Something to Sing About

“The greatest forces in the world are not the earthquakes and the thunderbolts. The greatest forces in the world are babies.” – Dr. E.T. Sullivan

In the Gospel of Luke, before the singing of angels and the arrival of the shepherds, before the “No Vacancy” light went on and the innkeeper turned Mary and Joseph away, there was a quiet, small, simple yet beautiful, whisper of the birth of One who would come to point the way toward the Messiah. After 400 years of waiting, anticipating, hoping for a word from the Lord, here, in Luke 1, the Word comes.

I loved visiting Zechariah and Elizabeth’s story last week as we kicked off the Advent season. If you missed it, you might want to catch up. It’s an important stop in this four-week Advent journey we are embarking on. However, before we move on to Joseph and Mary in this Sunday’s Harvest message, allow me to share one last thought regarding our friend, Zechariah.

After nine long months of Zechariah’s inability to speak, as the baby that Gabriel had promised was born to Elizabeth and people wondered what the name of the child would be, Zechariah scribbled out the words, “His name is John,” and Zechariah’s tongue was loosened and he was able to speak. And what was the first thing he did? He sang a song. A beautiful song, actually.

In Luke 1:68-79, Zechariah sings the praises of the Lord while speaking to the truth of God’s mercy and grace. And it’s within this song, we find four beautiful visuals found in Emmanuel, God with Us.

1. The opening of a prison door – “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.” (Luke 1:68) That word, “redeemed,” literally means “to set free by paying a price.” It was Bonhoeffer, a German pastor and theologian, who actually described Advent in this way: “A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes – and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.”

2. The winning of a battle – “He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.” (Luke 1:69) In the Old Testament, the horn symbolized power and victory. The picture here is that of an army who is about to be defeated, that is, until the arrival of a hero emerges. Not only are the captives set free, but the enemy is about to be defeated.

3. The canceling of a debt – Zechariah said of his newborn son, John, that he would go on and point the way toward the one who would “give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 1:76-77). The beauty here is in the realization that, through Jesus, he would come to cancel a debt that we could not pay.

4. The dawning of a new day – Zechariah ends his song with the promise of a light that would shine “on those living in darkness… to guide our feet into the path of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79) This, my friends, is the promise of a people living in darkness who are coming to find hope through the One who would be for us all, the light of the world.