Annunciation to Zechariah -- detail from a Russian icon (1798)
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up a mighty savior for us
in the house of his child David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors
and has remembered his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
in his presence all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
Because of the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:68-79 NRSVue
Some of you are aware that I endeavour to read the daily lectionary psalm in the morning although I'll readily admit that this practice ain't perfect. For a few days this week the reading is not from the Psalter of the Hebrew scriptures but from the Gospel of Luke. It is psalm-like, a passage which is a song of praise and celebration by Zechariah following the birth of John, the cousin of Jesus who would eventually baptize him.
You might put your Sunday School cap on to recall that Zechariah experienced his own annunciation when the same angel, Gabriel, who visited Mary informed this old-timer that he and his aging wife would have a child. Zechariah was understandably dubious but Gabriel got testy and told the poor guy that he would be mute until the baby was born.
This prophecy comes shortly after Mary offers her hymn of praise known as the Magnificant. Sure enough, Zechariah gets his voice back and rather mess with an angel again they name the child John rather than Zechariah Jr. There are a lot of miraculous events flying around in this first chapter of Luke and I'm glad to be reminded of them.
I appreciate that in our time lots of people dismiss these various stories as sanctified fairy tales. As much as I'm inclined toward rational thought and scientific verification I'm still up for miracle here and there. At times I feel that the United Church has trudged into "near beer" theology -- like the real thing but without the kick. We are really earnest about a lot of important stuff but at times our denatured faith doesn't celebrate the mystical and miraculous, to our detriment.
Shall we give Zechariah a voice this Advent?
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