Christmas Babies: John, the Baptist

Christmas Babies: John, the Baptist // Luke 1:5-20, 62-66

⁵In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶Both= of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. ⁷But they had no children, because = Elizabeth was barr= en; and they were both well along in years.

⁸Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before G= od, ⁹he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.=

¹¹Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the alt= ar of incense. ¹²When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. ¹⁴He will be a= joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ^{15for
he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other
fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth=
. ¹⁶Many
of the people of Isr=
ael
will he bring back to the Lord their God. ¹⁷And he will go on be=
fore
the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fath=
ers
to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—=
to
make ready a people prepared for the Lord."}

¹⁸Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wi= fe is well along in years." ¹⁹The angel answered, "= I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to y= ou and to tell you this good news. ²⁰And now you will be silent and= not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my wo= rds, which will come true at their proper time."

⁶²Then they made signs to his father, to fi= nd out what he would like to name the child. ⁶³He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name is John.&qu= ot; ⁶⁴Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, prai= sing God. ⁶⁵The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. ⁶⁶Everyone who heard this wondered about= it, asking, "What then is this child going to be?"

What is this c= hild going to be? Most parents= have asked this question while holding their newborn child. We have so many hopes and dreams f= or our children. They don’t al= ways work out, of course. Sometimes “What will this child be?” digresses over time into “Plea= se, child, be something!” B= ut when they’re little, our hopes are high! We expect great things!

Now, Christmas, as we know, is all about babies. The birth of Jesus, yes; but somet= imes we forget that Jesus is not the only baby mentioned. Matthew, for example, tells of how Herod’s rage was taken out on all the boy babies living = in and around Bethlehem. Not all the baby stories are happy= ones, not even in the Christmas story.

Then there is our text for today. Before Luke tells us about the baby Jesus, he describes the events surrounding the birth of another baby, inclu= ding a controversy over his name. Elizabeth, the baby’s mother, said his name would be “John.”

All the relatives and friends gathered for the official naming ceremony, however, said the child should be called “Zechariah,” just like his father. Some of you have been through this= kind of thing, haven’t you?

But when = Elizabeth refused to budge on the issue, they took their concerns to Zechariah himsel= f, thinking he would surely see it their way.= Well, Zechariah motioned for a tablet and pen. He had to, remember. He hadn’t been able to utter= a sound since the angel Gabriel told him that he and Elizabeth would be havin= g a son.

It wasn’t that he was shocked speechless—although that would be understandable too. The problem was that Zechariah had= been rendered unable to speak because he doubted that God would actually bless h= im and Elizabeth with a child in their old age. He had given up on that dream a lo= ng time ago—no way it was going to happen now!

They brought the pen and tablet to Zechariah, fully expecting him to reverse Eliza= beth’s decision. Instead, he wrote, “His name is JOHN.” And the Bible says, “They all marveled.”

Then, they all marveled again because this old man who= had not said a word in months suddenly began speaking. This is when the cousins and neigh= bors began asking, “What is this child going to be?”

Now, it’s normal for parents and grandparents to= feel this way about a newborn, but when the cousins and neighbors are saying it too—well…you figure there must be something to it! Everyone agreed: this child would = be somebody extraordinary!

Would that every child was welcomed into the world this way—that every child received the message from his family first, and = then the whole community, “you’re wanted, you’re loved, and yo= ur arrival into our lives brings us joy! We’re all expecting great things from you!” Many children would become somethi= ng extraordinary if given this kind of welcome, don’t you think?

For Zechariah and Elizabeth’s boy, even his name expressed his parent’s joy and gratitude over his arrival. You see, the name “John” means “Gift of God.”

At first, Zechariah had doubted God; and, because of t= his, he was rendered speechless. B= ut now, a somewhat older and much wiser man embraces his baby boy as a gift fr= om God--and just listen to what he has to say now. In Luke 1:68-69, Zechariah speaks:=

"Praise = be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.”

Now, lots of us have been proud papas—but I doub= t that any of us have ever said something like this! What does Zechariah mean?

Well, he’s letting everybody know that he now understands that God is up to something.&n= bsp; He thinks it only has to do with his own people. He does not yet grasp that what Go= d is doing is for all people—Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free!

That was just too much for Zechariah to comprehend in = that moment—just as the thought of having a baby had been too overwhelming earlier; but now he is taking all this in as fast as he can. God is full of surprises—won= derful surprises—but old Zechariah lived among people who had just about forgotten how surprising God can be!

If you think about it, Zechariah was a pretty good exa= mple of his community of faith. Doubting, bored, tired, in desperate need of something new! The birth of John was God’s = sign to Zechariah and to anyone else paying attention that God was doing a greatly-needed new thing in His world.

Zechariah couldn’t understand it all, but he did= get this right: God was raising up a “horn of salvation.” Now, that’s not a term we us= e, but I think it will make sense once I explain it. Some animals have “horns,= 221; and for them, so much of their strength is transferred through that horn.

