Wednesday Huddle – December 4, 2024 – Luke 1:68-79

Wednesday Huddle / By

 

 

 

OPENING COMMENTS

 

  • The text for review and discussion comes from Luke 1:68-79 … and it features the song of Zechariah.
  • It offers ideas about the importance of taking a pause to reflect on where we are, where we’ve been, and where God has promised to take us before we share with others the blessings of Jesus.

 

PRETEXT …

  • Preface (:1-4)
  • Birth Announcement of John the Baptist (:5-25)
  • Birth Announcement of Jesus the Messiah (:26-38) 
  • Mary and Elizabeth (:39-45) 
  • Mary’s Hymn of Praise (:46-56)
  • The Birth of John the Baptizer (Luke 1:57-66) 

 

 

Luke 1:68-79  NKJV   Luke 1:68-79 NRSVue Luke 1:68-79  NET
68 “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people,
69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of His servant David,
70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets,
Who have been since the world began,
71 That we should be saved from our enemies
And from the hand of all who hate us,
72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers
And to remember His holy covenant,
73 The oath which He swore to our father Abraham:
74 To grant us that we,
Being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.  76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
77 To give knowledge of salvation to His people
By the remission of their sins,
78 Through the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;
79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
 for he has looked favorably on[a] his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a mighty savior[b] for us
    in the house of his child 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
    in his presence all our days.  

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 his people knowledge of salvation
    by the forgiveness of their sins.
78 Because of the tender mercy of our God,
    the dawn from on high will break[c] upon[d] us,
79 to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    to guide our feet into the way of peace.”  

 68 “Blessed[a] be the Lord God of Israel,
because he has come to help[b] and has redeemed[c] his people.
69 For[d] he has raised up[e] a horn of salvation[f] for us in the house of his servant David,[g]
70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago,[h]
71 that we should be saved[i] from our enemies,[j]
and from the hand of all who hate us.
72 He has done this[k] to show mercy[l] to our ancestors,[m]
and to remember his holy covenant[n]—
73 the oath[o] that he swore to our ancestor[p] Abraham.
This oath grants[q]
74 that we, being rescued from the hand of our[r] enemies,
may serve him without fear,[s]
75 in holiness and righteousness[t] before him for as long as we live.[u]  76 And you, child,[v] will be called the prophet[w] of the Most High.[x]
For you will go before[y] the Lord to prepare his ways,[z]
77 to give his people knowledge of salvation[aa] through the forgiveness[ab] of their sins.
78 Because of[ac] our God’s tender mercy[ad]
the dawn[ae] will break[af] upon us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,[ag]
to guide our feet into the way[ah] of peace.”   

 

 

Zacharias had a great vision for his son.  He thought of him as the prophet and the forerunner who would prepare the way of the Lord.  All devout Jews hoped and longed for the day when the Messiah, God’s anointed king, would come.  Most of them believed that, before he came, a forerunner would announce his coming and prepare his way.  The usual belief was that Elijah would return to do so (Mal.4:5).  Zacharias saw in his son the one who would prepare the way for the coming of God’s king.  

Lk.1:75-77 give a great picture of the steps of the Christian way.  

(i) There is preparation.  All life is a preparation to lead us to Christ.  When Sir Walter Scott was young his aim was to be a soldier.  An accident made him slightly lame and that dream had to be abandoned.  He took to reading the old Scottish histories and romances and so became the master novelist.  An old man said of him, “He was makin’ himself a’ the time; but he didna ken maybe what he was about till years had passed.”  In life God is working all things together to bring us to Christ.  

(ii) There is knowledge.  It is the simple fact that men did not know what God was like until Jesus came.  The Greeks thought of a passionless God, beyond all joy and sorrow, looking on men in calm unmoved detachment — no help there.  The Jews thought of a demanding God, whose name was law and whose function was that of judge — nothing but terror there.  Jesus came to tell that God was love, and in staggered amazement men could only say, “We never knew that God was like that.”  One of the great functions of the incarnation was to bring to men the knowledge of God.  

(iii) There is forgiveness.  We must be clear about one thing regarding forgiveness.  It is not so much the remission of penalty as the restoration of a relationship.  Nothing can deliver us from certain consequences of our sins; the clock cannot be put back; but estrangement from God is turned to friendship.  The distant God has become near and the God we feared has become the lover of the souls of men.  

(iv) There is walking in the ways of peace.  Peace in Hebrew does not mean merely freedom from trouble; it means all that makes for a man’s highest good; and through Christ, a man is enabled to walk in the ways that lead to everything that means life, and no longer to all that means death.  

 

 

 

 

Lectionary Notes

 

 

The Pause Before

Luke 1:68-79 NRSVUE

As we near the end of the calendar year, we start seeing articles and programs that feature “the year in review.”  These are sometimes called retrospectives, and they often highlight what the creators might decide are the best or the worst moments in television, movies, pop culture, or any other category you might think of.

I don’t know about you, but I find myself clicking on web articles with titles like “10 Best Movies of 2024,” not because I necessarily agree with the list but because I like to look back and reflect on the choices made by this content creator.  Sometimes I agree, and sometimes I disagree, but either way, these retrospectives help me to make connections that I might not have considered before.

The wisdom of taking a pause to create space for something new to emerge is well-known.  In some twelve step programs, the acronym PAUSE can mean “Perhaps An Unexpected Solution Exists.”  The old saying, “hindsight is 20/20,” also highlights the fact that past experiences inform our present awareness.  Reflecting on the past, when done so in a positive manner, can be a helpful exercise.  We can witness this when we read scriptures that remind us of God’s faithfulness in the past or when we think about the ways God has shown up in our lives personally.  Noticing God’s presence in our lives in the past can help us pay closer attention for God at work in our present circumstances.

Our sermon text for this Second Sunday in Advent shows the priest Zechariah, John the Baptist’s dad, taking a pause to reflect on his newborn son, God’s covenant with Israel, and the promised Messiah.  To set the stage for our sermon reading, Zechariah had been unable to speak for months because he doubted the angel Gabriel’s message about the unlikely conception and birth of John.  Our sermon passage takes place eight days after John’s birth at his circumcision when John’s mother Elizabeth announces that the baby’s name would be John, based on the angel’s message.  To confirm the baby’s name, Zechariah wrote on a tablet, “His name is John,” and his ability to speak returned.  Let’s read Zechariah’s song in Luke 1:68-79.

Summary and context of Luke 1:68-79

The sermon passage is called the Song of Zechariah or “the Benedictus” based on the first word of the song’s Latin translation.  Some scholars suggest that with the exception of v.70, verses 68-74 (Lk.1:68-74) seem to be taken from old messianic psalms, the song of Hannah (Samuel’s mother) found in 1 Samuel 2:1-10, and a well-known daily Jewish blessing.

The first section, verses 68-75 (Lk.1:68-75), highlights a number of Old Testament prophecies, notes their fulfillment in a Messiah, and points out that Zechariah’s son, John, would be a prophet who prepared the way for that Messiah.  These verses are similarly worded to certain praise psalms (i.e., Psalms 34, 67, 103, and 113) as well as psalms reminding readers that Israel’s Savior would come from the lineage of David (Psalm 132:17).  Scholars and authors Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan write that the Gospel writers’ usage of bits of Old Testament passages makes sense when we consider that “the language of the Old Testament was very familiar because it was their Bible.  Its phrases were their natural language of thanksgiving and praise, and the use of these phrases in these hymns underlines Luke’s conviction that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets” (The First Christmas).

The second section, verses 76-79 (Lk.1:76-79), might be an addendum to a hymn that was sung by John’s followers, and Zechariah makes plain John’s role as a prophet who would prepare people for the Messiah.  The contrasting symbolism of darkness/light is similar to what is found in the Gospel of John, and the Savior is symbolized by “the dawn from on high” (v. 78).  The noun translated “dawn” is anatole which comes from a verb referring to the beginning of the Messianic period.  Anatole can mean “to shine/shimmer” as well as “to bring out/ sprout/ germinate,” according to assistant professor of homiletics and worship Lis Valle-Ruiz.  Ruiz says the following:

I imagine the verse [78] stating that the dawn from on high, that is, the Messiah / the light / the seed of God, will break upon us or sprout through the tender mercy of our God … through the inner parts of God, that is, the seat of God’s compassion, the Messiah as the seed/light sprouts/shines upon us.  

When evaluating Luke’s literary decision to put this story after Mary’s interaction with Gabriel and her song the Magnificat, some commentators see Zechariah’s song as a “pause” or even an interruption in Luke’s narrative leading up to the Christmas Nativity story in chapter 2.  Zechariah’s song isn’t all babe-in-the-manger with a side of fuzzy and warm “Silent Night.”  Instead, Zechariah looks to the past, the present, and the future, and he isn’t afraid to talk about the hard stuff, like living in fear of death under enemy oppression and being in need of rescue (v. 71, 74, 79).

These were present day realities for Zechariah.  Author Kelley Nikondha writes in her book, The First Advent in Palestine: Reversals, Resistance, and the Ongoing Complexity of Hope, that Zechariah may have been killed when soldiers massacred all male children under the age of two at Herod’s command:

When the militia came to Ein Kerem, the village of the righteous priest, [Zechariah] and his wife hid their son because he was under two years old.  Tradition remembers Elizabeth hiding in a subterranean space with infant John.  Zechariah, likely at the door, refused to let the soldiers in, or blocked the road trying to divert them from his son’s hiding place.  John remained hidden and survived the massacre, but legend insists that Zechariah was targeted and died in Herod’s war against the sons of Bethlehem and Judea (p. 133).

