Another Messenger – December 5, 2021, the Second Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 9:2-7, Luke 1:5-23
December 5, 2021
The Second Sunday of Advent

This is one of my favorite stories in the Advent.  It’s not about Mary, it’s not about Joseph, it’s not about shepherds or kings.  It is again about John the Baptist, who we met last week.  But more specifically, this story is about John’s father, Zechariah.

So, some might say that this is about an obscure character in the story.  But think about it!  This story takes up the majority of the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel.  So, we cannot brush it off as a lesser story about a lesser character!  In fact, this is what Luke presents as the very first story in the whole story of Jesus!

This is also the story of another “visitation” of one of God’s “messengers.”  We talked about them last week, too.  The angels are God’s messengers.  The Greek word “Angelos” means “messenger.”  And I like this story, because it brings out more of the human reactions to the visitation of “angeles.”  Because, as I always say, the angels in these stories were fearsome beings!  Indeed, they were not tall, thin, blonde, white women that we see all too often in artists depictions!

And as I always say, what’s the first thing an angel would often say to those to whom he appeared?  “Be not afraid!”  And that’s what this angel says to Zechariah.  He was a priest serving in the Temple.  “And there appeared to him an angel standing on the side of the altar of incense, And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.”  “But the angel said to him, ‘Be not afraid, for your prayer has been heard, and you shall have a son, and you shall call him, John!’”  And of course, that name will figure prominently in this story!

So that’s the first reaction to this next angelic messenger.  Fear.  The next reaction is also typical of humans who have had experiences with angels.  And that reaction is, disbelief!  For often, the message they bring to the person is too hard to accept.  And that was the case here.  Zechariah was immediately “skeptical” of what the angel told him.  Because it didn’t make sense!  It seemed preposterous!  “How can this be?  I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”  And isn’t that a nice way of describing his wife.  “You’re not old, honey, you’re ‘advanced in years.’”

Think about it!  Zechariah and Elizabeth were old people.  How could they possibly have a child?  Physiologically, it was not possible!  And mentally, maybe energetically, it also seemed far-fetched!  I’ve got to tell you, this story makes more sense to me the more ‘advanced in years’ I get, and the more I hurt after doing something physical.  I loved the years when I was young, and my children were young!  I could do anything and not be sore the next day.  But now?!

A woman in my last congregation – who was “advanced in years” – once said, “Young people have the children.  That’s because if we old people did, we’d put them down and forget where we left them!”  I’ll never forget when Patty and I got married.  I was talking with my doctor, and he asked, “Are you going to have children?”  I said, “What?  We’re 50!”  “How’s that going to happen?”

Well, Zechariah has the same questions!  And in the wonderfully human way this story is told, Luke tells us that this angel – the archangel Gabriel – gets peeved!  He gets miffed!  Chagrinned!  Irked! Perturbed!  And make a note here!  It’s not a good thing to get an angel peeved – or any of those other things!  I love the indignance of this angel, this heavenly being!  “I am Gabriel!” he said.  “I stand in the very presence of God!”  I like to think maybe there was some thunder in his words!  (Maybe like the old commercial, “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!!!”  Do you remember that?)

So, he strikes Zechariah mute!  Am I saying that right?  Can you strike somebody mute?  (You can strike somebody dead!  Or maybe blind.)  Well, anyway, Zechariah cannot talk until the last part of this story, which you can go back and read later if you want.  It comes at the end of this chapter.  That’s where Zechariah gets his voice back!

I was thinking this story, and you know, it’s funny.  Here, this angel tells Zechariah a lot of incredible things about this son he was going to have.  He would turn many of the Sons of Israel back to their God.  He would make the people ready for the Lord’s coming.  He would even have within him the spirit of Elijah!  And what’s Zechariah’s reaction?  “Wait a minute!  What do you mean we’re going to have a son?!”

He couldn’t get over that one little impossibility!  Yes, this son would prepare the way for the Messiah.  He would be in the spirit of Elijah.  He would be the messenger from Malachi we talked about last week.  Gabriel told Zechariah great things about him!  But the one concrete, down to earth thing that Zechariah couldn’t get past, was his little personal part!  That, he couldn’t believe!

Doesn’t that happen to us?  We can hear all the glorious things of God.  We can talk about miracles.  We can re-live this amazing Advent story year after year.  But when it comes down to our problems, and our difficulties, when it comes down to believing God’s power in our lives, that’s where we have a problem.  That’s what’s hard for us to believe!  “Yes, God can do great miracles, but solve my problems, well, that’s a different story!”  Someone once said, “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out.  It’s the pebble in your shoe!”

Think about it.  We can recall the great foundational stories of our faith like this, we can think lofty thoughts, we can believe God for the big and incredible miracles, but it’s the little doubts that wear us out.  And that’s what was happening to Zechariah!  And I think his part in this story is no “lesser part!”  Luke saw this as an important part of this story of Jesus’ birth.  Again, the majority of chapter one is taken up with his story!  Yeah, the story of the angel’s visit to Mary is in there, and we’ll look at that next week.  And it’s the same angel, by the way!!  But most of this chapter is about Zechariah!  And I love that!

In the ‘70’s they used to ask us, “Who do you identify with the most in the story?”  Did you ever get that question?  In other words, who’s experiences and feelings are most like your own?  Well, I think it’s Zechariah.  He’s the guy who’s watching what’s happening and then being asked to believe one of the relatively lesser miracles – lesser at least in the overall story of Jesus.  And that’s where he has trouble.

And doesn’t that happen to us?  We can believe the story of Jesus.  But do we make the connection with it?  Do we know that we are part of this story?  That’s what we can so easily forget, especially at this time of year.  As we go through Advent, do our burdens, our busyness, our anxiety, whatever we’ve experiencing this time of year, make us miss the connection with the coming of the Messiah that we celebrate?

Don’t let that happen!  Don’t let the pebble in your shoe wear you out!  As you make your way through Advent this year, think of old Zechariah.  Know that you are not just a reader, not just an “observer” of this story.  You are a part of this story.  Jesus has come into this world, and into our lives!  He is “Immanuel” – God with us!  Let us celebrate that above all else this year!

Prayer

Eternal God, help us not to sit in the audience just watching the story of Advent, but help us to be part of the story.  Help us to know that you have come into our world and into our lives.  As your light shines in the darkness, may that same light shine in our lives and in our world.  For we pray in our Savior’s name, Amen.