We old people have a tough time with change. We have become use to our comfortable ruts and are unsettled when a sudden change in imposed upon us. Though we welcome a new Christmas season, do we really want Jesus to show up this year? Are we willing to go through the change that this will demand?
Today we share time with an old person just like some of us. He was an unusually good man, a holy priest, knew all about Law of Moses, and was happily coasting out the few years he had left on earth. Besides this he was especially favored by God because when the drew names out of the hat to decide who was the privileged priest to enter the sanctuary that year, his name was picked! Imagine the sense of honor he had that God himself would select him.
We’ve heard the story many times and know that this old priest, Zechariah, while he was in the sanctuary, had a surprise visit from the Angel Gabriel. He was told that, as impossible as it seemed, his wife Elizabeth would soon bear a son, who would be a great prophet in Israel. Let’s tune into the conversation between Zechariah and Gabriel (Luke 1:5-25).
“Then Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.’ And the angel said to him in reply. ‘I am Gabriel, who stands before God. I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news. But now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day of these things take place, because you did not believe my words…”
You don’t believe that God can work miracles, Zechariah, well watch this! In the midst of his humdrum life, Zechariah experienced the power of God. Yes, not only was Elizabeth to become pregnant, but he himself would be deprived of his gift of speech for months to come. Thing of what it would be like to suddenly have a stroke and not be able to utter a sound. Certainly, this God Zechariah’s attention. Now he had an exclamation point added to Gabriel’s announcement. Every time he struggled to speak, this holy old man, was reminded of the power of God to anything he pleased. Zechariah’s faith sprang out of its hardened rut and burst open like a surprising sunbeam piercing through the clouds.
When God breaks into the life of anyone, what follows is seldom a bed of roses. Ask Zechariah if you don’t believe this. The consequences of not believing that God can do the impossible can be severe. Ask Zechariah.
We live in an age of destruction. Imagine what it’s like this Christmas season for the people who live in Gaza or Ukraine. The burden of war, violence, and death fills their land, and ours as well; we know that they are our we sisters and brothers though we know none of them by name. These are times in which need Jesus to step once again, miraculously, into our world. At the same time we resist the kind of change that this will demand of us.
God’s message to us in Advent is to repent—to make changes in our lives. It means joining Zechariah in leaving the comfort zone of routine and being ready to accept the new work God will do in our lives.
