Presbyterian Church of Easton
Sermon – Luke 1:68-79 Zechariah’s Song
December 5, 2021
I once heard a testimony given by a Navy chaplain speaking at Fuller Seminary. In her ministry she had made a practice of just walking around the ship asking sailors how they were doing. One day a sailor came to see her. She had noticed him walking around the ship and thought, maybe, she could help. The first thing he told her was that he was an atheist. In their conservation this atheist talked about his desire to kill himself. As an athesist, suicide seemed the only possible way to deal with his trouble. The chaplain prayed with him and told him that God loved him, wanted to bless him, and would be with him. This helped the sailor tremendously. And he told the chaplain that she could pray for him whenever she wanted.
The atheist had a hard time believing in a transcendent God. He just couldn’t buy the idea of a God in heaven sitting on a throne in charge of the world. How could this be, given that the world seems to be so out of control? But he could believe in God who was with him, loves him and could be counted on to save him when trouble seems insurmountable.
This is the God, an immanent God, whom we worship at Christians. We believe in a God who left heaven and came to earth to be with us and love us. God once lived in a garden with Adam and Eve, and he came back to earth to be with us with the birth of Jesus, whom the prophets called Emmanuel, God with us. The heart of our faith is our experience of God in the world around us and in our lives. This experience is confirmed by our reading of scripture. And that's why we enjoy Advent and Christmas so much. This is a time when we celebrate and worship a God who is with us.
When I pastored the church in Ocean City, I used to experience God in the sunrise over the ocean. It is a beautiful sight when the sun peers over the boundary between sky and sea. At that moment, when the day ahead is filled with possibilities, God seems to me to be very near.
Another person who experienced God in the sunrise was a country priest named Zechariah. He sang about this, God with us, in a song he wrote to celebrate his son's birth. We will get to this song, but first let's pray.
“Merciful God, you sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation. Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.” (BCW p. 174.)
When John the Baptist was just eight days old his parents, Elizabeth and Zechariah, took him to be circumcised. During this ceremony Zechariah began to sing a song. Here is the beginning of the song he sang.
Luke 1:67 Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:
68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a mighty savior for us
in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
72 Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and has remembered his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us 74 that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days.
Zechariah was singing about the covenant between God and Abraham which was symbolically recognized in the circumcision of his son. Let's listen to the terms of this covenant from Genesis chapter 17.
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.”
9 God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
So, the covenant was between God and Abraham and included all of Abraham's descendants. God promised Abraham descendants numerous enough to form a nation, in fact many nations. He promised them land to farm. And he promised to be their God. Abraham and his descendants promised to be obedient to God's law. Circumcision was required of all of Abraham's male descendants as a sign and seal of this covenant.
On the occasion of his own son's circumcision, Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and he praised God for the fulfillment of this covenant. God was faithful. He did provide to Abraham descendants numerous enough to form nations. He did provide land for them to farm. But the people had come up short in their obligations under the contract. They were to faithfully obey God's commandments, but they didn't.
Zechariah was overjoyed because he was the first to know the good news. God had decided, in his mercy, to forgive this disobedience. All that was required was repentance. If we now turn to God and live lives of obedience our past disobedience will be forgiven and we will have fulfilled our end of the covenant. And Zechariah was overjoyed that his own son would make this proclamation. John would be the prophet sent by God to proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sin. Let's return to Zechariah's song and listen as he sings about his newly born son.
Luke 1:76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
78 By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
John the Baptist will proclaim the good news of salvation through the forgiveness of sin. And he will proclaim that a savior is coming. God himself will be with us to forgive us. Zechariah described this experience of God with us, as a rising sun shining on a people living in darkness.
This is good news for us. We have been adopted into Abraham's family. The promises of God’s blessings are offered to us through repentance, leading to the forgiveness of sin. If we do this, God will do something amazing. He will be our God. He will be with us, Emmanuel.
Circumcision was the sign and seal of the original covenant. The sign and seal of the covenant offered to us is the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. As we gather around this table we experience God with us in the bread and juice. As we commune together we are the sign to the world that God is with us. As we eat this bread and drink from this cup the promise of forgiveness is sealed upon us. And so just as we experience the presence of God with us in a beautiful sunrise on the beach, so too do we experience Emmanuel, God with us, here in the sacrament of communion. Let's pray.
“God of our salvation, you straighten the winding ways of our hearts and smooth the paths made rough by sin. Keep our conduct blameless, keep our hearts watchful in holiness, and bring to perfection the good you have begun in us. We ask this through him whose coming is certain, whose day draws near; your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Worship p.174)
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