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"Peace"

December 6, 2020 Speaker: Pastor Bob Davis

Passage: Luke 1:57–80

Here we are at the beginning of December in the second week of Advent: peace. Peace.

The four Sundays before Christmas – Christmas being the celebration of the incarnation, the birth of the promised Messiah, Emmanuel (God With Us) – those four Sundays are a time in which we remember the promises of God. We remember the promises fulfilled and we remember the promises yet to be fulfilled. We take these Sundays by theme: hope, peace, joy, and love. We remember the promises God has fulfilled in those themes: hope, peace, joy, and love. If we take just a moment here, I want you to reflect on where and how you have heard, how you have learned, how you have seen, and how you have experienced God fulfilling promises in each of those ways: hope, peace, joy, love.

Peace is the theme for today.

If our focus is on our current circumstances, peace seems far away. The world is in crisis, not peace. This pandemic is hitting all over, including here. Sickness and death dominate the news. Economies have shut down. People are out of work with no possibility of earning an income. They are wondering how they are going to cover the basics: food, clothing, and shelter. Politically, the election is over; however, the hard feelings and distrust are ongoing. Then there are the natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires and earthquakes. Should I go on? Where is the peace?

As we look around us and look among us, the world is not providing us much peace. Money cannot buy our way out of this pandemic. Power cannot overcome our political divides. Entertainment does not substitute or satisfy the need for fellowship. We cannot fight the deep seated brokenness all around us with the military. Our schools and the information we can find on the internet offer no real lasting solutions. Science –right now in the form of promised vaccinations – only offer a 95% efficacy if all goes according to plan. But what about the other 5%? What about if things do NOT go according to plan? Where is the peace?

Believe it or not, my goal here is not to depress you. Rather, I want to illustrate the miracle, wonder, and joy of life in Christ as contrasted with the despair of life without Christ. There is peace in looking through and beyond our current circumstances to the hope assured in Christ. We are in the world but not of the world. We are in the midst of this mess and brokenness, but are assured of being carried through it and beyond through Christ who has already won the victory.

To know Christ and to put our hope and trust in him means looking through and beyond our circumstances to the promised revelation of the kingdom of heaven that Jesus proclaimed. We can have peace because we know that God has been faithful to his promises in the past and God will be faithful in the future.

All that being true, it also is true that God’s plan and purposes in the here and now may not always be evident to us – but our not realizing what is happening does not mean God is not at work.  Or, stated positively, God is at work whether or not we realize where or how.

Consider what we learn from Scripture: God’s plan for Christmas did not start with Jesus in the manger. God’s plan was already happening hundreds of years before when the prophets revealed God’s promise of a messiah: a savior. Then, it was only a hope; it would take generations for the time when God’s plan was revealed. We are nine months into this pandemic and it feels like it has been an eternity for relief to come. Now put yourself in the shoes of God’s people waiting hundreds of years – hundreds of years – for the coming of the messiah.  

Through all those years people remembered God’s promises for a savior. It was not easy and there were times when it seemed like a futile wish and seemed like folly, but they held onto hope nonetheless. They remembered God’s faithfulness and trusted that God would be faithful. When we pick up the story in Luke, we see God’s plan beginning to shine in the midst of darkness. It was not a heavenly spectacle that the whole world saw at once; rather, It started suddenly, quietly, and specifically with the birth of John the Baptist. That pattern of suddenly, quietly, and specifically continued in the incarnation of the eternal Word of God in Jesus Christ.

It is important to remember that Christmas was not the end of the story, either. It was a high point, to be sure, but God was not done yet. Even as we remember the wonder of that first Christmas, we also have to keep our eyes forward towards where that first Christmas was pointing. The church gathers to move forward, to follow as Jesus “guides our feet into the way of peace.”

I. Zechariah’s Story

As we look at our verses today, we see that the birth of John the Baptist comes before the birth of Jesus. John’s job would be to prepare the way for the Lord, to proclaim what God was doing even before it happened. And so it is even with John’s birth. John’s birth narrative is the opening of the curtain and the dawning of this movement of God.

