pattern, to name God’s action in history amid crisis and uncertainty.
Prophecy then is about recognition; and it is about a call to action. Our vocation as the baptized is to be active participants in the pattern. God’s mission, God’s action in the world, is our mission, our action in the world. That is what Incarnation is all about. Incarnation is not just about Jesus, that God took human form in one man in history. God lives in all of us so that God’s purposes may come to fruition. Jesus is the archetype of this profound truth of who we are, reasonable and imaginative beings made in the image of God, pouring ourselves out for the good of our common life.
That makes us not so much objects of salvation, as we are instruments of salvation. To celebrate the birth of Jesus is to also celebrate our renewed call to bear the life of Jesus to the world, a life of sacrifice, compassion, and empathy. And in that regard we have a prophetic role to name the pattern; to call to recognition God’s action among us… and to rejoice in that.
Luke is extolling the dynamic of change and transformation. I am always taken aback by the church’s dogmatic premise that God is “unchanging.” If nature is a reflection of God, then God is change. God is infinite possibility. Ours is not only to embrace that reality, but to revere it. We’ll need courage for that. Perhaps a chief role of the church is to nurture courage among us, because courage is all the more possible with friends, fellow pilgrims along the way. In that regard, good people, pray for the church, “that wonderful and sacred mystery.”
A Prayer for the Unity of the Church (BCP p. 255)
O God, whose blessed Son before his passion prayed for his disciples that they be one, as you and he are one: Grant that your Church, being bound together in love and obedience to you, may be united in one body by the one Spirit, that the world may believe in him whom you have sent. Your Son Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever. Amen.
