« “What Kind of a Christmas Is This?” | Main | “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph” »
December 13, 2009
“Zechariah and Elizabeth: Three Seasonal Thoughts”
Luke 1: 5-25
Sunday, December 13, 2009
This passage informs us of the first of several angelic visitations that occurred before the birth of Jesus. This one is technically before and about the birth of John the Baptist, but it does also mention the coming of the Lord.
There are some interesting details about the practice of the Priesthood in the time of Christ in this passage. Zechariah is introduced to us as a Priest who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. Then after introducing his wife Elizabeth and their problem of being childless, Luke tells us that “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.”
Long before Zechariah, King David had divided the priests who were not of the high priestly family into 24 divisions or sections. These divisions served in the temple twice each year for one week each time. Then all the divisions served during Passover, and the day of atonement. It was during one of his regular assignments to the temple in Jerusalem that the lot fell to him to burn the incense in the Holy place in the temple. This was a rare privilege and no priest was allowed to do this more than once. He had prepared for the incense burning before. Several priests were involved in the process of taking coals from the large altar in the temple court and brining them into the Holy place and putting them on the incense altar. Other priests brought the incense into the Holy place. But when it was time to burn the incense the priests who were assisting left the room and Zechariah in this case would be all alone.
The burning of the incense was very important as it symbolized the prayers of the people and the prayers of the priests for the people going up to God as something that smelled sweet to Him.
Luke then tells us that while Zechariah was alone, an angel appeared to him next to the incense altar and nearly scared the living daylights out of him. The angel said “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.
Then the angel said some remarkable things about John, including that he would precede the Lord.
The angel said that Zechariah’s prayer had been heard. But most likely, because Zechariah and his wife were now old, he hadn’t prayed that prayer for some time. Now it was being answered and Zechariah had a hard time believing it.
While I was writing this sermon, one of our church members visited me in my office for a few moments. Among other subjects we discussed briefly was: Why did God send Jesus when he did? Why not earlier or later? I explained that some of the scriptures say that it was in the fullness of time. In other words, the time was just right.
But Jews had been praying for the coming of the Messiah for hundreds of years, especially during the captivity. Many of them died thinking that their prayers were unanswered. And after their death, for some, hundreds of years after their death, their prayers were answered.
Zechariah thought that the time for his prayer for a son to be answered was past. But he was wrong. Do you have any prayers that are to date unanswered? Don’t give up. Maybe their time is coming. Christmas is a reminder that God does answer prayers but he does it in his time frame, not ours.
Zechariah had a difficult time believing that his prayer would finally be answered and that his son would be the one to announce the coming of the Messiah. He said “How will I know that this is so. For I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years.”
I really love this part of the passage. Think about the situation for a minute. Zechariah is in God’s temple. God’s Archangel appears before in some glory and tells him something and Zechariah wants to know if it is really going to happen.
I like to think that Gabriel was almost speechless. It is obvious that Gabriel was not used to having his word doubted. He said “I am Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God, I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.” In other words, Gabriel says, “Look at who you are talking to! This message I have given you comes directly from the throne and voice of God! How dare you doubt it!”
It is easy for us to think poorly of Zechariah for doubting Gabriel at first. But if we are honest, we need to admit that we all have doubts. Sometimes, in the midst of all the Christmas decorations while we are reading the Christmas passages of the bible, we might hear an inner voice asking “Is this for real? Did God really become a human and die for our sins?”
To answer that I would remind you that when Mark, Luke and Matthew wrote their Gospels some were still alive who had met and talked to Jesus. When Paul wrote I Corinthians he said that after Jesus died and rose again he appeared to over 500 people, some of whom were still alive at that time and could testify that He arose. Jesus’ resurrection was the proof that all the rest of this really happened: that angelic appearances, the birth of the Son of God in Bethlehem, all of it. God lived on earth for 30 or so years and there were plenty of people who met him and knew who he was.
Sometimes our Christmas celebrations get a little out of hand, but the reality of what we celebrate is verified. The baby Jesus in Bethlehem was the Son of God!
After Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth was informed of the angelic announcement of her pregnancy and after she became pregnant 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 disgrace she was referring to was her inability to have a baby. But what she said is true of all of us in the light of the birth of Jesus. When God sent first John then and especially Jesus, he took away our disgrace. We all have some disgraceful episodes in our lives. We all have sinned and sometimes been disrespected because of what we have done. Sometimes we were disgraced because of what others had done to us or our ancestors.
God sent Jesus to remove that disgrace from us. He came to forgive our sins. When you feel unworthy of being loved or unworthy of living this life or unworthy of the accolades you receive, You need to remember who you are. You are one for whom God sent his son to live and die on this earth. Christmas should remind us of how much God loves us and of how valuable He thinks we are. He has removed our disgrace through Jesus.
So as you prepare to celebrate the birth of the Son of God into this world, remember:
Just as it took years for God to answer the prayers of the Jews, so it might take God years to answer some of your prayers, but He will.
We are not asked to believe in the birth and resurrection of Jesus without any proof. There were eyewitnesses of these events and some of their accounts are written down in our Scriptures.
Jesus came into this world to remove our disgrace: All of it. And having done that, he came to prepare us for eternal life in his eternal kingdom.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at December 13, 2009 03:27 PM