Sermon 9th December 2012

Today, Gill Tayleur,  who is now our Assistant Minister, preaches based on the reading from Luke 1: 5 – 25.


Zechariah and Elizabeth 

Have you heard the joke about the woman who went to the doctor's office. She was seen by a new doctor, but after a few minutes with him, she burst out, screaming as she ran down the hall. An older doctor stopped & asked her what the problem was, and she told him. He had to tell her to sit down & calm down in another room.

The older doctor marched back to the new doctor and demanded, "What's the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 63 years old, she has 4 grown children and 7 grandchildren, and you told her she was PREGNANT?"

The new doctor smiled smugly. "Cured her hiccups though, didn't it?"

This morning’s Bible reading is about 2 stories with 2 promises. A personal story, with a personal promise, and a universal story with a universal promise. One story is the story of an elderly childless couple to whom God promised a son. And the other is the story of

God’s promise of salvation, his plan to put the whole world to rights by sending His son Jesus. Let’s look at these 2 stories, the 2 promises and what we can learn from them.

First then, the personal story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. They had no children. In verse 7 we read, “they had no children because Elizabeth could not have any and she and Zechariah  were both very old.”

Zechariah and Elizabeth were childless. These days, for many couples, childlessness is a terrible heartache. When others get pregnant, they congratulate and smile on the outside, but are in agony on the inside. No doubt Zechariah & Elizabeth were like that too, but with the added social shame that was part of their culture. In those days, children were considered a blessing from God, and childlessness was seen as a curse. Children cared for their parents in their old age, and added to the family’s social and financial well being. Not to have children was a social disgrace, referred to in verse 25.

Elizabeth & Zechariah would have been humiliated by their childlessness.

Humiliated, and hopeless. Now they were both well on in years, so any slither of hope that one day it just might happen, was gone. No doubt they had prayed for a miracle baby, for years and years, but once they reached a certain stage of life, they had given up, or maybe accepted, their childless state, and the shame that went with it.

How awful for Zechariah & Elizabeth.

But, despite the humiliation and the hopelessness, Zechariah and Elizabeth carried on their lives faithfully serving God, regardless. In verse 6 we read, “they both lived good lives in God’s sight and obeyed fully all the Lord’s laws and commands.”

Biblical scholars agree that this doesn’t mean that Zechariah and Elizabeth were absolutely perfect and never did anything to sin against God. No, in the Bible, sometimes people were described as righteous or blameless because when they sinned they repented, came back to God and carried on living in his ways; that was the norm of their life. So we see Zechariah & Elizabeth were good & Godly people,

mostly going about their lives in service and obedience to God, despite the huge sorrow and disappointment of their childlessness. And part of that service to God

was Zechariah’s duties as a priest.

There were about 20,000 priests across the country of Israel, in 24 divisions, and each division took turns to serve in the temple in Jerusalem, on duty twice a year, for a week at a time. Morning and evening, a priest would enter the inner sanctuary and burn incense. When the people gathered outside saw the incense rise, they prayed, as the incense symbolised their prayers rising to God’s throne.

So in a year, in one division, there would have been just 28 opportunities for a priest to serve in this way, and about 1000 priests wanting to. So to have your name drawn by lot, as Zechariah’s was this time, was very exciting. And although the chances were minute, if your name was drawn twice in your lifetime, you weren’t allowed to serve twice, as many priests didn’t get to serve even once.

So on the day of our story, Zechariah had the enormous privilege of entering the inner sanctuary

to offer incense to God.

For him it was literally a

once in a lifetime opportunity,

1 of the greatest days of his entire life.

In that inner part of the temple,

on this marvellous occasion,

as he offered incense, Zechariah would have been praying fervently, and most likely praying for God to rescue his people, praying for him to send his promised Messiah.

This had been the prayer for centuries - 400 years had passed since the last of the great prophets, but still God’s people remembered he had promised to save them, to rescue them, to bring in a just rule, in the form of a new king, a saviour, or Messiah.

And as Zechariah was praying, suddenly the angel Gabriel appeared! As nearly always happens when an angel appears in the Bible, the first thing he said is, don’t be afraid –

not surprisingly seeing an angel is a pretty scary thing. And the angel Gabriel told Zechariah that he and Elizabeth were going to have a son. They were to call him John.

How glad and happy you will be! he said. Happy?! God was going to give Zechariah and Elizabeth a son – after all these years!

That was the personal promise, the promise of a son to this old barren couple. And this promise was fulfilled, it came true, and baby John was born about a year later.  How happy they were at his birth. We can read Zechariah’s song of praise at the end of chapter 2.

So in our first story, the personal story, God’s promise to Zechariah and Elizabeth was fulfilled. Wonderful.

Then there’s the other story, the universal story of salvation for all humankind. Let’s look a little more closely at what Gabriel said about this.

Gabriel told Zechariah that his son was going to bring people back to God, “to go ahead of the Lord” and make people ready for the Lord! Zechariah would have understood that to mean that his son would be the forerunner to the Messiah! And this is underlined by what Gabriel said, using language that echoed things from the Old Testament.

There’s the fact that John mustn’t drink alcohol. This was part of a Nazarite vow, given in the Old Testament, and taken by Samson among others.  The person took a special vow to behave in certain ways, including not drinking alcohol, as an act of consecration to God for his service.

Then there’s Gabriel’s reference to the prophet Elijah in verse 17, a quote from Malachi.

The Scriptures had foretold that the prophet Elijah would return one day to get the people ready for the arrival of God’s promised king and saviour. And Gabriel told Zechariah that this will be John’s task. In fact, the way John’s role is described is almost identical to that of an Old Testament prophet, to encourage people to turn away from sin and back to God.

