Gospel: Luke 1:67-79

1st Reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16

Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.”

But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: “Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.

And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that thfey may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.”

Gospel: Luke 1:67-79

Zechariah prophecies the future achievements of his son, John the Baptist..

Then John’s father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.

He has raised up a mighty saviour for us
in the house of his servant David,

as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we would be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us.

Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and has remembered his holy covenant,

the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us
that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

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
by the forgiveness of their sins.

By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Zechariah’s sense of God

Once rendered mute for doubting God’s word, the father of John is now proclaiming the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel. His is a song of Advent, as we wait for the light that has already come and is still yet to come. Before the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, he came to Zechariah and repeats the promises God first made to Abraham. Elizabeth and Zechariah’s advanced age at John’s conception suggests a parallel between these aged parents and Sarah and Abraham), as is the shame of Elizabeth’s .”arrenness.” (see Genesis 16:4).

Zechariah belongs to a priestly order and Elizabeth is also a descendent of Aaron. Thus both of John’s parents are of priestly stock, and Gabriel’s promise that John will be filled with the spirit and power of Elijah clearly identifies John as a prophet who will turn the people to repentance (Malachi 4:5-6). Zechariah’s doubt at Gabriel’s words parallels Sarah’s laughter at the annunciation of Isaac (Genesis 18:12-15).

The background to Zechariah’s song is the theme that Biblical promises and prophecies are fulfilled. When Gabriel tells him of the coming birth of John, Zechariah doesn’t believe, and Gabriel renders him mute until the day these things occur. Eight days after John’s birth, Zechariah and Elizabeth take him to be circumcised, following the divine command to Abraham (Genesis 17:12.) When the time comes to name the child, Elizabeth insists that he be given the name John, as Gabriel had said. His friends turned to Zechariah, who wrote on a tablet His name is John, and immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, “and he began to speak, praising God.” The prophecy of Gabriel is fulfilled, and Zechariah himself is empowered to speak prophetic words.

Zechariah’s song is very much our own, this Christmas Eve. We see the light on the horizon, and we await the full, dazzling light of God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ. We find ourselves now in-between, standing in that moment of the already and the not-yet. The light has dawned but doesn’t seem yet to have reached the deepest darknesses inside and around us. The truth is, this state of already and not-yet is where we find ourselves all the time, as disciples of Christ. We live always in Advent time, knowing that the light has come and still awaiting the light that has yet to shine in its fullest measure. The dawning of the light must sustain us as we continue in our waiting and in our living, even if the wait for Jesus’ light to shine seems awfully long.

We may even, with Zechariah, doubt that such a thing is possible. But also with him, we praise God for the dawn, seeing in it just the first shimmering of the peace in whose light we already bask, even as we wait for its full radiance.

–With acknowledgment to Elizabeth Webb