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How Can I Be Sure? - Rev. Ney - December 02 2007
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December 2, 2007 “How Can I Be Sure?” Rev. Vicky Ney
Text: Luke 1:5-25
There’s story that comes from rural Kansas, where there had been a year-long drought. All the crops were dying. In desperation, the local pastor of the Baptist church, the only church in town, announced that the whole community would assemble at the edge of one of the fields and pray for rain. A large crowd gathered and the pastor climbed on a tractor and looked out over the people. He shouted, “Brothers and sisters! We have come here to pray for rain!” The crowd responded, “Amen, pastor! The pastor asked, “Do you have enough faith?” The crowd shouted back, “Amen! Amen! We have faith!”
“All right, all right,” said the minister, “but I have one question to ask you!” The crowd stood silently, puzzled and expectant.
“Brothers and sisters!” shouted the minister, “Where are your umbrellas?”
Praying—saying we believe—and showing up without our umbrellas—I think that may describe many of us. I think that certainly describes Zechariah in our scripture passage today.
The lesson today is the beginning of Luke’s gospel. Sometimes we forget that the Gospel doesn’t start with Mary getting visited by the angel Gabriel. It starts about six months before that.
Luke is a wonderful writer—very skilled. He draws us into the story world of the Gospel. First, he sets the story in historical context—“in the days of King Herod”—because he wants us to know this is a true story—not a fantasy tale in some magical time. The reason Luke doesn’t begin immediately with Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus is that he wants to let us know that there was a whole lot more to the story than a baby being born. There was more planning involved! This is an authoritative prediction. This is fulfillment of ancient prophecies. Everything that happens is all part of God’s foreordained, redemptive plan for humanity.
Luke begins Jesus’ story with an obscure old priest. Zechariah is an elderly man—a man of faith, a priest, performing an important religious ritual. Our passage describes him and his wife Elizabeth as very religious people—righteous people. I have to tell you that the Bible doesn’t use the word righteous for many folks—it doesn’t use that term lightly. Zechariah and Elizabeth served God continually. They were extraordinary in their faith in God.
But there was a huge problem in their life—a prayer of theirs that never seemed to get an answer. They had no children. Even in our society today, a couple hoping to have children will tell you that it can be something that consumes your entire life. In Bible times, even more so. The bearing of children was considered a great blessing. It was essential for carrying on the family name, perpetuating God’s covenant with Israel, and providing oneself with care in one’s old age (there was no medical insurance or Medicare!.). Being childless wasn’t just a disappointment or inconvenience; it was regarded as a tragedy, a disgrace, and even a sign of God’s punishment.
This is how we get to know about the life of Zechariah and Elizabeth. They have prayed for a child for years, but it seems like hope has run out—they are both getting old.
The scene is set. We’ve been given the necessary background on the main characters and now we come to the important action. Zechariah is chosen for the great honor to be the one who offers a sacrifice for the entire people of Israel. Zachariah goes into the holy area of the temple. The people were all waiting and praying outside the temple while he did this. By the way, what Luke describes is really what happened with such a sacrifice. Ancient Jewish writings speak about this exactly the way Luke portrays it. Luke wasn’t writing fiction.
In fact, Luke describes the exact place the angel stands in the room—“there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.” (v 11). What a surprise for Zachariah! He expected to go into an empty chamber. He expected to clear away some of the ashes on the altar and pour the incense on the coals, wait for the steam—the aroma—to rise, and then lay face-down on the floor and pray for a few moments. Instead, there was an angel staring at him from the right side of the altar! We’re lucky Zachariah didn’t have a stroke!
The angel says, “Fear not. Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will have a son and you will call his name John.” Wait a minute! I thought Zechariah was supposed to be praying for the restoration of Israel—you know, get the Romans out, get a king back in, unite the tribes, pray for a messiah. It sounds as though Zechariah was slipping in his own personal request for a child! Or maybe the two prayers are connected. PerhapsGod will answer both prayers at once. The important part here is that God heard that prayer. A child is coming!
The angel had patiently explained that this long-awaited child would not be an ordinary child. John would grow up to be greater than the prophet Elijah.
