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Sermon – "Light at the End of the Tunnel" – Luke 1:67-79
November 29, 2020
Chris Coon, PBPC
Our theme for this first Sunday of Advent is Hope. Hope is something that we could all do with more of right now. Many of us feel that we are in dark times, and it is tempting at times to give in to despair and even depression. Hope is the counterweight to this, the intangible force that can somehow keep us going even when things are at their lowest ebb.
I'm reminded of a time when I was going through a difficult period in my life. I was working on houses as a handyman, and at one point I was doing extensive work in someone's basement, which included a lot of crawling around one my hands and knees, and even on my belly, in the dust and dirt and darkness. I remember one day my flashlight battery died, and I was left lying there in the darkness; at that moment, the darkness seemed to epitomize the difficult situation in which I was living. The darkness represented the hopelessness of how I felt about my life. But in the darkness, I was suddenly able to see, in the distance, a small glimmer of light, an opening out into daylight. That small patch of light was the promise – and the hope – that my time in the darkness was not the end of the story, that light and life awaited me. Hope can be powerful, and it was for me that day.
Our scripture passage today is about hope. It comes from Luke chapter one and is a part of the Christmas story that receives less attention – the announcement and birth of John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin. Zechariah, John's father, receives the news from an angel that his wife will bear a son; but he questions whether this is possible, since his wife is past child-bearing age. Because of his unbelief, Zechariah becomes mute until the child is born. When he regains his voice, Zechariah is filled with the Holy Spirit and speaks this prophecy.
Luke 1:67-79
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.
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."
Zechariah's Hope – the Promises of God
Zechariah lived in dark days. For many generations, Israel had been conquered and oppressed by one evil empire after another. The violence, unjust taxation that could result in starvation, and interference with their worship of God – these were threats that the Jews lived with regularly. They longed for the day when they could have their own nation once again and have the freedom to serve God as they felt called to do.
Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, also felt the darkness of their own unrealized expectations – Elizabeth had been unable to conceive a child, and in a culture that so highly valued offspring, this was considered a curse, as indicated by the word used to describe a childless wife – "barren." As she and her husband grew older, they had given up on the possibility of ever having a child.
We know that Zechariah was not without his doubts; in fact, one of the central aspects of his story (and one that makes it clear that he was very human) is that Zechariah struggled with doubt. But once he witnessed the power of God, his faith in God's promises was renewed. His prophecy is filled with praise to God for fulfilling his promises to redeem and rescue Israel by providing a savior, the Messiah.
According to Wikipedia, Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish a desire with anticipation." What I like to call "biblical hope" is different from wishful thinking, or the sheer power of positivity, in that it is based upon the promises of God.
Hope for Our World
Zechariah's hope was that God's Messiah would save Israel, both forgiving Israel's sins and delivering them from their enemies. But as we see as the gospel unfolds, Israel's hope is also the world's hope. Israel's savior is also the world's savior. During Advent we recognize that the eternal Son of God entered into human history and became a human being in order to save all human beings.
Our world needs hope today. We are in the grip of a global pandemic, which is in it's ninth month and is worse than ever. While the promise of a vaccine is on the horizon, it's still months away for most of us. Our economy has suffered, and some of us are feeling the effects, without work and with unemployment benefits set to end. Political differences divide our country, and our venerable democratic traditions appear to be more fragile that we perhaps thought. Globally, dictators increase in number and civil wars erupt in once-stable nations. Our world could use some hope.
We can find hope in many things – a vaccine, a new president, economic growth – but these things will be temporary, offering at best "peace in our time." The promises of scripture for a savior offers a greater hope than any of these human solutions. The kingdom of God, while present in the world, is never of the world and indeed transcends the world. Jesus Christ invites us to receive him into our lives, to receive forgiveness of our sins, reconciliation with God and reconciliation with one another.
We live in the great "now and not yet," in the words of some theologians – the time in which the gospel is going out into the world and the kingdom of God is growing in the world; but the redemption of the world and the fulfillment of the kingdom will not be complete until the Day of the Lord, the time when God brings history to it's fulfillment and brings about a new heaven and a new earth. So while we live, hope remains, for God's work in the world is not yet complete.
Hope for Our Lives
We see in this great plan for the redemption of the world that God never forgets about us as individuals. While Zechariah saw the unfolding of God's promises to save Israel, he also experienced the joy of having his own longing addressed – he and his wife received a son. Of course, a child is both a hope fulfilled as well as a new hope for the future; we do not know what they will become. Zechariah knew that he was the father of one who was destined to become a prophet, the preparer of the way for the Messiah.
While we may recognize that Jesus is the hope of the world, we may find it harder to find hope for ourselves. We may trust in Jesus as our own savior and believe that we will have eternal life, we may still struggle to experience hope in our own daily lives. We may wonder if what we do has significance, or if our daily routines have any eternal consequence or interest to God.
It is precisely because our lives matter that Jesus has invited us to follow him. It is precisely because Jesus is gathering all things unto himself that what we do each day matters. Zechariah did not know exactly what God was going to do, and neither do we. But we can trust – and hope – that Jesus is present with us and that He is working in and through lives that are surrendered to Him. And anything that is done out of love for Jesus becomes part of God's kingdom, now and for eternity.
So, are you struggling right now? Are you facing a difficult situation, even a crisis? Are you having trouble finding meaning in your everyday life? Our Advent hope is that just as Jesus entered into the world, so Jesus longs to enter into our lives. And as we serve Jesus, everything we do takes on new significance – the smallest detail of our life, if it is offered to Jesus in love, becomes significant; our everyday lives become discipleship to Jesus, and God uses who we are to touch the lives around us in ways that we could never imagine. Your life has incredible significance in God's eyes.
Conclusion
God sent Jesus into the world to save the world, and to save us. God has promised that He will overcome all of the enemies that would seek to separate us from Him, including even sin and death. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all God's promises, so he is both hope fulfilled as well as hope renewed and rekindled for our own lives. As we begin this Advent season, we are invited to experience this hope afresh – that because of Jesus, and in Jesus, God has good things in store for each of us – renewed and restored lives that are gathered up in Christ into God's eternal kingdom.
Hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us (Rom. 5:5).