Unexpected: Excited and Exclaiming

Scene 3: Luke 1:57-66

Lizzy was pregnant with child and Zeke was pregnant with prophecy.  From the seed of truth sown by Gabriel nine months prior, a Word from the Lord was growing in his heart; he could hardly contain himself.  He silently wondered when he would be able to speak again.  

The day finally arrived for Lizzy to give birth.  Anticipation filled the air as all of their family and friends came to wait for the child to breathe his first breath.  They loved Lizzy and Zeke more than they could express.  They knew the heartache and disappointment that had been their companion all these childless years and now they were standing ready to join in the celebration of this new life.

After several hours of waiting and listening to the sounds of birth, the midwife emerged from the home with a gleam in her eye and Zeke by her side to declare that a son had been born and with the words barely out of her mouth the crowd erupted with cheers and praises for the Lord.  He had indeed done as he would say he would do! 

Mary, three months into her own pregnancy sat pensively on a stool at the edge of the birthing room looking into the eyes of the only other woman who had the slightest understanding of the magnitude of what was taking place.   They exchanged knowing glances and Mary’s quiet resolve and faith grew stronger.

Eight days later Zeke and Lizzy took their son to be circumcised as a symbol of their dedication to raise him to love the Lord with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength.  They would wholeheartedly embrace Moses’ teaching in Deuteronomy 6:5.  It was on this day that the couple would also go public with the name of their son.  Most assumed that the couple would name him after his father and call him Zeke, Jr. but Lizzy stood resolutely before the crowd at the altar and declared:   “He will be called John.”

The dedication was not following standard procedure.  A confused priest turned to Zeke to see his response to what Lizzy had just said.  Zeke motioned for his writing pad and to everyone’s astonishment wrote, “His name is John.”  And when he had turned the tablet for everyone to see his tongue was loosed and he began to speak, praising God and prophesying that this boy would prepare the way for the Most High, the Messiah.

News of this dedication spread quickly around the town and the region.  People couldn’t stop talking about it for years and wondered aloud the future of this child.

Unexpected: Startled and Silenced II

Scene 1 (continued)  Luke 1:13a-22 

The next words startled (scared) him more than the first:

“Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to name him John.”

To himself…

Oh, that prayer?  He heard that one?  I didn’t even have words for that prayer.  I’m not sure I was even supposed to pray that prayer in here? 

“Did you just say that I was, I mean Elizabeth will, I mean…are you saying  that we are going to have a child?!

“How can I be sure of this?  I am an old man and my wife is well, along in years. (Even old Zeke knew not to call his wife “old.”)

“I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not be able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time.”

And as quickly as he had appeared, he disappeared.

Stunned he knelt there for a bit trying to comprehend what he had just seen and heard.  He had seen that, right?  He had heard that, right?  That was real!  I’m not dead, am I? He re-lived the moment over and over—remembering every word that was spoken—he would never forget.

He backed out of the inner room to find that he had been in there much longer than was typical. While he was in there, word had spread that the priest had not yet come out.  The crowd grew.  Something must be happening in there. Would they pull out a dead priest? 

And then the bell rang, he was alive and he was on his way out.  What would he tell them—the anticipation built and when he appeared they were silent!  But so was he!  He couldn’t speak.  He tried but his vocal cords and mouth would not work. So, he made signs attempting to tell them what had happened.

The people did not understand everything, but they knew this:  He had seen a vision!

Unexpected: Startled and Silenced--Part 1

Scene 1:  Luke 1: 5-13a

He had waited his whole life for this day and it came a bit unexpectedly. Zechariah was a priest from the lineage of Abijah and his wife was also a descendant of Aaron. For two weeks each year his family line was responsible the incense offering that was to be burned twice a day, in the morning and evening, as prescribed by Levitical law.  The fragrant incense was burned on the altar made of acacia wood, overlaid with pure gold, in the Holy of Holies before the Ark of the Testimony; and it was to burn day and night as a continuous offering before the Lord. Since he was a priest in the line of Abijah, there was a remote possibility that at some point in his life he would be selected to prepare and burn the offering, but it would be a once in a lifetime kind of thing.  Miraculously, on this day, the lot fell to him—today he would serve before the Lord. 

Once his ritual cleansings were complete it was time to enter in to offer prayers and burn incense.  He was overwhelmed with the responsibility—he would be considered “rich” by his relatives hence forth because of this honor. He took a deep breath and entered. It was indescribably beautiful, sacred, mysterious and awe-full. Zechariah reverently lit the incense and the smoke began to rise—a fragrant offering of praise to the Lord; he had never smelled anything so pleasant.

Suddenly aware that he was not alone Zechariah’s entire body convulsed as he was startled by a presence in front of him, to his right. As he raised his head to look at the altar he saw him—bright, shining, massive, strong, not of this earth, but real.  He couldn’t speak (it wouldn’t be the last time) but Gabriel, the angel did with a soothing and commanding voice that sounded like a multitude.