You have to remember, there had been no prophets speaking a word from God in four hundred years. The last one was Malachi (the last book of the Old Testament—and that was written four hundreds years before this time.) John would bring the word from God to the people. More importantly, he would be telling the people of the coming of God’s kingdom. That the Messiah was coming—soon! What a fabulous message to bring from God! The Redeemer was on the way!
Put yourself in Zechariah’s place. Wouldn’t you think Zechariah would have been overjoyed? You might have expected him to whoop and holler and start passing out cigars. But, no. You see, Zechariah had waited so long that by now he had given up. He was still in the habit of asking, but he no longer expected an answer. He had absolutely given up. And the first thing that pops into his mind is that this is impossible. “Hey, Mr. Angel, don’t you know that Elizabeth and I are old now? We’re past all that. My wife having a baby? That’s impossible. How can I be sure that what you’re saying is true?”
When I first read this, I had to laugh. Don’t we sometimes say to God, “Lord, send me a sign—send an angel or something.” Well, God DID send an angel to Zechariah and he still didn’t believe! What does it take to be sure?
In Zechariah’s case, he was mute for the next 9 or 10 months. It seems as though God sometimes needs to say, “Just be quiet and listen.” We need to step bsack and see what God can do. We need to stop and remember that God gives hope when there seems to be no way out.
Does anything seem hopeless to you today? Are you up against an impossible situation in a relationship? Are you faced with an impossible situation at work? Are you troubled by an impossible situation financially? Are you burdened by an impossible situation with your family?
You know what? There is good news here: God specializes in hopeless cases. He’s the expert at taking impossible situations and turning them into wonderful possibilities. He takes what looks like a dead end, and creates a new direction.
It’s good to remember that God’s character doesn’t change. The same God who brought a child to a hopeless elderly couple is still God today. And he still specializes in making the impossible possible. Your prayer has been heard! God wants to breathe hope into the stale air of the seemingly impossible situations in your life. God wants to break through the fogginess of life so that you can see his light.
On July 4, 1952, a young woman named Florence Chadwick waded into the water off Catalina Island. She intended to swim the channel from the island to the California coast. Long-distance swimming was not new to her. She had been the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. The water was numbingly cold that day. The fog was so thick she could hardly see the boats in her party. She swam more than 15 hours before she asked to be taken out of the water. You have to remember that there were no cell phones, no GPS to track their position in the water and find out exactly where they were. Her trainer tried to encourage her to swim on since he figured they were close to land. But when Florence looked, all she saw was fog. So she quit. As it turned out, she was less than one mile from her goal. Later she said, “I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen the land I might have made it.” It’ wasn’t the cold or fear or exhaustion that caused Florence Chadwick to fail. It was the fog.
Can you see through the fog? Can you see God through the busyness, the traffic, food shopping, meetings to attend, doctor’s appointments, running to the store, buying gifts, sending cards. The fog gets pretty thick at times. Like Florence, just because we’re close to shore doesn’t mean we can see it. Just because we live next to something for a lifetime, doesn’t mean we don’t need to focus on it. Zechariah served in God’s house constantly, but he couldn’t see or hear God when God practically smacked him in the face! A person can be all that goodness calls him or her to be—honest, moral, even religious—and still never see the Author of life. How can we be sure? How can we see God?
We see God in the person of Jesus Christ. God came near and showed us who he is in Jesus. Has it been awhile since you’ve seen Jesus? If your prayers seem stale, it probably has. If your faith seems shaky, perhaps your vision of him has blurred. If you don’t think you have enough power to face your problems, perhaps it is time to face Jesus.
Our Savior left the glories of heaven to come to us. He went from commanding angels to sleeping in the straw. He spoke with authority but loved everyone with childlike humility. The hand that made the universe took the nail of a soldier. We can’t see Jesus through the pomp of religion or the fog of theology. We need to feel his love in the deepest part of our hearts—to see his majesty at the manger and at the cross.
My prayer for us this Advent is that we will see Jesus and be sure of God’s immeasurable love for us. That Christ will emerge from the pages of scripture, that he will stop being some shadowy figure walking out of a fog to become the touchable face of a best friend. That we will bow before his nail scarred feet and be able to proclaim, “My Lord and my God.”
Max Lucado, God Came Near, W Publishing Group |
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