God’s
Preparation
(based
on Luke 1:68-79)
A friend of mine tells the story of playing
Christmas carols on the piano for her then 4-year-old daughter, Samantha. When she played “Away in a Manger,” she
started to sing as she played. After
just a few words, Samantha put her tiny hands up to her mother’s mouth and
said, “Oh, No, mommy, don’t. Just let
the piano sing it.”
Do you ever feel that way when you sing? That nobody wants to hear your voice? Well, when you sing, you aren’t singing for
others. You’re singing for God. And God always wants to hear you sing. Mary’s song which began earlier is one of the verses in this
grand musical introduction to Luke’s Gospel. Another verse in this musical masterpiece is today’s
reading and is known as the song of Zacharias.
It’s the second verse of this song, and it
picks up where Mary left off, but really, it’s more of the same. It’s the same song, second verse, with the
same theme, similar ideas, and related words. Both verses focus on Jesus Christ as the
Savior of the world.
If you had not been able to talk for a year,
what would you say when you finally could speak? With the first words out of his mouth after
nine months of silence, Zacharias praises God and prophecies about the future.
First, he praises God for the salvation that
is to come through the Messiah and second, he says something about his own
newborn son because he will be the prophet who will prepare the way for the
Messiah.
When Zacharias spoke these first few verses, he
was thinking primarily of God’s promises to the nation of Israel to deliver her
from her enemies and restore her to her rightful place among the nations. So
when he speaks of salvation in these verses, he means temporal, physical
salvation from enemies like the Roman government. But they also have a broader and more
transcendent meaning. God came to
deliver us from sin and death in Jesus Christ.
The first words out of Zacharias’s mouth are
praise to God for what God has done and what God will do. In the coming birth of baby Jesus, God is
about to redeem Israel, ransom captive Israel. He will deliver them from their bondage; from
Rome and from King Herod, who sits on the throne in Jerusalem.
About Christmas time, a family was expecting
their oldest son to come home from college. He was arriving on the midnight plane. All the younger children were excited and
wanted to stay up until he arrived. They
begged their father to let them stay up. But their dad replied, “No, it will be too
long for you to wait; you must go to bed and rest; you will see John in the
morning.”
This is how the ancient prophets spoke about
the Messiah – their eldest brother Jesus. They longed to see him come, but their father
in heaven told them no, it would be too long for them to wait. Moses prayed for yet a more complete deliverer
to come, David sang often about and prayed for the horn of salvation, Job
prayed in the midst of his pain and suffering to see his deliverer, Isaiah prayed,
Jeremiah prayed, Ezekiel prayed, even Elijah and Elisha both prayed, but to all
of these ancient prophets, God said, “No, my child, it is too long of a wait, you
must rest first.”
But Zacharias, who could not contain the song
and the prayer, was finally witness to the long-awaited Messiah; the eldest
brother, finally coming home to them all.
And just like a musical piece there’s
repetition, there are refrains and choruses, parts and counterparts. Zacharias sang in verse 69 that the purpose of
the Messiah’s coming was to save us from our enemies. Then he sings in verse 70
that he got this truth from holy scripture – that it was a promise made to the
forefathers, but only now fulfilled. Then
in verse 71, he said once again that the purpose of these promises was to
deliver God’s people from their enemies.
This pattern and refrain is repeated in verses 72-74 regarding God’s
purpose and plan. Then the climax to the
song comes in the last part of verse 74 and verse 75, and that climax is our
purpose; what we must do:
Our purpose is to serve him without fear in
holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives. We no longer need to serve God out of fear,
but instead out of joy, love and gratitude. Though we were all slaves to sin, we have been
set free through Jesus Christ.
If you grew up in the Presbyterian Church
prior to 1983, you were more than likely required to learn the Westminster
Shorter Catechism. The first and primary
question and answer that you needed to recite was this:
What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God and to
enjoy Him forever.
This opening question in the
Catechism, brings us at once to the subject of true religion – what it requires
and what it gives. For us, as Christian
believers, God has made us for a purpose just as everything made by humans is
made for a purpose. Only as we fulfil
the purpose for which God made us can we be happy. We cannot add to God’s own glory, but we can
show that glory by doing everything in life as service to God. This means that
God must be first in our lives; only then we can experience real joy. Looking for happiness apart from God, our
Maker – in other words, ‘doing our own thing’ – is a dead end and will lead us
nowhere.
From here in the song of Zacharias, he talks
about his son, John, and the part he will play in the plan of God, preparing
the way of the Messiah. It’s an
important task to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus Christ. And John was certainly an unusual character
who did that.
Although Jesus has already come, He is planning
on coming again, and God has called us to prepare the way for that return. In this ancient song of Zacharias, God calls
us to prepare the way. We are to give
others the knowledge of salvation, to share the good news with other people, to
show others what forgiveness means.
The Westminster Catechism said that our chief
end was to glory God and to enjoy Him forever.
In order to do that we must mirror the likeness of Christ. Our chief purpose is to show others what God
in Jesus Christ has done for us. God has
shown us mercy, he has forgiven us our sins.
Because of this, we must do the same to others and show mercy, be
forgiving. We also must shine light
where there is darkness and be a guide for others to bring them into the path
of peace.
How do we find peace and lead others into the
path of peace? This week, I kept coming
back to the words of Ari Mahler who spoke at Pittsburgh’s Symphony Concert for
Tree of Life. Mr. Mahler, a Jew, was the
ER nurse on duty the night that the shooter was brought in. He spoke of why and how he was able to care
for him.
“…love is the only message I wish to instill in you. Love.
That’s why I did it. If my
actions meant anything love means everything.
Love is why we care for the stranger, as we care for one another, as we
care for ourselves. Love as an action is
more powerful than words, and love in the face of evil gives others hope. It demonstrates humanity. Love reaffirms why we’re all here. The meaning of life is to give meaning to
life, and love is the ultimate force that connects all living beings.
Love deeply.
Love blindly. Love
faithfully. Love unexpectedly. Love without question. Love with every breath. Love the stranger, love those that are
different, reaffirm love that has been lost, love yourself and equally love the
world. The more you love others, the
more love you will find within. I believe in you. I trust you.
I feel your heart beat as if it were my own. Care for my heart as if it were your own. Trust the heart, it’s the most beautiful
possession we share. I love you as if we
are one. Woven together to share the
beauty of passion, the kindness of empathy, and the virtue of
selflessness. Love so that even when the
world seems as dark as it did in Pittsburgh, love casts light. Love me as I love you. Love as if love is all that matters.”
Jesus came to this earth to fulfill the
promises of God, to bring salvation, to reveal the tender mercy of God, and
break forth as light into the darkness and guide our way into the way of peace.
Zacharias sang of this and the purpose
of his newborn son John to prepare the way of the Messiah in the days when
Jesus walked the earth.
And now God has called us to prepare the way,
to show the Messiah to those who have not heard or understood. The only way to do that is through love. May God guide your feet.
Amen.
1 comment:
Good words, Walt.
www.thepulpitandthepen.com
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