Loving God, you continue to come into our world in unexpected ways, working through unlikely people, and calling all to return to you.  Help us to recognize you wherever you are found, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            It is likely that you have heard somewhere along the way what people say about assuming.  (And if you haven’t, you can ask me later.)  At any rate, most of us make assumptions all the time, some of which turn out to be reasonable, and some of which are quite obviously false.

         In the narrative that we have heard today surrounding the birth of John the Baptist, people are making assumptions all over the place.  Most of us would probably consider these assumptions to be entirely reasonable, and yet, God seems to take every common assumption and turns them upside down.

         First of all, we have Zechariah and Elizabeth who, we are told, “were getting on in years,” (Lk. 1:7) and yet they did not have any children.  They were assuming that all hope of ever having a child had long since passed them by.  And so, imagine their surprise when an angel appears to Zechariah in the Temple and announces that they are going to have a baby.

         Zechariah had most likely gone to the Temple that day expecting an ordinary day in the life of a priest.  He went in there to offer incense at the time of prayer, and his life is never the same again.  He receives a life-changing message from the angel Gabriel and emerges from the Temple unable to speak.  This seems to be the sign that God will do exactly as the angel announced to him.

         Of course, once Elizabeth gives birth, the friends and relatives who gather around for the child’s circumcision assume that the boy will be named Zechariah, just like his father.  However, both Zechariah and Elizabeth know that God has a different name in mind for the child.  The name Zechariah means “God remembers,” whereas the name John (or Johanan) means “God has been gracious.”  And as soon as Zechariah writes on the tablet, “His name is John,” he is able to speak again (Lk. 1:63-64).

         One more assumption, however: Zechariah is a member of a hereditary priesthood.  In other words, all of the priests were descendants of Aaron, the brother of Moses.  As such, Zechariah’s first-born son should also have been a priest.  All of his relatives would have expected it, and surely Zechariah would have expected it as well.

         However, God has a different calling in mind for this particular child.  John will not be a priest, but will be more like the prophet Elijah.  He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and his job will be to prepare God’s people for the coming of the Lord.  For Zechariah’s part, he is left with the task of letting go of his assumptions and pre-conceived notions about who his son might be.  Today we get to hear him beginning to do this in his prophetic utterance that both remembers God’s promises and looks ahead to the ministry of his son John.

         How many other parents are there who have expectations and assumptions about what their children will be like that just get blown out of the water somewhere along the way?... It isn’t always because God has called them to be and to do something different from our expectations, but sometimes it is.  And, in Zechariah’s case, it is the Holy Spirit who helps him to come to terms with what God has in mind for his son.  But what about all of those other assumptions?

         Surely there are times when we, too, have assumed that there is simply no hope.  There is no hope of having children or grandchildren.  There is no hope for the world in which we live.  There is no hope for the future of the church.  There is no hope of peace on earth.  There is no hope of recovery from illness.  There is no hope of reconciliation.  Yet, as the Scriptures show us over and over again, where God is involved, there is always hope.

         There are also those times when we assume that we know what other people are all about.  We can tell just by looking at them.  We just know that they will turn out to be just like their parents.  We believe that we can tell what other people are thinking.  In fact, sometimes we even believe that we know who God favours and who is on the outs.  However, once again we discover in the Scriptures that we tend to judge by appearances, but only God can tell what is in another person’s heart.

         Finally, there is the assumption that we know how God works – or at least we have our ideas about how we think God should work.  However, then we encounter people like John the Baptist.  One might have expected that maybe a priest in the Temple would have the job of preparing people for the Lord.  However, in the Temple only certain kinds of people would be welcome.  Instead, John is out in the wilderness near the Jordan River, where anybody can come – especially ordinary people like tax collectors and sinners and soldiers.  You might recall that the religious leaders also come, but they assume that they have no need to repent and have their sins forgiven.

         Were we to give a subtitle to this whole story of the birth of John, it might be this: Expect the Unexpected.  In fact, this same subtitle might be used to underline the birth of Jesus, who also defies all expectations in the humble nature of his birth.  It would be perfectly understandable for people to assume that the Creator of heaven and earth would never dare to be born as other humans are born.  However, once again, we would assume wrongly.  

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth (Jn. 1:14).

Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Advent 4 (NL 2)                                Luke 1:5-13 [14-25], 57-80

December 22, 2019

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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