The Singers of Luke:
‘Zechariah’
Advent 2014
The
three singers that we will remember over the next three weeks
sang
songs that are among the most popular in history.
Their
songs do not appear on any charts of the most played songs
or
in any anthologies of popular music.
But
in the huge spaces of mighty cathedrals,
in
the worship spaces of monasteries and convents,
in
congregations of all sizes and in the homes of the faithful,
these
songs have been sung each and every day
for
at least seventeen hundred years:
the
Benedictus or Song of Zechariah in
morning prayer;
the
Magnificat or Song of Mary in evening
prayer,
and
the Nunc Dimittis or Song of Simeon
in Prayer at the Close of the Day.
The
physician, gospel writer, and sometime music historian St. Luke
gives
us the lyrics of these songs,
and
tells us the stories we have of how they came to be.
All
three are songs of God’s mercy and favor upon his people,
songs
of God’s action for his people.
These
songs proclaim Messiah as God’s decisive act for his people,
the
One in whom God defeats his enemies
and
in whom he shows mercy and favor.
And
the songwriters are swept up in this story;
indeed,
they become part of the story.
One
an aged priest,
one
a young engaged woman,
and
one an old man
simply
waiting to see God’s salvation before he dies.
So
three singers, three songs,
and
yet One who is sung.
The
canticle for Morning Prayer is the Song of Zechariah.
Zechariah,
as we have just heard,
was
a priest of the division of Abijah.
There
were so many of the priestly line at that time
that
those who were to receive the honor
of
burning incense before God in the Temple
were
chosen by lot.
And
the lot fell to Zechariah,
holy
but childless Zechariah.
Only
God knew why it had not been granted
to
him and his equally faithful wife Elizabeth
not
to be able to bring children into the community of God’s people.
But
here he is in the temple,
perhaps
asking God as his fathers before him:
‘Let
my prayer rise before you as incense,
the
lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.’
He
is not praying at this time for a child for him and Elizabeth.
Those
days are long gone,
and
in any case, a priest does not pray for himself,
he
prays for the people.
The
people of God were waiting for God to set things right,
for
their forgiveness to be completed.
Who
knew why God had not raised up a mighty Savior
born
of the house of his servant David,
a
Messiah to save them from their enemies?
Why
he had not come to his people and set them free?
But
here Zechariah is in the Temple,
praying
to God,
perhaps
with the words learned from his childhood
at
the feet of a rabbi,
‘O
Lord, I call to you, come to me quickly,
hear
my voice when I cry to you.’
Not
for me,
but
for the people,
and
for me as I am part of the people.
‘Let
my prayer rise before you as incense,
the
lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.’
The
angel not only announces that Zechariah’s prayer is being heard and answered,
but
he announces that Zechariah and Elizabeth themselves
will
be part of God’s action;
that
the son Elizabeth will bear in her old age
will
come in the spirit and power of Elijah.
The
prophet Elijah, one of the most evocative figures in biblical history,
was,
according to the prophet Malachi,
to
be sent by God before the day of the Lord,
to
turn the hearts of the people to God,
to
prepare the way for the coming of God.
‘Your
prayer has been heard!’
It
is not Zechariah’s prayer for himself that has been heard,
but
the prayer of the people which he offers on their behalf as priest.
And
yet Zechariah can’t believe it.
I’d
like to think that it’s not really because he and Elizabeth are old.
For
certainly as an Israelite he knows the story of Abraham and Sarah,
how
Isaac, the child of promise, was conceived in their old age.
I’d
like to think it’s not because he doesn’t believe
that
God can’t accomplish the seemingly impossible.
Rather,
I’d like to think
that
it is because Zechariah can’t believe
that
he is to be involved;
even
though he is a priest,
even
though he has sought God’s will;
he
cannot be involved in something so big.
God
must mean someone else.
No,
says the angel Gabriel,
and
if you need a sign,
then
keep quiet for a while.
Until
the child is born and circumcised,
and
the name is asked for.
When
it is asked for,
Zechariah
gives him the name
which
the angel said he would bear.
He
is participating in God’s great work for his people.
He
is swept up in the story of God’s mercy and justice;
indeed,
he is part of the story.
And
when his tongue is loosed, he sings the story.
The
Lord is to be blessed,
because
he has come to his people and set them free.
The
sign of the child is good enough for Zechariah.
No
more questions,
God
does what he promises.
So
certain is Zechariah
that
he sings of what is to come
as
if it has all happened already.
God
has raised up a Messiah,
just
as the prophets promised he would.
He
comes to show mercy to the people
and
to remember the covenant with Abraham,
so
that Abraham’s children may worship without fear.
Zechariah
sings the story,
because
God has sung him into the story.
And
the little child,
a
boy just initiated into the covenant of God with Abraham,
bawling
and bloody from his circumcision,
named
with the name an angel gave him,
he
is part of the story too.
He
will be a prophet and more than a prophet,
the
one who will prepare the way of the Lord.
He
will announce the dawn from on high
which
will shine on those
in
the darkness of sin and death
and
guide them into the way of peace.
When
we sing this song,
the song of Zechariah,
we
proclaim that God is to be blessed.
This God who has come in Jesus the Messiah,
the
God who has acted in him
to
set us free from sin, death, and evil.
And
we might even dare to believe
that we are part of the story,
that
even while singing the story,
we
are sung by God into his story.
We
are not Elizabeth, Zechariah, or John,
but
who knows what messages we will receive
when
we are letting our prayers rise before God as incense,
asking
him to hear us?
