Advent is a season of preparation and anticipation. It is the season of preparation for the coming of Christ and the season of anticipating and longing for his coming. During this season of preparation, we will be looking primarily at the story of the birth of John the Baptist, the consummate man of preparation of whom Jesus said:
This is the one about whom it is written:"I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you." (Luke 7:27)
In Luke’s gospel, the birth of John is intimately tied into the story of the birth of Christ. For there is no coming of Christ without prior preparation; there is no life in the Spirit without a prior quickening of our spirit; there is no meeting God face-to-face without a prior turnabout in our lives to face him.
We consider John the Baptist to be holier than ourselves, but Jesus says otherwise. "I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he" (Luke 7:28). You belong to God, now live the consecrated life to which you have been called.
Commentaryv5 "Zechariah" means "the Lord remembers" and Elizabeth means "my God is an oath," or, in other words, "God is absolutely faithful."
v5-7 Miraculous births abound in the Bible, e.g.: Sarah (Gen. 18:11); Rebekah (Gen. 25:21), Rachel (Gen. 29:31); Samson’s mother (Judges 13:3); Hannah (1 Sam. 1:19); Ruth (Ruth 4:13); Isaiah 7:14 (& Jesus!).
v11-17 The angel says, "Your prayer has been heard." Which is more likely: (1) that an aged Zechariah was praying for an inconceivable answer to a personal need "on company time" in the temple, or (2) that the angel is saying, in essence, "That prayer you prayed years ago and gave up on was heard and has never been forgotten."?
Based, in part, on the command to abstain from alcohol, some scholars believe that John was a Nazirite, i.e. wholly consecrated for God.
The heart of preparation is proper orientation: people to God, parents to children, and the disobedient to wisdom.
The reference to Elijah is a fulfill-ment of prophecy (Malachi 4:5-6).
v19-20 The superficial interpretation is that Zechariah is being punished for his disbelief. However, Zechariah’s enforced silence is also a prophetic sign—a miracle given at the time of a prophecy as evidence of the veracity of the speaker. The miracle is nonetheless full of irony; the one who did not believe is now incapable of confessing belief.
Application
"The Lord remembers." For this reason alone, we can have hope:
We may be busy, or living in darkness, or living in despair, but God has not forgotten us. At just the right time (often that’s when life seems darkest) he comes to us. He comes to us, and like a flower turning to face the warming sun, we turn towards him. We turn towards him and wait in joyous expectation for him to act.We head into the bleak winter season when everything looks as good as dead. But the Christmas wreaths symbolize the promise of eternal life, for God has not forgotten us.
By ourselves, our lives are barren, busyness without purpose. Sometimes we simply stop, feeling that we have failed, that our opportunity has already come and gone. Perhaps we no longer even pray, feeling that progress is no longer possible. But the touch of God can make all things new, and God has not forgotten us.
This Christmas story is received with great joy by the misfits, the miscreants, and the mistreated. They receive the good news from angels, stars, and prophecies, and they are changed. The circumstances of their lives may not have changed (e.g. the shepherds) but everything has changed as they turn back to God with hope for the future. The circumstances of their lives may have turned upside down (e.g. Zechariah and Elizabeth) but they continue to live day-by-day until the time when God chooses to act again. This is what it means to live in hope—you wait with without despair until the Lord acts.
Points to Ponder
In looking at miraculous births, I am struck by similarities between the story of the conception of John the Baptist and the conception of Samuel. Later in life:
What similarities can you find between the stories of their conceptions?both will become life-long Nazirites,
both will have to deal with obdurate kings (Saul for Samuel, Herod for John), and
both will herald the coming of God’s anointed (David for Samuel, Jesus for John).
More to the point:
Where have you given up waiting for God to act?
Do you think that God has forgotten you?
What if you gave this season of preparation unconditionally over to God? What would have to happen for you to turn to God and make him top priority for the season?
Zechariah was speechless during his season of preparation for fatherhood. John was a Nazirite during his season of preparation for the Christ. What could you change for this season—what could your "Nazirite vow" be?
At this church, we sing Christmas carols with gusto from the first day of Advent on. However, some churches don’t sing any carols until Christmas Eve; they claim this type of "fasting" heightens the anticipation. What does this type of "delayed gratification" remind you of in today’s story?
End NotesI Will Remember You (Sarah McLachlan © 1999)
I will remember youSee in this song a picture of God’s faithful love & remembrance of us.
Will you remember me?
Don’t let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories
1 - I fear that Advent has been subverted and as preparation has become synonymous with shopping and anticipation has become synonymous with waiting for Santa to bring us gifts. And we who know better have let it happen by going along with the culture and rarely trying to elevate the discourse!
2 - Oddly, we are never told her name!
3 - Although theories abound, best guess is that this virgin (or young maiden—the Hebrew being a bit vague) is Hezekiah’s mother, given: (a) Hezekiah is a big part of the first half of Isaiah, and (b) the interpretation of the prophecy given in Isaiah 7:3-16.
1 comment:
i love advent season.
i love the time of preparring for the day of our Lord.
in some ways its a hard self examinations but in so many other ways it replaces the anticipation of past christmass filled with presents and the pain of trying to give something materialistic or something of myself that was still empty or flat in the end.
all the nostolgic things that took effort to stuff full of meaning, now overflow with gifts from the lord, blessings, and real peace, all things that never before had true meaning to me. Thank you Chip for plying a huge role in finding and learning to search and fullfill the desire to seek Christ. Sharing and teaching me how to celebrate the advent, participate in lent, and just lay down on the alter each and ever morning.
we went caroling thursday night.... as horrably off tune we were, i pray we blessed those we sang to and the young girls who went i pray they too will hear this Christ who came to us, calling them to himself.
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