There are two parts of John’s birth narrative. Our Scripture lesson this morning is the second part.

In the first part (1:5-25), we are introduced to John’s father, Zechariah, who was part of the priestly class. There were twenty-four priestly “courses” – teams or divisions – that would provide service in the temple. Each “course” would be responsible for two weeks each year.[1] Their duties were determined by lot. In other words, the job each priest would perform was determined by the equivalent of picking a slip out of a hat.

One of the special jobs was to make the incense offering. The priest would take a smoking pot into the center of the Temple, the Holy of holies, beyond the curtain and out of sight of everyone else. The honor of doing this would fall to a priest only a few times during their lifetime, so it was a big deal.

Details in Luke’s account indicate to us that Zechariah was leading as a part of the 3:00 p.m. prayer time. Many people had gathered for the evening prayers. Take note of this: it was in the context of the faithful in Israel engaged in worship and prayer that God sends the announcement of the one who will prepare the way for the Messiah. 

So, there was Zechariah, an older man, going to the center of the Temple to make the incense offering while the people were praying. By all appearances, it was an ordinary day. There was nothing on the outside to indicate that something different was going to happen on this day. Yet we, like them, never know when God is going to show up.

Zechariah went into the sanctuary and saw someone beside the stand where the incense was supposed to go.

We do not know if Zechariah had ever been in this sanctuary before, but we know that he knew this was different. Well, more than that: Zechariah was terrified. In the ensuing conversation, the angel told Zechariah that he and his wife, Elizabeth, were going to be parents. Zechariah was puzzled because both he and Elizabeth were old. Age not being an obstacle for God, the angel (who identified himself as “Gabriel,” the same angel who interpreted Daniel’s dreams of the end times and who would make the annunciation to Jesus’ mother, Mary) the angel affirmed that God would do what he has said. Because Zechariah did not believe Gabriel’s words, he was struck dumb.

That brings us to the second part of the birth narrative. Elizabeth, indeed, did become pregnant. The time came to deliver John. Eight days after his birth, as was the custom, the parents presented the boy for circumcision – marking him as a part of the covenant community. Neighbors urged them to name the boy Zechariah, to honor his father who had been silenced. The neighbors had good intentions; just not God’s intentions. Elizabeth informed all those around that the boy was to be named “John.” “No,” they protested. They went to Zechariah. He understood their protest but wrote a note affirming what Elizabeth had already declared, that the boy was to be named, “John,” meaning “Yahweh has been gracious.”

At that point, Zechariah’s tongue was released and he began to prophesy; that is, to proclaim the great deeds of God.

Don’t miss the bigger picture here: Zechariah was symbolic of Israel’s experience. For an extended period of time – as in, hundreds of years – Israel had experienced silence and frustration. Then  suddenly, quietly, and specifically, God moved through Zechariah to announce a remarkable blessing, “God has been gracious.” Zechariah’s proclamation at John’s birth was a foreshadowing of John’s function as herald for Jesus, “Prepare the way of the Lord!” Zechariah sang about God’s action before Jesus was born, before the angelic announcement to shepherds, before the Magi came from afar. Through Zechariah, God was declaring what he was doing before he had done it.

Look at the names: John, “God has been gracious,” points the way to “Emmanuel” (God is with us.)

Look then at the substance of Zechariah’s song beginning in v. 68. There are three parts: the first, recalled God’s goodness and praised God for his faithfulness; second, the role John the Baptist will play in ushering the eschatological time of the coming messiah; and, third, the meaning of the incarnation. For our purposes this morning, we are going to look only at the meaning of the incarnation as it was revealed in Zechariah’s song.

II. Guiding our feet into the way of peace.

Verse 77 is as succinct a description of Jesus’ purpose as you will find. John would prepare the way by heralding the messiah, the one who will bring “salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.” That is a good summation. “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

“The way of peace”; he will “guide our feet into the way of peace.” What is the way of peace?

The way of peace is more than the absence of conflict. The way of peace is active, it is engaged, it is relational.