Zechariah didn’t hide from reality in his song, and neither should we.  As we read it, we can “push pause” and reframe our view of the Christmas story in a way that makes it relevant and hopeful for us today.  Let’s consider these themes: liminal space and the language of blessing.

 

Liminal space
  • liminal … adjective 
  1.  occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.   
    “I was in the liminal space between past and present.”
  2.  relating to a transitional or initial stage of a process.  
    “that liminal period when a child is old enough to begin following basic rules but is still too young to do so consistently”

 

Zechariah’s position in terms of the Messiah’s arrival is similar to ours.  We’re in a liminal space, aware of God’s promises but not experiencing them in their fullness.  Theologian Elizabeth Webb puts it this way:

We see the faint light on the horizon, and we await the full, dazzling light of God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ.  We find ourselves now in-between, standing in that moment of the already and the not-yet.  The light has dawned but doesn’t seem yet to have reached the deepest darknesses inside and around us … To live the life of a disciple of Christ is to live always in Advent time, knowing that the light has come and awaiting the light that has yet to shine in its fullest measure.

Webb points out that we are always living in “that moment of already and not-yet.”

Our assigned reading from Malachi 3 echoes this theme of living in-between the promise and the fulfillment of Christ on earth.

Malachi :1-4   See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight — indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?  

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.[a]  4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.  

Malachi speaks about the refinement of God’s people by judgment against those human systems that oppress as explained in Malachi 3:5:

Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 3:5, NRSVUE)

While John the Baptist did prepare the way for the Messiah (Luke 1:76), and the “mighty Savior” from David’s lineage (Luke 1:69-70) did appear as prophesied, the complete fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophetic song hasn’t happened yet.  As Concordia College Executive Director for Faith and Learning Michael J. Chan points out:

Jesus left his people under the oppression of the Romans; the shadow of death continues to overshadow all life; peace on earth is temporary at best; and human beings still make enemies of one another.  Jesus came to a world in dire need of rescue, and he left it in much the same state.  Whatever victory Jesus secured exists primarily in the realm of hope (see Hebrews 11:1).

This type of truth-telling makes the good news relevant to today.  As believers, we don’t stick our heads in the sand and say everything is fine.  We acknowledge that we live in the “here but not yet” of the kingdom.

  • We are called to be peacemakers, for example, but we live in a time of little peace.
  • Jesus calls us to show what kingdom living is like even when we don’t yet live in the fullness of the kingdom.
  • We ask the Holy Spirit to let his fruit be present in our lives — love, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control — even as we live in a world where we may see little of this fruit displayed.

It is a mistake to attempt to grasp the fullness of the Advent narratives to come without attending to the brokenness of the world we live in. bYes, we lament what has been lost or taken from us by one government or empire, but we share the hope that we see in our own lives, in the lives of others, and in the stories of the faithful.

 

The language of blessing

While we tell the truth of the world’s brokenness and we can work to change and improve conditions for those under oppressive systems, we don’t stop there.  We must move into the way of peace (v. 79), and this is accomplished in part by offering blessing.  The act of blessing is more than simply praising God.  The language of praise moves from humans toward God, and usually this is based on God’s character or on something God has done.  The language of blessing, however, can flow in different ways.  We can bless God, God can bless us, and we can bless each other.  Most of the time, a blessing is given before it has been fully realized, which gives blessing a prophetical aspect we might not think about.

  • When God blesses a person, that is a promise, and God brings it to pass.
  • On the other hand, when people bless God, it is a statement of confidence based on faith in God’s unfailing love for humanity and all creation.
  • When we bless each other, we take the opportunity to ask God for another’s best and highest good.  We don’t problem-solve for anyone; we don’t prescribe how God might resolve their situation. Instead, we speak to God on another’s behalf and invite whatever is good for their best and ultimate flourishing.
    • Author and theologian Dallas Willard writes that blessing “is a profoundly personal and powerful act … [It’s] the projection of good into the life of another.  It isn’t just words.  It’s the actual putting forth of your will for the good of another person, [and] it always involves God” (Living in Christ’s Presence, p. 164-5, 168).

One example of a blessing we might offer another person is found in Numbers 6:24-26:

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”   (Numbers 6:24-26, NRSVUE)

Zechariah’s song offers the gift of light for “those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death” as well as the gift of guidance “into the way of peace” (v. 79).  While we expectantly prepare and wait for peace during this Advent season, we acknowledge that everything has not been made right yet.  But, based on our hope of the Incarnation, we continue to attempt to promote God’s peace in the world through blessing others.

 

 

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