Mid-Advent 2
Lk
1:57-80
12/10/25
Our son Michael wasn’t going to be
named Michael. He was going to be
Andrew. Now we weren’t firmly committed to this name. But it was biblical and
we liked it. However, Amy’s mom Carol told us that no, we shouldn’t do this
because it would break the pattern of the names of our other three children.
Thus far those names had been:
Timothy Mark, Matthew Ryan, and Abigail Rose. Carol pointed out that all of
these have seven letters in the first name and four in the second name. Leave
it to the school teacher to recognize this pattern! So instead, we went with
Michael. We liked it. It was biblical –
the name of the archangel. It also the name of Amy’s brother. And course, it had seven letters. And so our son became
Michael Paul Surburg.
Many factors can go into the naming
of a child. In our text this evening we
learn about the rather dramatic events in which John the Baptist was
named. Here, there was no choice as to
what the child would be named because John was the chosen instrument through
whom God would prepare the way for his Christ.
Our text describes the events that
occurred when John the Baptist was circumcised eight days after his birth. Luke
tells us that Elizabeth’s “neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had
shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.”
Of
course they did. First century Judaism was a culture that considered children
to be a blessing from God, and not a financial liability that hinders a desired
lifestyle. Couples wanted to have many
children. However, though pious and
faithful to God, Elizabeth had been barren into old age when it was no longer
possible for her to have a child. Yet now – miraculously – she had become
pregnant and given birth to a son.
Elizabeth’s neighbors and relatives rejoiced with her.
Nine months earlier, Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah had gone to Jerusalem to serve in the temple. People knew that something had happened there, because when he returned he was no longer able to speak. Family and friends assumed that the baby was going to be named Zechariah after his father. But Elizabeth informed them, that no, he would instead be named John. They questioned because this was not a family name. When they made signs to Zechariah about this decision he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.”
What Zechariah knew, and they did
not, was that he had been confronted by the angel Gabriel who announced the
good news that God had heard his prayers. The angel said that Elizabeth would
bear a son whom Zechariah would name John. Gabriel said that John would be filled
with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. He announced that this one would go before
the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to make ready for the Lord a people
prepared. Zechariah had questioned how
this could happen, because he and Elizabeth were so old. And in response to his
unbelief Gabriel declared that Zechariah would not be able to speak until his
word had been fulfilled.
Now when the naming the child had
arrived, Zechariah obeyed the word from the Lord and indicated that the name of
the child was to be John. At that moment Zechariah’s tongue was loosed and he
blessed God - a blessing that our text
indicates was prophecy prompted by the Holy Spirit.
Zechariah began by saying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.” Speaking through Zechariah, the Holy Spirit reveals what was happening at that very moment. God was visiting his people to redeem them. We hear these words just after the account of how the pregnant Elizabeth and Mary had met, and Elizabeth exclaimed, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
During Advent we prepare to
celebrate at Christmas the fact that God has visited his people to bring
redemption. The saving action of God came into our world. And Zechariah
declares that this action was a fulfillment of the promise made to David – an
action foretold by prophets like Isaiah.
Zechariah declares that this work in
Christ is God remembering his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to
Abraham. After Abraham had faithfully
been willing to sacrifice his son Isaac, God said, ““By myself I have sworn,
declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son,
your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your
offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the
seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in
your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”
Jesus Christ was the offspring of
Abraham – the seed of Abraham – promised by God. The Son of God who existed
eternally with the Father and the Spirit, was sent forth by the Father, and
incarnate through the work of the Spirit.
He was born to Mary, who descended from Abraham. He was the offspring of
the woman who had come to crush the serpent’s head. He was God in the flesh – the Lord visiting
his people.
As Zechariah turned to John, he
described the work that John would do. Yet in doing so, he was really
foretelling what Christ would do. He
said, “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 knowledge of
salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins.”
John would prepare the way of the
Lord. He would call people to repentance because the kingdom of God – reign of
hand – was about to arrive. He called people to confess their sins and to
receive forgiveness through faith in what God was going to do.
Zechariah says that God is acting
because of his tender mercy. He announces that “the sunrise shall visit
us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and
in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” He
describes God’s saving work in Christ as light that dawns on those who are in
darkness.
The Greek word used here for “dawn”
here has an important background, because it was also used to translate the
word “branch” such as in Jeremiah when the prophet says, “Behold, the days are
coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a
righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and
shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”
God would raise up the Christ – the
Messiah – in fulfilment of his word. He would bring salvation and the
forgiveness of sins. He did this in
Jesus. Our Lord has brought light to those who sit in darkness and in the
shadow of death. But he did so by first passing through death himself.
At his baptism Jesus was anointed
with Holy Spirit and designated as the Servant of the Lord. He went forth as the One whose job it was to
bear our sins. Though holy in himself,
he took our sins as his own and received God’s wrath and judgment in our place.
He suffered death and was buried in the darkness of a sealed tomb.
But Christ was the One in whom the
sunrise has visited us from on high to give light to those
who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. On the third day God raised
Jesus from the dead. In the light of his resurrection we now know that we have
forgiveness before God and life. We have life with God through the peace Christ
has won. This is a life with God that cannot be ended by death. And it is a
life that will take the form of transformed bodily life when Jesus Christ
returns in glory and raises us from the dead.
In tonight’s text Zechariah blesses
God as he prophesies through the work of the Spirit. He declares the good news
that God has visited his people in Christ and has worked redemption for
us. Jesus Christ was the One promised to
David; the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham. He is the One through whom God has shown his
merciful compassion toward us. By this death he has won for us the forgiveness
of sins. And in him the light of resurrection life has broken the darkness of
death so that we can live at peace with God now and on the day of resurrection.
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