Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 1 verses 5 through 19:
5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
19 The angel said to him, “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. 20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”
This time of year we think so much on the Holy Family and plan all kinds of events at church to touch children and youth and their mostly-young families. But in all our focus on Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and all the families which could play them in the Live Nativity, we too-often forget the Advent began not with a young family, but with an old.
Zechariah and Elizabeth were aged people. They had no children; and they thought their child-rearing days were long past. So what a surprise when Gabriel the angel came to them with good news of a child came to them. Surprise is an understatement. Shock really. As one old woman in a senior living center up in New York said when a friend of mine preached this story in their chapel, “Yeah, sure; try telling THAT to Medicare.”
The Advent comes. And it comes with surprising news not only for the young, but also for the old. Just like the surprise Abraham and Sarah, and Hannah and Elkana received when they got word of their own child to be born after their long years of waiting, Zechariah and Elizabeth now receive surprising news of a child to be born in their old age also.
Advent is not just for the young. It’s also for the old. It’s for those who have given up. It’s for those who think their best days have passed them by.
New things can come! Old bodies can be made useful again! The closed future can be opened! Surprises can happen!
No matter what Medicare thinks . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment