Tell the truth, do you get nervous waiting on
elevators? I know some people are really afraid every time they step on an elevator
that they will get. I ran across a story this week about a preacher from Texas,
Tony Evans, who “spoke of being on an elevator in a high-rise building. He said
he’d never been particularly comfortable on such elevators. There was something
about riding up and down in a little box several hundred feet off the ground
that has never sat well with him. He worried that something would go wrong.
“One day it happened. The car he was riding
in got stuck in between floors way up in the higher floors. He noted that some
of the people in the car became frantic. They began to beat on the door hoping
to get someone’s attention. Others began to yell in the hopes that their voices
would get someone on the surrounding floors to come to the aid. But, of course,
nobody heard their noise or their cries.
“Then Evans quietly made his way to the front
of the car, opened a little door in the wall and pulled out a telephone.
Immediately he was connected with someone on the outside. He didn’t need to
beat on the wall to get their attention. He didn’t need to speak loudly in the
phone to receive their help. He could have whispered and they would have heard
him.” (Source for story: http://www.sermoncentral.com/illustrations/stories-about-trusting-god.asp.)
You see, there are times in life that are just
like being stuck in an elevator. Some of us react by yelling and screaming;
others by beating up on stuff. But some people choose to calmly let our needs
be known – to pray. At our best, we will put our trust in God, and wait
patiently for a response. At our best that is.
Now, if we are stuck in an elevator and there is a phone to pick up,
that is great. Would that every problem be solved that easily. For followers of Jesus, prayer is our phone
call to God. But we may not get a response to our call right away. That is when
we just have to remember these great stories of scripture -- and how in God’s time, God does God’s work. That’s the trick isn’t it, God’s time.
Today’s reading from Luke is one of those
great stories. It is a reminder to us to trust
God and to be faithful in our waiting… even when we feel like we are stuck
on an elevator with no way out. God will find a way for us. And when God finds
a way – it’s usually even more amazing than we ever could have imagined.
So here is the story (Luke
1:5-25 for those following along on the net): there was this man, Zachariah and
his wife Elizabeth. Zachariah was of the class of priests in Jerusalem before
Jesus was born. There were about 20,000 priests that were descendants of Aaron.
Only about twice a year would it be Zachariah’s turn to go into the temple to
serve. He would get to choose two friends to help him. But probably only once
in a life time would Zachariah be the one to enter the most Holy center of the
temple bearing a golden censer (the think that the incense goes in) and then he
would spread incense over the coals. “As the incense kindled and a cloud of fragrance
arose from the altar, the prayer of the worshipers outside would rise into the
presence of God (cf. Luke 1:10). It was
a beautifully symbolic experience of worship.” (source: Source: https://bible.org/seriespage/impossible-things-do-happen%E2%80%94i-story-Zachariaharias-and-elizabethi).
The most important thing to them.
Well, on this day, when Zachariah did
that, an angel appeared. He was awestruck, as you can imagine. Wouldn’t you be? Now, just to give you a little back story. Zachariah
and Elizabeth are really special people. They are good and righteous, in a
right relationship with God, people. Some of the priests are really full of
themselves, like today, but not Zachariah. He was humble and honest. These two
don’t live in the city and they don’t flaunt their importance as being part of
the priestly class. They live in a little village outside of Jerusalem. They serve
God. That is what their life is about.
But they have one deep sadness in their
life. They have no children. This is a bad thing in their culture. To have no
heirs is shameful. No one would have blamed Zachariah if he had divorced Elizabeth
but he stayed with her. Now they are way up in years, long past childbearing
years. One more thing: his name, Zachariah means “the Lord
remembers” and her name, Elizabeth, means “the oath of God.” This will be
important.
So, back to the temple. The angel
appears to Zachariah and says: “Don’t fear, Zachariah. Your prayer
has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name
him John…. Not only you, many will delight in his birth. He’ll achieve great
stature with God. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their
God. He will herald God’s arrival …. soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout
understanding among hardened skeptics—he’ll get the people ready for God.”
He’s going to get the world ready for Jesus.
