Rumors of Hope

Rumors of Hope

12.06.09

Advent 2C

Luke 1: 

Focus: The angel’s proclamation to Zechariah, and his subsequent 9 months of silence, bring about great change in Zechariah’s world view.

Function:  We, like Zechariah, are called to moved from fearful followers to those who trust in God’s amazing gift.

I From Zechariah’s eyes

I’m sure you’ve heard all about me.  You know that I’m a high priest, and that I’m married to Elizabeth.  And I bet you know that she’s pregnant.  I’d bet you even know that I was rendered mute for nine months  because I didn’t believe the angel.  

But I bet you’ve never heard about it from my point of view...never had to stand in my shoes so to speak. 

I love my wife, Elizabeth, but it’s not like she’s a spring chicken.  I know how these things work,  and once you reach a certain age, children just aren’t something you expect.  So I’m not sure exactly why the angel came down so hard on me for saying “But how can I know this is true?” It’s not like I said, “You’re a liar.”   I just wanted some proof, some reassurance before my world was turned upside down.  I guess the fact that I’m a high priest, and therefore should have been on the lookout for divine occurrences has something to do with it.  I guess I’m just not like Elizabeth’s cousin, Mary,  who said simply “May it be with me as you have said” upon finding out that she was pregnant with the Holy Spirit’s baby. 

I was painted as a grumpy old man, and maybe I was.  But I had nine months to think about it, and that nine months changed my mind about a lot of things.

Have you ever been speechless? Sure maybe someone said something that was so unfathomable that you just didn’t have anything to say.  Or maybe you’ve had laryngitis for a few days.  But I bet you have never been without words for months on end.  Powerless.  Weak.  Defenseless.  Only able to listen.  (Of course, my wife thought it was great.  Nine months to fill my ears with anything she wanted, and I couldn’t even say, “Wait a minute! Can’t I even get a few minutes of peace?”) 

At any rate,  I’ve had a long time to think about everything.  The first conclusion I came to was that I  might have acted out of fear.  The angels words to me were a shock, and they were really frightening.  I guess, because my whole world was about to be rocked.  Maybe it was because something that I had spent years proclaiming to people, showed up at my front door-- and I was confronted with just how little faith I really had.   After all, I guess God is easy to believe in when he doesn’t require anything of you, and when he’s not knocking at your very door.  

The second conclusion I came to during my time of thinking is that fear isn’t the best way to be a good disciple.  After all, it stops you from doing the things you’d really love to do.   It makes you a crazy person.  I wonder how many times fear crept into my ministry, and kept me from doing the things that I knew God was calling me to do.   I wonder what my life, and my ministry might have looked like if I had been able to really trust God to miraculous, amazing things?

And one last conclusion that changed me completely during this time of silence is  that God is doing miraculous things.  The fact that John was born to us, an elderly couple, is nothing short of a miracle.  It’s not that we did anything special.   No, God did every bit of it.  The fact that my voice came back just at the right time, was nothing short of amazing.   I guess you can’t blame me for breaking into songs of Joy-- and singing the “Benedictus”  praising God for what’s been done in my life.  

I know the things that happened to me were through God’s own hand.  And I believe that I have been changed for the better in a way that has transformed my life.  Now, I can see God’s hand at work in the world. 

1. Read Scripture

1. Zechariah’s song

I love Zechariah’s song, just like I love the other five offerings of praise in the Gospel of Luke.  WHile those focus directly on the birth of Jesus, this one offers a slightly different spin.   This one focuses on the birth of John as a sign of what is done and what is to come.  Zechariah is almost bursting at the seams with the things that the birth of John, and later Christ, will mean for the world.

I think I love it so much, partly because I long so deeply to be able to sing it with him.  Zechariah is one that I understand.  I get his wanting proof.  I get the fact that some things just seem too good to be true.  And I get that he was at least a little afraid.  

I’ve expressed this in a couple of ways, in a couple of places.  But as we go farther into Advent, I am struck again by these things.  First of all, it doesn’t feel like things are different.  In doesn’t feel like there is a Lord of all the earth, especially as I look around at the world.  I’ve also mentioned that this year, more than ever before, I really ready for it to feel like Christmas.  I think I could do without all the waiting of Advent, and just jump straight into the magic of Christmas.   But as I hear Zechariah’s song, I am reminded  that there are rumors of hope floating around. 

1. Seeking peace in a war-torn world

Zechariah’s song is much about peace, and the new era that is dawning.  As we go deeper into Advent, we wonder if in fact we will ever know peace.   Will we find it deep in our hearts, will there ever be peace on Earth?

Peace is a traditional theme for the Second Sunday in Advent, and not just the sort of peace that is the absence of strife, but the sort that surpasses all understanding. 

I wonder what Zechariah’s call to us would be?  As we look at a world which is war torn, would he have us sit still and wait for Peace on Earth, Goodwill to men, glumly mumbling to ourselves that nothing feels different?

Or perhaps would he challenge us to get up and dance, believing that the dawning of a new age is coming near?

Zechariah is so amazed at the things that God has done, that it completely trumps his fear.   We don’t hear tons about him after this first chapter in Luke closes, but he seems to be a very different sort of person.  I think he would beg us to cast off our fears that the world won’t be handled the way we think it ought to be, and challenge us to look for the ways that God is bringing about peace, with joyful expectation.

But, too, I think Zechariah would say that true peace will only come when we are in a good relationship with God-- when we have lost our fears, laid aside our personal ambitions.  

The conditions that cause both an absence of peace in the world and an absence of peace in our hearts really stem from looking out for ourselves.  We can’t appreciate what God offers to us in covenant life with Christ until we rid ourselves of these things. 

For Zechariah, a big hurdle was his fear.  But only when he allowed his fear to disappate did he find true peace.

Zechariah, I think, heard rumors of hope... and it changed him, completely.   Can you hear the whisper that says, “Things are not as they seem... Christ is coming?” 

My prayer for you is that you might move a little farther from being a disciple plagued by fear and a little closer to becoming a disciple who trusts that there is a God who cares, who is in control, and who is on the way.  Amen.