Text of Advent Week 2 Sermon

Pastor Barb

December 6, 2000

Were you ever uncertain about what God's will was for your life? Were

you ever at a fork in the road, where you had a choice to make and

wished for just a little more information? I see people with such

questions in my office regularly. Good, humble people. I'm sure most

of us have had such moments.

But the story of John the Baptist begins in just the opposite

fashion.

Before he was even conceived, God gave his mother and father Little

John's job description! "He will turn many of the people of Israel to

the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go

before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the

disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people

prepared for the Lord." Who could envision such a future for one's

child, let alone a couple who had been unable to conceive?

The confidence of Jewish mothers in their children is well known à

when

Mrs. Rosenthal was pushing her newborn twins in their stroller down Main

Street, she ran into Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Smith beamed down into the

stroller and exclaimed "My! And WHO are these two?" Mrs. Rosenthal

replied, "I'd like you to meet Herbert the doctor and Maury the lawyer."

It's good to believe in your children's abilities because it helps them

reach out to achieve more than they may believe for themselves. And if

there are many doctors, or musicians, or pastors in your family, it

might be easy to imagine your own child pursuing such professions. But

what if your child is called to do something no one in your family has

ever done before?

Perhaps your child's teacher sees gifts as your child grows, and tells

you, the parent, what he or she has noticed. Pretty soon, you begin to

acknowledge that that teacher is onto something, and you start to

recognize the very same abilities. But what if the One doing the

calling is a God you cannot see? And what if that God is saying your

child is gifted to turn hearts, and change lives, and even prepare a

whole people for his coming? It would take an exceptional parent or

parents, to grasp that, and they themselves would have to have

exceptional faith.

At the start of the first millennium, 2000 years ago, many Jews were

awaiting the Messiah. Some were religious professionals like Zechariah.

Some were wise men from the East who knew the Hebrew scriptures and

hoped they might be true. Some were ordinary inn keepers, going about

their business, preparing for a huge census-taking by Rome, that would

bring travelers to their inns. And some were quiet women of faith, like

Mary and her cousin Elizabeth; who humbly accepted that the power of God

just might be at work, in their lives and those of their children.

Please consider now the testimony of Elisabethà.

My name is Elisheba, though you know me as Elizabeth. I am of the

household of Aaron, the mouthpiece of Moses, the first priest among the

Hebrews. I bear the name of Aaron's wife, which means "God is an oath."

Truly, our God keeps the oaths that he makes.

My husband Zechariah is a priest, in the order of Abijah, who was a

priest in the days of King David. A priestly family; serving before the

Lord God is all that our clan has ever known.

And this little one (mime picking up a baby) cannot say his own name

yet, but this is my first-born, John, son of Zechariah. Who would have

thought a woman of my age could have born this child? But God is

faithful, and he did not forget me. (Put the baby down)

For many years, I had prayed for this child. Every Sabbath, when I lit

the oil lamps for the evening meal, I prayed God would fill our home

with the light of a child. And every time Zechariah returned from his

Temple service, I would hold his priestly garments close to me before I

washed them, knowing that they had been in the Holy of Holies, in the

very presence of God.

Just one year ago, Zechariah had been on such a service, and he had

drawn the lot to offer incense before the Lord. I was standing out in

the Court of the Women, offering my own prayers. We waited and waited

for him to appear. It took so long, some of his fellow priests told me

later that they thought he had died, and that they would have to pull

him back out of the Temple, by the long silken cord that a priest wears

æround his ankle when he enters the holy place.

But instead, my husband fairly flew out of the sanctuary, white as a

sheet and gesturing wildly, unable to speak. It dawned upon everyone

that Zechariah had been touched by the Lord, and everyone wanted to know

the meaning of such a visitation. There was much confusion in the

Temple courts. Some grew afraid and withdrew. Others began to praise

God, for such a sign had not been seen among our people in many years.

After Zechariah walked the 4 miles home from the Temple, he still had

not regained his voice. But, patiently, with hand motions and gestures,

he told me that an angel of the Lord had met him in the Temple and told

him that we, two barren old people, would have a son. And so it came to

pass, before I even had time to doubt. Like God had given Isaac to

Sarah in her old age, and Samuel had been given to Hannah, now the Lord

was giving John to me. I thought, if life got any more wonderful than

this, well then, the Messiah himself would be among us!

And just six months ago, my young cousin Mary walked into our house, and

the baby I was carrying leaped for joy within me! It was if he knew who

had come to visit. As if little John wanted to say, "Behold, the Lamb

of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" And before I knew it, I

was overpowered by the Holy Spirit and proclaiming Mary to be the mother

of the Messiah for the whole neighborhood to hear! And if that werenÆt

enough, Mary herself began to sing. It was a song of praise to God, for

what He had done for her, and our people. I never heard anything so

beautiful in my whole life. Even Zechariah stopped praying and came

down from the rooftop to hear it. "His mercy is for those who fear

him," she sang, "from generation to generation."

Mary is young enough to be my daughter, but here we were: two women

expecting our first babies. And what babies God had promised us! Mine

was to prepare the people for the Lord. And Mary's baby WAS the Lord.

Three months of visiting with Mary flew by. Before I knew it, she had

gone home, beginning her journey before she was too heavy to travel.

And I gave birth to John

Believe me, there was plenty of help! For years, my women neighbors had

watched me out of the corners of their eyes. Oh, they couldn't

criticize the wife of a priest, and a member of Aaron's line. But

neither could they share my grief, for they had children of their own.

Our people believe that something couldn't be quite right, if God had

not favored me with any children. And why should they pay more than

polite courtesy to me? Without John, our line was through; our name

vanishing from the earth. God's purpose was fulfilled by the living,

not the dead. Salvation might come from any corner, but surely not from

Elizabeth.

So when my time of confinement came, every woman in the village crowded

our house, putting Zechariah outside, so that they might find a little

more room, to see what or who might come forth.

Eight days later, his father and I presented John at the Temple, for

circumcising and naming. Now it is our custom to give our children the

names of our deceased relatives. That way, we can outsmart the Angel of

Death. For when the Angel of Death has been given a name, say of

Daniel, he will look over the land and say, "No, I already have Daniel,"

and move on to other names. It was assumed we would call our only son

after his father Zechariah.

But the angel Gabriel had insisted that Zechariah name him John. And

after having been struck speechless for 9 whole months, Zechariah had

had a long time to think about all that Gabriel had said. We were

taking no chances. I said, "He is to be called John." And when the

Temple priests wouldn't believe me, they gave Zechariah a writing tablet

and he wrote, "His name is John."

The very second he wrote those words, Zechariah's tongue was freed, and

he began to speak, praising God. And if that weren't enough, the Holy

Spirit came upon Zechariah as it had come upon me 3 months earlier, and

he began to sing a song of prophecy about our son. He sang, "And you,

child, will be called prophet of the most High; for you will go before

the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of his salvation to his

people by the forgiveness of their sins."

(Pick up baby and talk to him) "Isn't that right, John? You're going

to tell people that the Lord is near? And they'll be happy about that,

just as we are now." And the people of Judea became afraid, for the

power of the Lord was undeniably present. And all those neighbors who

used to whisper about me, began to tell of Zechariah's miracle, of his

incredible prophecy, and of the child that came forth from old Elizabeth.

--

Rev. Barbara A. Kenley

First Presbyterian Church

Richmond, IN 47374