What Gabriel said showed that what was going to happen wasn’t a strange new thing,

but taking place within a longstanding sequence of God’s purposes. The child to be born, to be called John, was to play a key role in God’s fulfilment of his promises.

We’re going to hear a lot more about God’s promise and fulfilment, of a Saviour, and what that means for us today, over the next 3 weeks. The headline is that Jesus was born a Saviour indeed, although not just the Saviour of Israel and not in the way they expected. Jesus the Saviour was born, to die, and his death & resurrection saved them and all people from sin and death, and brought forgiveness and peace with God,

for all humankind for all times. For us too, if we accept it! More about Jesus the Saviour

at Christmas.

This morning we’ve heard 2 stories about God’ promises, a personal story & promise,

and a universal story & promise. So what can we learn from these 2 stories? 3 things.

First and obviously, that God keeps his promises

and fulfils his purposes –

so we can trust him.

We can trust God

as a promise keeping God.

We thought about that in the context of Noah 2 weeks ago.

Whenever we see a rainbow,

we are reminded that God keeps his promises.

So we CAN believe and trust in God and his promises.

Zechariah doesn’t give us a very good example on this!

When Gabriel said you’re going to have a son, someone who would prepare God’s people for their Messiah, Zechariah said, “How shall I know IF this is so? I am an old man, and my wife is old also.”

Zechariah doubted Gabriel’s word. He said, yeah-right. He said he needed evidence!

He thought it literally in-credible that he and Elizabeth could conceive a son in their old age, and he practically demanded a sign! “How shall I know...?”

Well Zechariah got his sign alright, although not the sort he wanted! He was struck dumb, he couldn’t speak, and when he came out of the sacred place, he had to gesticulate to the gathered worshippers (who’d wondered why he was so long)

to try and explain what has happened. Zechariah remained dumb, and stayed that way when he went home at the end of the week, when his division’s duties in the temple were completed. And he was still unable to speak, there at home with Elizabeth. A little while later she conceived, and still Zechariah was dumb until after the baby’s birth 9 months after that. Zechariah could not speak for all that time because he had doubted Gabriel’s word. He’d demanded evidence for it.

How does Zechariah’s response wanting evidence, compare with Mary’s response

when the angel Gabriel visited her? We can see this in the Bible passage that comes straight after the bit we’ve read this morning.

Zechariah and Mary were both visited by Gabriel, both were promised God would give them a child supernaturally, and that he was going to make that child great. But Zechariah and Mary responded quite differently. Zechariah asked for evidence, as we’ve heard: “How shall I know IF this is so?” But Mary asked for an explanation, “How WILL this be?” They’re subtly different. It is possible to demand too much evidence

before you’re willing to believe God’s promises. It’s not wrong to want evidence for our faith, our belief is not groundless, but we’re to do so in a way that’s humble and open hearted, not demanding. Mary goes on to say in real humility, “may it happen to me as you have said.”

It’s OK to want & ask for explanations when perplexed. Mary didn’t reject the possibility

in unbelief, she responded humbly and desired only to know how such an impossibility might be.

When our heart is right, God isn’t opposed to our seeking to understand his ways in history and in our own lives. Earnest longing to know more of God’s wisdom is a good thing, when it’s humble readiness to be taught something new.

So like Mary, we are to trust God, even with the humanly impossible. Let’s not proudly insist on more signs & understanding before we believe and trust. Do we do this?! Do we hold out on God, effectively saying, no I’m not yet adequately convinced to take the leap of faith. You have to prove it to me. You have to show me more clearly than this.

I need more than just what you’ve already shown, in my life and in the Bible.

Let’s not be like that. Let’s be appropriately humble and teachable before Almighty God, and believe and trust in him, even as we go on asking and exploring and deepening our understanding.

So the first thing we can learn from today’s stories is

to believe and trust

in God and his promises.

The second thing is, more briefly, that when we do

doubt God & his promises

as Zechariah did,

when we do fail him,

as we all do,

to quickly repent,

come back to God

and get going again.

Zechariah’s life before this incident was, as we’ve seen,

generally a life

of faithful service to God.

And straight after John’s birth as soon as he can speak again,  Zechariah is praising God. Before and after Zechariah’s doubt of God’s promise, was a life of godliness.

This was a temporary failing, and we all have those. The important thing is, not to despair over our lapses, and however frequent they may be, but to repent, to humbly come back to God, admitting our wrong, and accepting God’s love and forgiveness.

And to get going again. Get trusting again. Keeping on in faith in God and his promises.

Even if we have to wait a long time. In verse 20 Gabriel says to Zechariah, this will come true at the right time. If we are waiting for God to answer some request or fill some need, we need to remain patient and faithful. No matter how seemingly impossible, God’s promises will come true at the right time.

And the third thing I think we can learn from this morning’s stories, is that our lives can play a part in God’s great purposes in history. Bishop Tom Wright explains this beautifully

 in his commentary on this passage:

[This story of Zechariah and Elizabeth] “reminds us of something important. God regularly works through ordinary people, doing what they normally do, who with a mixture of half-faith and devotion are holding themselves ready for whatever God has in mind. This story is about much more than Zechariah’s joy at having a son at last, or Elizabeth’s exultation in being freed from the scorn of the mothers in the village. It is about the fulfilment of God’s promises and purposes. But the needs, hopes and fears of ordinary people are not forgotten in this larger story, precisely because of who Israel’s God is – the God of lavish, self giving love. When this God acts on the large scale, he takes care of smaller human concerns as well. The drama which now takes centre stage [– the birth of Jesus –] is truly the story of God, the world, and every ordinary human being who has ever lived in it.”

Our story, our lives, may be part of God’s much bigger story and purposes, who knows how?! So let us keep on living and serving God faithfully, trusting him day by day. And so let’s pray...