St Luke 1:5-25, 57-80
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Zechariah and Elizabeth were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statues of the Lord. Which is to say, they lived by faith before God the Father, trusting in His promises concerning the Messiah, the Coming One, as had their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses and Aaron before them. And they lived in love toward their neighbors, within the particular callings and vocations in which the Lord had placed them.
Yet it was before these very neighbors that they were seen as cursed by God, for they had no child. Barrenness was a particular sort of reproach. Life was a gift of God. A child was a blessing provided according to His mercy and bounty, bestowed upon His servants that they should be honored to raise and nourish the next generation according to the commandments and statues of the Lord, according to the Word of His promise.
In the end they were just ordinary people. Zechariah a priest from a family of priests. Elizabeth the daughter of a priest, who married within the priestly clan, as was custom. Pious Hebrews, practicing their faith, awaiting the promise of the Lord. In all these ways they are examples to you of faith and life. For you are called to live before God trusting in His promises of the One who has come, His Messiah, even Jesus Christ, and to live before your neighbor in love, according to the vocation to which He has called you. Just ordinary.
It is, however, the habit of our Lord to take the ordinary and use it to bring about the extraordinary. In the case of Zechariah, while he was serving in the Temple, according to the priestly custom, he entered at the hour of prayer and incense to offer what was required. He interceded on behalf of the people, praying for the forgiveness of sins of all Israel, for this was the priests’ duty and responsibility. And while he prayed, the angel Gabriel appeared to him, standing by the altar of incense.
I ask you, is this any different than when you enter the Lord’s House, here, as His royal priests, offering up your sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise, and He sends His αγγελοσ, His messengers, to speak His word of good news to you? For though hidden from our mortal eye, the Lord has indeed constituted the ministry of men and angels as one, that is, the ministry of His holy Gospel preached for the forgiveness of sins. And here, in the liturgy, you priests are accompanied by the angels and archangels and all the host of heaven in song of thanksgiving and praise, prayer and supplication, around the throne of the Lamb in the very presence of God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Now Gabriel announces that Zechariah and Elizabeth shall conceive and bear a son, according to the Lord’s mercy, and they shall name him John, which means, “The Lord has shown favor,” that is, He has remembered His holy covenant He promised to Abraham and our fathers. He shall sent His Holy One, the sole-begotten, Jesus Christ, His Son.
He who knits all life together in the womb, graciously gives the gift of a child to this aged couple who shall be called the prophet of the Most High and shall be the Forerunner of the Lord. Thus Zechariah and Elizabeth follow in the way of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Rachel, and Hannah. The Lord shall take the ordinary and do extraordinary things. He shall take what is weak and lowly in the world, that which is despised and rejected, and shall bring about His holy work and the inauguration of the Messiah.
Zechariah disbelieves, for the Jews, as St Paul says, demand signs. And so Gabriel provides one: the priest shall be mute until the birth of his son. For nine months he shall contemplate and meditate on the Word of the Lord and His promise, unable to declare this sign and wonder to his wife and neighbors. Moreover, when he exits the Temple and was to pronounce the Aaronic Benediction upon the people, he could not. He whose prayer confessed the sins of Israel could not speak the absolution upon them.
Are you also not tongue-tied in your doubt and misbelief, unable to speak the Word of promise to your family and neighbors? Do you not in silent fear you withhold the proclamation of the Lord from those around you? Do you demand signs and disbelieve the Word of the Lord in its ordinariness?
Fear not. For our Lord who had mercy on Elizabeth and took away her reproach, has had mercy on you. And the Voice of her child, he who was prophesied of old and in whom the Holy Spirit abided, calls to you even now. Turn your heart to your Father who is in heaven. That is, repent of your doubt and misbelief. Demand not the signs for your fleshly eyes, but behold the signs our Lord has provided in His mercy: Holy Baptism by which He bestows upon you His Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of your sins and brings your forth from the womb of the font, borne by your Mother the Church. His Holy Supper, the summation of His covenant with Abraham, the very New Testament in His Blood, by which He bestows His holiness and righteousness.
Thus as it was for Zechariah and David before him, the Lord opens your lips, He places His Word into your mouth, and you sing forth His praise. And chiefly that praise consists of giving glory to Him for His visitation and redemption of His people in the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. He is the Horn of Salvation, the One promised to our fathers who would deliver us from our enemies of sin, death, and the power of the devil.
And consider how Zechariah was struck mute for his disbelief, unable to speak the benediction upon the people. Now, in the loosing of his lips, he proclaims the excellencies of Him who called him out of darkness into His Light. The Greater One whom St John the Baptist proclaims is the One who comes in weakness and humility, in the ordinary manner of an infant and Child, save in an extraordinary way. He was assumed to be cursed of God and afflicted, lowly and despised. And yet He is the Most High who descended to the depths for you. The Father did not send an angel to rescue fallen humanity, but His only Son. He has raised you up in Him to be a people after His own heart, chosen and royal, living in faith toward God and in fervent love toward your neighbor, as Zechariah and Elizabeth demonstrated.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Zechariah and Elizabeth were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statues of the Lord. Which is to say, they lived by faith before God the Father, trusting in His promises concerning the Messiah, the Coming One, as had their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses and Aaron before them. And they lived in love toward their neighbors, within the particular callings and vocations in which the Lord had placed them.