You’ve seen pictures of the “running of the bulls” in Pamplona, Spain. When someone is gored by one of th= ose bulls, it becomes obvious how powerful those bulls are—as well as how dumb the people who try to run with them are! So this directs us toward what “horn of salvation” means.&nbs= p; It’s all about power!

God was sending His Son into the world; and in Him, Je= sus Christ, all the power of God to save His people was being focused. The Messiah was coming, and He wou= ld be God’s “horn of salvation” sent from heaven to redeem the world.

Let’s go a bit further into the story. As Zechariah continues speaking, he tells us something about the future ministry of his boy, John. Listen (v. 76-78a):

“And yo= u, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before= the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvat= ion through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God…”

What a touching scene. Zechariah is praising God for his child as he also speaks to the boy= in such lofty ways about what he’s going to be: “a prophet of the = Most High,” going “before the Lord to prepare the way for him,”= ; to speak of ‘the forgiveness of sins’ and ‘the tender mercie= s of God.’

Now, we don’t have to go far into the Gospels to= find that this is exactly what John did. Jesus, in fact, would later call John ‘the greatest prophet of all.’ John came to pave= the way for Jesus, to prepare the hearts of the people to hear the message of salvation, to be open to what God wanted to do in their lives.

Have you ever thought about the fact that in doing thi= s, John sets an example for us—that what John did back then is our missi= on today!?! As followers of Chri= st, we are called to prepare the Lord’s way—first, into our own lives,= and then into the lives of others who do not know Him, who have never received = Him as Savior. We are to be prepa= rers of our Lord’s way into their lives too.

How do we do this?&nb= sp; Well, Zechariah said that his son John would “give his people = the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God…” That’s it. We simply let people who are burde= ned with sin know that there is a merciful God who forgives our sin.

Of course, many people don’t even know what those terms mean today—sin and salvation.&= nbsp; But listen--that was true in John’s day too. Lots of folks thought of salvation= only in political terms—just kick out the Romans and put the Jews back in charge. They were looking for= a political savior.

Got news for you, friends—we still do that! Including a lot of folks who claim= Jesus as Savior—examine their lives and their words, and it seems like they’re still looking to politics to save them. And if not that dead-end street, t= hen it’s economists they put their hopes in. Or their travel agents or personal trainers or--you name it—anyone who promises to deliver them from lif= e as it is now!

John just let people know that the problem wasn’t “out there” somewhere—the problem’s “in here.” It’s in my= heart and yours. Jesus came to deli= ver us from the enemy within. John c= ame first, though, to prepare His way—to lay a foundation in people’= ;s hearts so that Jesus could then complete the job.

So John announced God’s forgiveness of sins for = those who repent. They called him “The Baptist” because those who responded to his message were dipped beneath the water to remind them of how God had washed their sins aw= ay.

This hasn’t changed. It’s still the way we make r= oom for Christ—confessing our sins, embracing the better way our Lord sho= ws us, being baptized as believers. Then living our lives before others in such a way that when we have = the privilege of sharing the Gospel of Christ with them, they’ll find wha= t we say believable—because they see the difference Jesus Christ makes in = us.

So, John the Baptist’s work is also ours. We share the good news of God̵= 7;s forgiving love. We live the g= ood news by serving and forgiving others and finding ways to reconcile those who are estranged, whether from God, from each other, or both. It’s what we’re here f= or, friends—to prepare the Lord’s way.

Well, before old Zechariah finished speaking that day,= he looked forward to that other Christmas baby. He spoke of the One for whom the s= eason is named. Just listen to how = he describes Jesus, the soon-to-be-born Savior (vv. 78b-79):

“the ri= sing sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."=

We began our service today by lighting the Peace Candl= e on this beautiful Advent Wreath. When Zechariah speaks of Jesus Christ, he uses the language of light and peace: ‘light for those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, light= to guide our feet along the path until we find peace.’

This is what we all yearn for friends: peace! Whether or not we know what to cal= l it, peace is what we need. Zechar= iah was pointing us to the Savior, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace—the = only source of true and lasting peace—for our lives, our families, our communities, and our world. <= /p>

We sang about it earlier: peace--yes, even here in thi= s dark and war-torn world that Henry Longfellow describes as a place where “= hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.” President Obama’s message la= st Tuesday evening was yet another reminder of this sad fact of life.

But peace is possible—yes, even in a world like this. And as Christmas approa= ches, we are called upon to be still enough, for long enough, to remember that “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep.” John announced it, and Jesus will = make sure it ultimately comes true…that “the wrong shall fail and the right prevail with peace on earth, good will to men.”

Good news, friends.&n= bsp; Old Zechariah was right on! Christ came “to guide our feet into the path of peace:” peace with God, within ourselves, and with one another. Do you know His peace today? And if you do, are you an instrume= nt of His peace today?