Luke begins his gospel with the account of a priest named Zechariah, and his wife, Elizabeth; and he begins by telling us two things about them: they were old, and they had no children because Elizabeth was barren. One of the reasons Luke gives us this information, I think, is that their situation is a fitting description of Israel at the time, and indeed of all humanity without God: worn out, lifeless, and without hope. For Israel, it had been several hundred years since a prophet had spoken. God had been silent; and now they were straining under the heavy hand of Roman occupation. Like Zechariah and Elizabeth, it seemed that life had passed them by.
That is perhaps why it was such a shock to Zechariah when an angel appeared to him in the temple and announced that he and Elizabeth would have a child though they were well past the years for having children; and what’s more, the child that was coming would be the forerunner to the Messiah. Zechariah did not believe it, and he faced nine months of silence because of his lack of faith. But when his son was finally born, just as the Lord had said, his tongue was loosed. What would he say? Most of us speak so fast that often words pass our lips before our brains even know what they are, but Zechariah had nine long months to ponder his first words. And when his lips were finally loosed, a river of praise gushed from his mouth:
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David…” (Lk. 1:67-68).
Those words, nine long months gestating in Zechariah’s brain as his son gestated in Elizabeth’s womb, have been carried by messengers to the four corners of the world, from generation to generation. We repeat them every Christmas and, indeed, they lie at the very heart of the meaning of Christmas. God has come into the world to bring salvation and redemption.
On the face of it, there is nothing spectacular about it. Just a childless old man and his wife being faithful to God as they went about their lives. Just the cries of a girl in labor, ringing out from a cave. The same child who cried his way into the world would cry again from a cross on a lonely hill at the end of his life. But history, the universe, and you and I, will never be the same again. God has come into our world—and that changes everything.
Perhaps, like Zechariah, you feel worn out, lifeless and without hope. Perhaps circumstances are bearing down on you just as the heavy hand of Rome oppressed God’s people that first Christmas. Never count out what God can do. He can bring life out of the lifeless, hope out of the hopeless and joy out of the joyless, for he has raised up a horn of salvation—for the whole world!
His name is Jesus.
Pastor Jon Enright