Song of Zechariah - A Father For His Son

A Reflection for the Feast of Christ the King                         All Saints’ Church, Southern Shores, NC November 24, 2013                                                                        Thomas E. Wilson, Rector

Jeremiah 23:1-6                                Canticle 16 (Luke 1: 68-79)            Colossians 1:11-20          Luke 23:33-43

this is alo on youtube at : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tppF5TyEKMY&feature=youtu.be
 

The ancient Song of Zechariah, called the Benedictus Domininus Deus , which is Latin for the first line “Blessed be the Lord God”, is a song of Thanksgiving sung by a Priest to his child at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel. It has two parts; the first is the Thanksgiving for what God has done, is doing and will do for God’s people, and the second part is the sharing of the dream the father has for the child.

One of the high points of the Sunday service for me is when I snatch a baby from the arms of the parents as they come up for communion and hold the child as I continue to hand out the bread. Then I share the dream I have for this child with him or her as we return to the parents. Part of why I do this has to do with parent/grandparent withdrawal since I can no longer pick up my baby and grandbabies any more because they live far away - and they’re too big. I used to hold my baby - she is now 43 - in that first year of her life when she would wake up and cry or when I would rock her and feed her and I would talk to her about my dreams for her. Of course she did not understand any of the words I said, but I wanted her to know the holy space between, over, under, and through what the words could not express about how much she was loved. 

Zechariah is a faithful old Priest. The idea of Priesthood began in the wilderness of Sinai as the people coming out of slavery in Egypt made a covenant with God, and God declared to Moses in Exodus:

And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.

Over the centuries, the people decided to pursue their own agendas and outsource the work of being a Priest and to give the work of ruling to Kings. Kings and Priests had the same four-fold task:  (1) to help people connect to God, (2) to declare forgiveness, (3) to minister to those who are in the shadow of darkness and (4) to guide people into a life of peace. The passage from Jeremiah for today bemoans how those chosen priests and Kings have been false shepherds who have abandoned their responsibility and worked only for their own agendas. The Kings and Priests exploited the people, led them into wars, and built palaces to separate rulers and their cronies from their people. 

There are notable exceptions, like Zechariah, who lives in the hill country of Judea with his wife Elizabeth. He is on the Rota of Priests who come in to work at the Temple helping people with their prayers and offerings. His name means “Yahweh, the God remembers”, and I imagine him with his heart breaking when a couple asks for prayers for a child, feeling that God seems to have forgotten the similar prayers that he and Elizabeth repeatedly offered up, for they are childless. 

The Temple is full of false shepherds and corruption is rampant, but there are those like Zechariah who stay faithful to the four-fold task of being a priest at God’s altar.  

One day as he is attending to his duty in the sanctuary, the Angel Gabriel comes to him and tells him that he will be part of “raising up a mighty horn of salvation in the house of David”.  This is the literal Greek translation, but the metaphor sounds funny in English, so the translators changed it to “raise up a mighty savior in the house of David”.  Zechariah is so overcome that he cannot speak. The Temple administration puts him on disability because he cannot perform the ceremonies.  I think Luke’s Gospel remembers this detail to be a symbol that the Temple and its hierarchy are no longer really able to proclaim the love of God and that a new way of communicating God’s love must be found. There needs to be a new kingdom of priests for a new covenant with God, and Gabriel is telling Zechariah that he will have a son who will grow up to be the trumpet announcing the coming of the King, the new Priest, Jesus. This is the vision, the dream that God has given to Zechariah, that his son is going to be John the Baptizer. In the song Zechariah sings, he devotes his son’s life to the four-fold task of being a priest, but outside the Temple structure: (1) to declare freedom to live in loving communion with God without fear, (2) to proclaim the forgiveness of sins, (3) to show the tender compassion of God who shines light on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and (4) to guide feet into the way of peace. 

The medium becomes the message as John the Baptizer grows in a house of love and then becomes a messenger of God’s love in this broken world, far away from the false shepherds of the Temple.

John the Baptizer is to pour out his life for the sake of the love he sees in his cousin Jesus, the fulfillment of that love. Jesus will continue the task of being the embodiment of that love, the four-fold  sign of the new Kingdom of God - loving communion with the divine, forgiveness, compassion for those in shadow, and the presence of the peace that passes all understanding. Like John, Jesus will make enemies with those who profit from alienation, guilt, self-centeredness, and conflict, and they will work against Jesus and will kill him as we see in the Gospel lesson for today.

Luke remembers the story of the crucifixion and shows how Jesus on the cross demonstrates what a priest and King looks like in the new Kingdom of Christ:

(1) Jesus is raised up. Kings and Priests are usually raised up to positions of honor and given wonderful robes to wear, but Jesus is stripped and is vulnerable and is raised up on the cross to a place of shame. The norm for the new Kingdom of Christ is that we are not to exalt ourselves, but to become vulnerable, entering into loving communion with God and the brokenness of God’s people. 

(2) Jesus declares forgiveness. Kings and Priests are used to handing out sentences of punishment, but Jesus forgives those who crucify him. The norm for the new Kingdom of Christ is to live and die with forgiveness on our lips and in our hearts. 
 

 
3)  Jesus turns in compassion to the thief and all others who live in darkness. After he dies he enters into the place of darkness and brings God light to those who dwell in the darkness. The norm of the new Kingdom of Christ is to shine the light of Christ into all the darkness. 

(4) Jesus commends his spirit to God on the day of his death as he has done every day of his life. The norm of the new Kingdom of Christ is about living our lives in 100% stewardship of all that we have received: “All things come from thee O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.”

Christ shows us what a true King and a true Priest look like. He remains our King, and all of us are Priests  in that new Kingdom. In 1^st Peter we are reminded: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” John, in the book of his dreams of Revelation, drives home the point: “and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father-- to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

This next week we will begin Advent, and I ask you, fellow Priests, to join with me as we prepare the way for the King to rule in our hearts at Christmas and every day. A suggestion is that each of you start by holding a small child in your heart, and then tell them of what you believe God’s dream is for them. Then listen to what Christ is whispering to you.