I often have a bone to pick with the church powers who compile our lectionary readings, and today is the perfect example. Our gospel reading again jumps over the beginning of the Luke gospel and lands us in chapter 3 where a full-grown John the Baptist has answered the call of God. But I really want to remind you of the beginning of the story in Luke chapter 1 because it’s one of my favorites.
Elizabeth and Zechariah, we are told, are righteous before God and old. Elizabeth was barren (you’ve heard this similar story before – maybe Sara and Abraham). Zechariah the priest, who is in the temple praying and offering incense, is naturally terrified when an angel appears to him. But the angel tells him not to be afraid. (you’ve heard that before as well). Elizabeth will bear a son, the angel says, and you will name him John, and “he will be great in the eyes of the Lord… to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
But Zechariah is skeptical. He questions the angel. “How can I know this will happen? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years”? The angel gets huffy. “I am Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God and…because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in time, you will become mute, unable to speak until the day these things occur.”
Best not to argue with an angel, wouldn’t you say. That’s really what I love about this chapter. Gabriel getting uppity and striking Zechariah mute. Can you imagine Zach explaining to Elizabeth what just happened – when he didn’t have a voice. I would have loved to see those charades being acted out.
And then the rest of the story and when the baby is born, his relatives wanted to name him Zechariah after the father, but Elizabeth said, no his name is John. And of course, they didn’t take the word of the woman into account and asked Zechariah, who mimed to write the name on a tablet. When it was written, Zech got his speech back and I can imagine he had a lot to say after 9 months but he proclaimed the beautiful canticle we just read. It’s one of my favorites. And I can imagine he shouted it from the rooftops. It extols the goodness of God’s promise to the people of Israel; it predicted that John would be the prophet who would prepare the way for salvation. And my favorite line of all, let’s read it together – the last two verses: “In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Wow… isn’t that beautiful.
So, our Gospel goes on to quote the prophet Isaiah, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord” which got me thinking about all the ways we do prepare for special events. Despite the fact that I have two sons, I have never been pregnant, but I can imagine Elizabeth preparing for the arrival of John, a special child, waiting and dreaming, like Mary prepared for the arrival of Jesus, special indeed, like every parent prepares for the arrival of their precious child, or how any of us prepare for any special event in our lives.
I want to tell you about my cousin Pat. Now Pat was what you might call frumpy but very loving and joyful. So, when she was getting married everyone was excited for her. She and her mother decided that after the church wedding they would have the reception back at the house, so they went to different restaurants and caterers to find the perfect plan for the party. They picked the caterer, put down the deposit, and had it all arranged. So, when the wedding day arrived, the family waited for the caterer and it was getting late, so they called up and said, hey it’s getting late, where are you, we have to leave for the church. The caterer said, “Oh, we thought it was tomorrow.” Now if you look at Pat’s wedding pictures, in each one of them her face is all red and swollen from crying. All the plans for the perfect wedding were in vain. But here’s the rest of the story - the family and friends took over, and picked up pizza and beer, (good thing it was on a Saturday because in those days you couldn’t buy beer on Sundays) Anyway, everyone said it was the best party ever. They all had a fabulous time because the day was all about love.
As Paul says in his letter to the Christian Community at Phillipi, “And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more.” When John was exhorting people to prepare, he was focused on our focus – that we should keep our eyes on what is most important, the same thing our lectionary gurus are pointing us to. To focus on the promises of God – to Zechariah and Elizabeth no matter how implausible – the same promises he made to Mary no matter how improbable. The same promises he makes to us. Remember, “In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us.” So, forget the perfect present, the perfect meal, the perfect decorations. Jesus is the perfect present, the Eucharist our perfect meal, our hearts overflowing with love the perfect decoration. Like Pat’s wedding over sixty years ago, it will be the best party ever because it’s all about love.
May it be so.
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