Peace is something we all seek. People try all sorts of ways to achieve peace: through the security offered by having a lot of money, through the energy expended to make everyone around think well of you, through the expression of power and control, through emptiness. None of those ways succeed: you can never have enough money, your reputation and popularity are only as strong as your most recent effort, and you cannot control everything to protect yourself, you cannot empty yourself without being filled with something else.

The truth is: without Jesus, we do not have any peace. Without receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior, without seeking to follow him as a disciple, we do not have peace – we are, in fact, at war with God.

“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.” (Isaiah 48:22). Peace is something achieved by the LORD. In Isaiah 2, the Messiah, “shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

Following Jesus guides us into the way of peace. Standing still, we do not have peace. Going our own way, we do not have peace. It is only by the “tender mercy of our God,” that is, Jesus, that we have peace.

“Peace” is a word Jesus used a lot. He was consistent in using it; peace was tied to faith. Those with faith in him know peace, experience peace, receive peace. Those who do not have faith in him experience his peace as division and the sword.  Just looking within Luke:

  • Jesus told the woman who welcomed him and anointed his feet with tears and drying with her hair, “Daughter, you faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:50)
  • Jesus told the woman who could not stop her hemorrhage, who came up and touched his garment, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” (Luke 8:48).
  • He told the disciples whom he sent out in his name to proclaim the good news, “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you.” (Luke 10:5-6)
  • When he talked about the end times and the division that his truth would cause, he said, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” (Luke 12:51) Those who receive him have peace; those who do not receive him have no peace.
  • On Palm Sunday, as he rode into Jerusalem in triumph, with the people shouting, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven.” (Luke 19:38) Later, he would rebuke the religious in Jerusalem for not joining in the praise, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!” (Luke 19:42)
  • On Easter Sunday, after hearing the testimony of witnesses to his resurrection, Jesus appeared in the Upper Room among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

As Jesus used the word, faith brings peace. Salvation brings peace. Jesus himself brings peace. He himself is the way of peace.

But note: we often mistake standing still as peace. Jesus used it actively, “Go in peace.” “Enter, first saying, ‘Peace to this house!’” Peace goes where Jesus goes. If we are still while Jesus is moving, that kind of stillness leads only to loneliness. That kind of stillness is death, it is not peace. Remember Zechariah’s prophesy, “he guides our feet into the way of peace.” Jesus says, “Come, follow me.” There is a way and there is movement.

The problem is that we often treat following Jesus like we are going to a parade. When I was attending Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, we went to the Rose Parade one year. We got up early on New Years Day, we staked out a spot along the route and we waited. A little after 8:00 a.m., there was a bang, then the Stealth Bomber flew overhead, then there was a long pause (we were about two miles down on the route). Finally, there was a band that marked the real beginning of the show. We watched the floats and the horses and the other bands. We watched for the few hours it took to have the whole thing pass us by. Then, we went home.

For us, the parade was a show. We watched, we consumed. We judged. We compared notes about what we liked and what we did not like. We went home. We went; but we never got in the parade. We were not on the journey with those who were following the leader. Yes, the analogy breaks down a little bit: we were not invited to join the Rose Parade (in fact we would have been arrested if we had tried to join it). The larger point is valid, though: are you watching Jesus passively or are you actively following him as he guides you in the way of peace?

Ultimately the way of peace will lead to the Table before us today. Jesus says, “Come.” He says, “Do this.” The way of peace is active. And pay particular attention to this truth: the way of peace does not avoid conflict with the world, it goes through the conflict with the world in obedience to God’s call and command. Jesus did it – for us.  Jesus was obedient unto death, even death on a cross, so that we would be reconciled with God against whom we rebelled. Jesus did it so that our sins would be forgiven and we would know the way of peace. In this Table we celebrate the grace of God granting mercy, strengthening and renewing us on the way of peace.

Come, join the parade celebrating what God has done, is doing, and will do. Worship the one who is coming, who guides our feet in the way of peace. 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

[1] The material about Zechariah’s role is from John Nolland, Word Biblical Commentary, Luke, Volume 35A, beginning at p. 26.