Now,
what do you think Zachariah says? 18 Zachariah
said to the angel, “Do you
expect me to believe this? I’m an old man and my wife is an old woman.” That was the wrong thing to say. You
see, when the angel of God has just given you a gift – the promise of a child
in your old age – and informed you that your child is going to get people ready
for God – this is no time to doubt and to question the angel. The angel gets a
bit testy with Zachariah. 19-20 But the angel said, “I am Gabriel,
the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring you this glad news. But because
you won’t believe me, you’ll be unable to say a word until the day of your
son’s birth. Every word I’ve spoken to you will come true on time—God’s
time.”
And so Zachariah finishes up his work
in the temple but when he goes outside, he can no longer speak. He goes home to
his wife Elizabeth, somehow he communicates this to his wife, and indeed she
gets pregnant. But he is not able to speak until the birth of their son. That
son, is indeed John the Baptist who will prepare a way for Jesus. Zachariah gets his voice back, as promised.
So, what do we make of this story?
First, God chose those who trusted God for an important mission. Zachariah and
Elizabeth were simple people. Oh yes, of course he was a priest and she was the
daughter of a priest but there were 20,000 priests at the time. God could have
chosen any one to be the parents of John the Baptist who would prepare people
for Jesus. But God chose them. And why? Because they loved God deeply. They
were righteous. They were not self-serving. They were God serving people.
Do you remember what I told you that their
names meant? His name, Zachariah means “the Lord remembers” and her name,
Elizabeth, means “the oath of God.” They were set apart by God for this
important mission. But if they had not been worthy, God would have moved on to
someone else.
They could not have had any idea what God had
in mind for their lives. But they were people of faith. They lived their lives
ready to serve God every day. So when the day came that Zachariah was in the
Temple and an angel of the Lord said: “Ok I have an important task for you,
Zachariah knew he was up to the task. He did not have to be ashamed and worry
about any shady business he had to go try to cover up. His life was without
blemish. When God called he could stand ready to serve.
We could ask ourselves this question: if an
angel came today and said, God needs us to do some important task, would you or
I feel ready? Are we living our lives in such a way that we would feel worthy
to serve God in an important role? So the first lesson from this story is this:
when God needs someone for an important mission, God chooses those who are already
putting their trust in God.
Here is the second lesson that I see: God
will do the impossible with those who live for God. Zachariah and Elizabeth
never thought they would be parents. They had given up. This dream was
impossible. But they lived for God, and God made the impossible come true for
them. Is there something in your life that seems impossible? So often we think
things are impossible, but we forget that nothing is impossible for God. What could God do with you, for you, in you,
that you think is impossible?
The final lesson from this story is
patience. I believe that when we are patient we will see that God has been
working in our lives in ways we never could have imagined. Zachariah and
Elizabeth had been praying for a child for a long time. The angel came to them
and said, “Your prayer for a child has been heard.” You have been patient.
Perhaps you had even given up, but God has not forgotten you.
You see, when we are in relationship
with God, then God never gives up on us. But we are asked to be patient. The
people on that elevator that I mentioned at the beginning of my sermon were not
all patient. Most of them got into a panic. They screamed and some of them
started hitting the sides of the elevator. But one person was patient, walked
to the front of the elevator, and carefully picked up the phone to communicate
with someone who would listen.
Zachariah and Elizabeth had been
communicating with their God every day of their lives. When God needed them in
order to prepare a way for Jesus, then they got the child they had been longing
for and God used them for way more than they could have ever imagined. God used
them to be the parents of the child who would prepare the people to receive
Jesus.
The promise of the Advent Season is
that in our waiting, God wants to bring love to us in a powerful way. We can’t
imagine how Jesus’ love may come to us this Christmas. But I know we all have
dreams. We all have unanswered prayers and we are waiting for God. This is a
season to watch, and wait, and to pray. This is a season to open our hearts and
souls as we listen and hope.
We can be sure of this. God’s love is
breaking into our world. Our mission is simply to open ourselves and be ready
to receive. So let’s get ready. Let’s watch and listen and be ready to receive
God’s love anew in the gift of Jesus. Amen.
Do you have a place to wait and listen
and watch for God? Do you have a
community where you can express your impatience, your angst, your doubt, your
fear, or your joy? If not, and if you’re near the corner of Conant Street &
the Trail in Maumee, come join us. We’re
here with the same fears, doubts, angst, and joys and faith as well. We’ll wait with you.
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