Yet it was before these very neighbors that they were seen as cursed by God, for they had no child. Barrenness was a particular sort of reproach. Life was a gift of God. A child was a blessing provided according to His mercy and bounty, bestowed upon His servants that they should be honored to raise and nourish the next generation according to the commandments and statues of the Lord, according to the Word of His promise.
In the end they were just ordinary people. Zechariah a priest from a family of priests. Elizabeth the daughter of a priest, who married within the priestly clan, as was custom. Pious Hebrews, practicing their faith, awaiting the promise of the Lord. In all these ways they are examples to you of faith and life. For you are called to live before God trusting in His promises of the One who has come, His Messiah, even Jesus Christ, and to live before your neighbor in love, according to the vocation to which He has called you. Just ordinary.
It is, however, the habit of our Lord to take the ordinary and use it to bring about the extraordinary. In the case of Zechariah, while he was serving in the Temple, according to the priestly custom, he entered at the hour of prayer and incense to offer what was required. He interceded on behalf of the people, praying for the forgiveness of sins of all Israel, for this was the priests’ duty and responsibility. And while he prayed, the angel Gabriel appeared to him, standing by the altar of incense.
I ask you, is this any different than when you enter the Lord’s House, here, as His royal priests, offering up your sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise, and He sends His αγγελοσ, His messengers, to speak His word of good news to you? For though hidden from our mortal eye, the Lord has indeed constituted the ministry of men and angels as one, that is, the ministry of His holy Gospel preached for the forgiveness of sins. And here, in the liturgy, you priests are accompanied by the angels and archangels and all the host of heaven in song of thanksgiving and praise, prayer and supplication, around the throne of the Lamb in the very presence of God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Now Gabriel announces that Zechariah and Elizabeth shall conceive and bear a son, according to the Lord’s mercy, and they shall name him John, which means, “The Lord has shown favor,” that is, He has remembered His holy covenant He promised to Abraham and our fathers. He shall sent His Holy One, the sole-begotten, Jesus Christ, His Son.
He who knits all life together in the womb, graciously gives the gift of a child to this aged couple who shall be called the prophet of the Most High and shall be the Forerunner of the Lord. Thus Zechariah and Elizabeth follow in the way of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Rachel, and Hannah. The Lord shall take the ordinary and do extraordinary things. He shall take what is weak and lowly in the world, that which is despised and rejected, and shall bring about His holy work and the inauguration of the Messiah.
Zechariah disbelieves, for the Jews, as St Paul says, demand signs. And so Gabriel provides one: the priest shall be mute until the birth of his son. For nine months he shall contemplate and meditate on the Word of the Lord and His promise, unable to declare this sign and wonder to his wife and neighbors. Moreover, when he exits the Temple and was to pronounce the Aaronic Benediction upon the people, he could not. He whose prayer confessed the sins of Israel could not speak the absolution upon them.
Are you also not tongue-tied in your doubt and misbelief, unable to speak the Word of promise to your family and neighbors? Do you not in silent fear you withhold the proclamation of the Lord from those around you? Do you demand signs and disbelieve the Word of the Lord in its ordinariness?
Fear not. For our Lord who had mercy on Elizabeth and took away her reproach, has had mercy on you. And the Voice of her child, he who was prophesied of old and in whom the Holy Spirit abided, calls to you even now. Turn your heart to your Father who is in heaven. That is, repent of your doubt and misbelief. Demand not the signs for your fleshly eyes, but behold the signs our Lord has provided in His mercy: Holy Baptism by which He bestows upon you His Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of your sins and brings your forth from the womb of the font, borne by your Mother the Church. His Holy Supper, the summation of His covenant with Abraham, the very New Testament in His Blood, by which He bestows His holiness and righteousness.
Thus as it was for Zechariah and David before him, the Lord opens your lips, He places His Word into your mouth, and you sing forth His praise. And chiefly that praise consists of giving glory to Him for His visitation and redemption of His people in the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. He is the Horn of Salvation, the One promised to our fathers who would deliver us from our enemies of sin, death, and the power of the devil.
And consider how Zechariah was struck mute for his disbelief, unable to speak the benediction upon the people. Now, in the loosing of his lips, he proclaims the excellencies of Him who called him out of darkness into His Light. The Greater One whom St John the Baptist proclaims is the One who comes in weakness and humility, in the ordinary manner of an infant and Child, save in an extraordinary way. He was assumed to be cursed of God and afflicted, lowly and despised. And yet He is the Most High who descended to the depths for you. The Father did not send an angel to rescue fallen humanity, but His only Son. He has raised you up in Him to be a people after His own heart, chosen and royal, living in faith toward God and in fervent love toward your neighbor, as Zechariah and Elizabeth demonstrated.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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