A Father's Joy

12-9-18 (Advent 2C)

Luke 1:68-79; Luke 3:1-6

A Father’s Joy

               There’s something that is immensely fascinating about watching someone find out they’re going to have children.  From reveal videos posted on Facebook and YouTube to prize-winning clips submitted to America’s Funniest Home Videos, we’ve enjoyed seeing that moment unfold as future parents, grandparents, or little siblings open that package with the surprise inside.  We chuckle as they look at the camera, dumbfounded, asking “are you serious?!” or start jumping up and down and running all over the house screaming.  

          If they’d had such things as cameras back in Zechariah’s day, though, I think the moment he realized he was going to be a father probably would have taken a prize.  The elderly priest shuffles into the temple to take his shift in burning incense and leading the people in worship – just another day in the ministry, he thinks.  He picks up the censer and begins to fill it with the holy incense, and then all of a sudden, there’s an angel standing beside the altar who tells him not only that he’s going to be a father, but that his son will be named John, that John will be a joy and delight to him, that John will be great in the eyes of God, filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born, and that he can’t ever get his hair cut or drink wine.  It’s a lot to take in.  Zechariah looks at the angel and goes “Are you serious?  How do I know you’re telling the truth?  Elizabeth and I are old!”  And those are the last words that Zechariah will say for the next nine months or so.  We’ve seen some folks become speechless when they find out that there’s a baby on the way, but Zechariah’s story takes this to a whole different level.  It isn’t until John is born and the rest of the family and friends start fighting over the baby’s name that Zechariah is finally able to get his voice back – he grabs a writing tablet, tells everyone that his son is to be named John, and then the very next thing he does is to burst out, praising God and celebrating like there’s no tomorrow.

               It’s an amazing story, and as we hear the events unfold in this first chapter of Luke, it’s not a far stretch to put ourselves in the shoes of the people in that room, to imagine what Zechariah must have been thinking all this time in his silence, to ask the same kind of questions that are asked amidst Zechariah’s praises: “What then is this child to be?”

               And when you think about it, what parent hasn’t asked the same question about their own children?  How many times have we had these same kinds of wonderings, whether it be for our own children or grandchildren, or whether it’s as we stand together watching another child of the church being baptized and promise together that we will help this child to grow up knowing God’s love?  When we welcome children into our families, we do so with our own hopes, dreams, and expectations – we imagine what they might grow up to become, what we wish they would do.  We feel our own anxieties for them, wondering what kind of world they will grow into, what kind of future we are now going to be preparing them for.

               The difference is, of course, that Zechariah already knows, at least somewhat, what lies ahead for his son – the angel Gabriel already told him that his son was meant for great things, that John would bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord.  So is it any wonder that when Zechariah finally finds his voice again, his first actions are to burst into praise?  His son, the child they never even thought they’d be blessed to have in the first place, is going to be the prophet who goes before the Messiah, the “voice crying out in the wilderness – prepare the way of the Lord!”

               Talk about your high expectations – most of us just envision our kids becoming successful doctors, or lawyers, or business moguls…

  

             But the interesting thing about Zechariah’s song isn’t so much that it’s the song of a doting father dreaming big for his newborn son – it’s really not all that much about John at all, the more you look at it.  Zechariah’s song is, instead, a song praising God; a song that rejoices in the promises that God has made, the promises that God has fulfilled, and the promises that God is about to bring to fruition.  As a priest and a religious leader among his people, Zechariah would have been familiar with the words of the prophets, the promises of a coming savior.  As an elderly man now become a new father, he also knows firsthand what the fulfilment of those promises begins to look like.  And if God has already fulfilled the promise of a son to Zechariah, then how much more certain must Zechariah have been of the further promises he’d heard, not just from the scriptures but now also from the angel that visited him in the temple?

               And so Zechariah sings – he lifts up his hopes and expectations in praise to God.  And in these verses, we hear yet again that beautiful spirit of Advent, the joys, hopes, and anticipation of the fulfillment of God’s promises.  And, yet again, we find ourselves in that space between the “already” and the “not yet.”  As we hear the words from Zechariah’s song, it’s interesting to hear the language that he uses, the words of “God has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them,” that God has raised up a savior, that God has delivered God’s people – Zechariah sings of these things that have already happened, even though at this point in the story, Jesus hasn’t even been born yet.  And if that isn’t the very essence of Advent, I’m not sure what is.  In singing of these things that have already happened, Zechariah points toward the steadfast love and faithfulness of God, not just through the history of God’s people, but also into the future for which he knows his son has been sent to pave the way.

              This same hope, this same expectation and joy applies for us, as well – as we hear these words from Zechariah’s song, as Zechariah turns to look at his newborn son and declares “and you, child, will be called the prophet of the most high,” we should imagine those words being spoken not just to John, but to ourselves, as well.  Rev. Rob McCoy writes, “God rejoices no less for you than did Zechariah for his son.  Zechariah so loved his son that he could glimpse him through God’s eternal eyes.  God so loves you that he has laid out a path for you to follow.  God has given you something that makes you uniquely you.  There is something in you that transcends employment, labels, gender, race, or status.  God has created you with a purpose, and is calling you to that purpose today.  You were created to do no less than John once did – to prepare the way of the Lord, and “to show the people the way to salvation through the forgiveness of sins.”  In this Advent season, we remember that we light these candles, not just to remember the promises of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love, but also as a reminder to us that we are to embody those promises, to live them out as our own calling from God.  May we continue to strive to be that voice in the wilderness.  May we hold fast to the promises that we know are still to be fulfilled even as we remember those that have already been kept.  And may this Advent season continue to be a blessing to each of us.  To God be the Glory.  Amen.