Spoiler Alert
The Beatles have George, Paul, John, and Ringo.
The Grateful Dead have Jerry, Bob, Phil, and a list of people too long for a sermon,
Green Day has Billie Joe and Mike.
God, in the Gospel of Luke, has Mary, Zechariah, and Simeon.
Mary’s song is widely known throughout the church thanks to songs like “Mary Did You Know?”. Spoiler alert, she knew. The angel Gabriel visited Mary shortly after visiting Zechariah and Elizabeth. Simeon’s song of praise occurs in our church calendar a few weeks from now after Jesus is born and is then presented in the Temple.
Today we have Zechariah's hymn of Holy Spirit-inspired prophecy: praise, a horn of salvation, mercy, and rescue, all leading to "the path of peace."
If you skipped Sunday school the week they covered Zechariah, here is what you need to know. Zechariah was a Temple priest. He and his wife, Elizabeth, were "righteous before God, blameless in their observance" of God's "commandments and regulations." This guy knew the Law and followed it. His wife, Elizabeth, had been unable to become pregnant, "and they both were very old." When the angel Gabriel tells Zechariah his old lady wife would bear a child, he did the one thing you do not do if you are a Temple priest, and the angel Gabriel brings you good news. He asked a doubt-filled question; "How can I be sure of this? My wife and I are very old."
Oops! Muted until this son, John the Baptist, who will prepare the way for Mary and Joseph's son, is named—muted until his hymn of prophecy and praise.
Zechariah and Elizabeth's son will be the voice calling out in the wilderness. The voice calling the people of God to repent – turn away from the sin and back to God – so that as the Prince of Peace comes, they, the people of God, will be ready. Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son is the voice calling out to the church today.
We find ourselves between two Advents – Christ has come; Christ will come again.
Zechariah and Elizabeth’s boy, by way of his naming (John means the Lord is gracious or the Lord has shown favor) and his father’s Holy Spirit-filled prophecy, will pave the way for the first Advent. The church yesterday, today, and tomorrow embodies Zechariah and his son’s prophetic work ahead of the second Advent as we await Christ’s peace-filled and peaceful return.
The church does not hold the market when it comes to words like justice and peace. Peace is something humanity has strived toward for generations, and for generations, peace has eluded us. In my lifetime, "peace" among nations has been sold to the masses through wars and violence. Violence is rationalized when executed in the name of justice and peace. Selective violence, the purposeful breaking of peace, becomes permissible when done in the name of justice and peace. We tell ourselves that the fruit of our violence is that after the fighting has ended, once we've won and they have lost, once we have one justice, we will have peace. Except, that human history proves this is not the case. Humanity has been at war with itself since two Hebrew Bible brothers went to battle with one another.
Then there is peace through politics. A charismatic politician promises us they are different. They can bring about the thing their predecessors failed to do, and they can do it quicker than any other candidate. We repeat this cycle nearly every year and somehow expect a different outcome.
The peace Zechariah prophesied has no meaning apart from the will and purpose of God. Let me repeat it; the peace Zechariah prophesied has no meaning apart from the will and purpose of God. The church cannot make sense of peace and pursue justice in the name of peace, apart from the peace of God embodied in flesh and blood and laid in a manger. The peace of God was proclaimed and prophesied by Zechariah and Elizabeth, "an old couple, an old, hopeless, powerless, futureless couple.” The peace of God was embodied by a “helpless child, dependent on his poor parents,” not born into a politically influential family.
Jesus was born into a world where the sword achieved the peace of an empire. Peace by the pointy end of a sword, gun, or any instrument of violence exemplifies how well we do not understand the very thing we all want for ourselves generations to come. Humanity was and continues to be unable to save itself or secure its own peace, so much so that God broke into human history in a manger in Bethlehem, "among the poor, lonely, old and impotent" and saved us from ourselves.
The prophetic hymn of Zechariah and his son’s voice crying from the wilderness calls into question whether we know what we are talking about when we use words like justice and peace. The word “peace” appears 329 in the Christian Bible; 91 times in our New Testament. Each New Testament reference to peace points toward the salvific word of God in Jesus Christ – explicitly or implicitly by pointing to humanity’s inability to secure peace on our own.
God did not enter human history through the door of Caesar or influential politicians, and this is where we find the Good News of Zechariah's hymn, Advent, and the gospel. Peace is something God makes, something God has done. Peace, is a gift to all creation to be sure, and something God promises is coming again. And in the church, we live as a viable alternative to peace through any means apart from God. That we might be saved from the consequences of our attempts to take matters into our own hands, creating justice and peace through means that lead us to anywhere but the peaceful life we desire.
Through the tender mercy of God, giving light to all who are in darkness, and guiding our feet on the path of peace. Christ is coming. Amen.
