Zechariah’s Praise

Text: Luke 1:57-80

Pastor Phil Hughes, American Fork Presbyterian Church, Utah

December 22, 2024 Fourth Sunday in Advent

We will soon be celebrating the birth of Jesus. But closely intertwined with that birth is the birth of John the Baptist. In fact, there is more ink and attention given to John’s birth in Luke’s Gospel than to the birth of Jesus.

Yes, Gabriel goes to Mary, but first he went to Zechariah. Yes, Mary has a miraculous pregnancy, but, though in a very different way, so does Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth. Yes, Jesus will be born. But we need to hear about John being born as well because John is vital to the coming of Jesus.

John was vital to all of Jesus’ ministry. John’s purpose is to prepare people for the coming of the Lord. People need to be prepared for the coming of Christ.

So before Mary’s baby comes Elizabeth’s baby. And when Elizabeth’s baby was born people asked, “What is this child going to be?” This was because the events surrounding his birth were so astounding. Zechariah, a priest serving in the temple, having a vision in the temple. Zechariah not being able to speak for the term of Elizabeth’s pregnancy because of his unbelief. Elizabeth actually conceiving though she was getting on in years. The parents not naming the child in the customary way but his father giving him a new name, that of John. And then, Zechariah’s tongue being freed.

What is this child going to be indeed.

When Zechariah is given back his ability to speak it says he is filled with the Holy Spirit. And he praises God.

This song of praise that comes from Zechariah is sometimes called the Song or Canticle of Zechariah. It is sometimes called the Benedictus, which is the Latin word for “blessing,” which is the first word Zechariah speaks. Some Bibles translate the first word “praise.” In some traditions that have set times for prayer and are very liturgical, Zechariah’s words are recited in prayer every morning. If you look in Episcopalian and Anglican prayer books you will find Zechariah’s prayer as part of what is called Morning Prayer.

How does Zechariah praise the Lord? First, that God has come to his people with redemption. God is going to rescue his people. Israel had a long history of being under the thumb of others. Even then Israel had its share of enemies. Zechariah saw in the births of Jesus and John God coming to save them. But this rescue would not be political or social as so many expected.

Then, Zechariah praises the Lord for his own son, John. John will be a prophet of the Most High God, preparing the way for the coming of the Lord. And that would happen through the forgiveness of sins.

Yes, there were political, military, and social enemies. Times were tough. But they are not the ultimate enemies. It is people’s brokenness with God that needs addressing. Before there can be a right relationship between people and people there must be a right relationship between people and God. The sin that creates a barrier must be removed.

The good news is that God makes the way for that to happen. It isn’t left to our own willpower, our own plans, or our religious efforts.

So much of what is wrong in the systems and structures of society and our world are the result of the problem of the human heart. We often point the finger at our boss, our spouse, the government, that neighbor, that group, that organization. And sometimes they can are a problem. The brokenness in us permeates every place in this world. But there is something deeper than needs to be addressed.

Thomas Merton said, “We never see the one truth that would help us begin to solve our ethical and political problems: that we are all more or less wrong, that we are all at fault, all limited and obstructed by our mixed motives, our self-deception, our greed, our self-righteousness and our tendency to aggressivity and hypocrisy.”

What if we laid down our defenses, stopped making excuses, honestly look at ourselves and opened ourselves to God? What if there was a worldwide wave of people all standing up and admitting we are all more or less wrong.

John’s role was to prepare the way for the Lord. Jesus doesn’t just come. It apparently takes preparation. And part of that preparation is looking at ourselves with honesty. Acknowledging what is out of shape in our lives. Seeing what is crooked and needs to be straightened. Apparently the Lord can’t come to a life full of self-justification, pride and presumption. The Lord can’t come to someone who is full of themselves.

How much time do we spend in, I’ll call it, “sin-management” instead of living in the great gift of the forgiveness of sins? Why not bow down before the Lord, lay our broken pieces before him and ask him to remove it all from us.

The great gift we received in Christ is reconciliation with God. John’s message was really, “Make peace with God because that is what God wants and that is why his Anointed One is coming.” Peace on earth and mercy mild/God and sinners reconciled.

The Episcopalian priest and chef Robert Farrar Capon said that in heaven there are only forgiven sinners. No good guys. No upright successful types who because of their own integrity have been accepted into the great country club in the sky. No, there are only failures, only those who have accepted their deaths in their sins and who have been raised up by the King who himself died that they might live.

But he said there are only forgiven sinners in hell, too. Jesus gives his forgiveness to everyone.

The difference? In heaven the forgiveness is accepted and passed along. In hell it is rejected and blocked. In heaven the death of the King is welcome and becomes the doorway to new life in the resurrection. In hell, the old life of keeping track of all the wrongs everyone does to you and others keeps on forever.

Christ didn’t give up his eternal glory with the Father and become one of us, suffer, die and rise only so that a gulf would remain between us and this God who loves us so. He didn’t come so that we could pull ourselves up by our own spiritual bootstraps.

God didn’t come in Jesus Christ because everything was good, bright and lovely in the world. He came because we were lost, broken, and without hope. We said “no” to God’s way. But he didn’t give up on us. He came searching for us. God came himself.

When Zechariah says all of this is because of the “tender mercy of our God” it means the compassion of God. The word is a popular one in the Bible meaning feeling from the gut. God feels so deeply for us, like an ache in the gut, that he came with light into our darkness.

Zechariah saw light coming into the dark world in which he lived. He was convinced that all the events surrounding these births was God bringing his light into the world. His son and the Son. And so Zechariah praised God.

Our praise at Christmas can be the same. Forgiveness. Light penetrating the darkness. God with us.

Prayer: Our Glorious God, thank you that even in all that is lost and uneven in us, you do not leave us. Thank you that in your mercy you do not forsake us. We celebrate Jesus Christ, through whom we have forgiveness of sins. We prepare the way of our hearts for him. For your love, your mercy, and your rescue of us we praise you. Amen.