All of the people gathered outside awaiting for Zechariah to emerge but he did not.

What was going on in there? This was unusual—out of the ordinary; he had been in there too long.

Back inside…

“Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard.” 

Which prayer, he thought?  My prayer for our people to be free?  My prayer for the forgiveness of sins of our people?  My prayer for the Messiah?

Unexpected: Scared and Submissive II

Scene 2 (continued)  Luke 1:33-38

I would have sat in silence…for a while! I can envision myself with a blank stare trying to recover any semblance of meaning and reality. 

Gabriel has just proclaimed the whole message—the time had now come for God to reconcile the whole world to himself and bring in a new reign a new king—an eternal kingdom that would never end! 

I’m not sure if Mary fully comprehended all that she had just heard, and who could blame her!  But she did get this part: You will be with child and give birth to a son—and she had one question—and a very logical, earth-bound, reasonable question:  How will this be since I am a virgin?

And that very logical, earth-bound, reasonable question deserved a logical, earth-bound reasonable response, right? 

Gabriel answered: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

I have a hard time understanding and comprehending what that means, now—with 20/20 hindsight—how in the world did Mary “get it?”  The Holy Spirit had not come yet!  What do you mean “overshadow me.” 

Her otherworldly response:  “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said.”

Unexpected: Scared and Submissive

Scene 2: Luke 1:26-33

Six months later…Gabriel is once again on assignment with the most urgent of messages for the most unassuming of women in an unassuming town. She was young, pure.—and pledged to be married to a man named Joseph from the lineage of David—a royal blood line.

He was a righteous and respectable man, Joseph.  She knew that she would grow to love him. He had shown her kindness already. There was something about his eyes that let her know that she was safe with him and that there was a depth in him that she didn’t see in others.  He was mysterious, yet knowable. She sat dreaming of the coming wedding.  He would parade into town with his bridal party before him—she would hear him coming before she saw him. She was lost in her thoughts when the angel appeared.

“Greetings!”  The resonating voice that sounded like a chorus of men startled her, but his appearance made her bow in awe.

“Greetings, you who are highly favored!  The Lord is with you.”

At the hearing of those words her mind began to race and her heart began to flutter. What did this mean? She could feel her anxiety level climbing. How quickly had the day dream about Joseph vanished!  She had been so relaxed and now all of her senses were on high alert.  Then he spoke again:

“Do not be afraid, Mary.” (He called her by her name!) “You have found favor with God.”

[Well, at least that’s a relief…I’d hate to hear that I was about to feel his wrath!]

There was no dialogue and Gabriel, the messenger that he is, spoke directly and concisely. He didn’t try to ease into what he had to say.  Before Mary could even collect her thoughts, perhaps, he says: “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.” 

Wait, wait, wait!  What did you just say?  I thought you just said, ‘Don’t be afraid’, and ‘You have found favor with God’, and then you say, you know, that thing about a child, a son, and that I am to name him Jesus.” 

“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Mot High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Was there silence at this point? 

Unexpected: A Series of Stories

Prologue

The birth of Jesus is surrounded with the supernatural-and rightly so!  It had to be—there was no natural way out of this disastrous situation in which mankind had plummeted.

The stage had finally been set—and history was pregnant with anticipation of the Messiah. The world longed for his birth then, as much as we long for his return today.

Gordon Rupp (Methodist preacher and scholar): in 1951 noting the parallels in biblical culture that anticipated the Messiah and the world today (in 1951)  that looks forward to his return, notes that we live in...

“a world that becomes too complicated too fast; a world in which the “little people” feel like they are the playthings of great historical forces; a failure of nerve, a revival of superstition and religion, on the one hand, and on the other, a growing sense of fatalism and reckless gambling upon wild chance. To these must be added all the strains and stresses of present advances in warfare, the great systems of power, the huge number of people, the immense quantities of material, the catastrophic facts that statesmen, economists, and politicians cannot even understand, much less control, so that things still go “bump in the night at an ever more frightening crescendo.”

Moreover, most of us are consciously aware of our own depravity. We hear the conversations in our head that reveal the true attitude of our hearts; we know the thoughts of murder, adultery, thievery, and falsehood that, though perhaps not acted upon, are at least an option in our minds.

The "fruit" of global technology is that we are increasingly aware of the horrors around the world—prostitution, slavery, oppression, poverty, war, and powerlessness.

We need rescuing. We need hope.

It sounds like a fairy tale but it is not! 

Fairy tales find their story line in reality—but the advent is no fantasy, it is the real thing—the Messiah is coming—the time is now.

It had been 400 years and the Lord had been silent—not a prophet had spoken and not an angel had been sent with a message.  And then…