1st Sunday in Advent
Zachariah, the reluctant collaborator
My four sermons for this year (2014) will focus on four personages who were part of the first advent! (CLICK HERE if you would like to see other sermons for Advent). These individuals somehow contributed to the first Christmas. And the four people that I would like us to focus on, this year, are:
1st Sunday of Advent, 2014: Zachariah, the reluctant collaborator
2nd Sunday of Advent 2014: John the Baptist, the one who knew his space
3rd Sunday of Advent, 2014: Joseph, the man of honour
4th Sunday of Advent, 2014: Mary, who waited in contemplation
How can I know this?
The Gospel according to Luke begins with the annunciation of the angel Gabriel to Zachariah (Lk 1:4-23). Interestingly, the scene of this annunciation is the temple itself. For Zachariah, this is a powerful religious experience: “there appeared to him the angel of the Lord, standing on the right of the altar of incense. The sight disturbed Zachariah and he was overcome with fear (Lk 1:11-12).
Zachariah is told, “…your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son and you shall name him John” (Lk 1:13). The name ‘John’ means, “The Lord God has been gracious.” But Zachariah does not desire to claim that grace. Zachariah retorts, “How can I know this?” If we continue to read Luke, the next story is the annunciation of the angel Gabriel to Mary. She too asks a very similar question: “But how can this come about” (Lk 1:34).
Apparently the two questions – that of Zachariah and that of Mary – look similar, but they are not the same. Zachariah’s question expresses a wish to know the fact, but Mary’s question is a contemplative wonder. Zachariah’s question is that of a scientist – wanting to know, and Mary’s question is that of a mystic – wanting to experience. In short, Zachariah’s question implies scepticism about the action of God in his life; a certain disbelief that his prayers can truly come true.
As a result, even though the plan of God will still continue, Zachariah himself is made to be silent. In this quietness, Zachariah invited to contemplate the mystery of the action of God in his life and in the history of redemption.
He will be called John!
When Zachariah claims the grace of God by affirming the will of God – “he will be called John”, acknowledging affirmatively that “the Lord God has been gracious to me” – Zachariah also regains his faculty of speech.
And Zachariah’s first words as soon as he gains his faculty of speech are focused precisely on the work of God in his life, in the life of his new-born child, and in the history of redemption. Zachariah is filled with the Holy Spirit, and his words become a prophesy (Lk 1:67). Zachariah proclaims that the messianic times are already here (Lk 1:68-79).
Zachariah sees in the birth of John the beginning of the visitation of God from on high. He recognises the fulfilment of “the faithful love of our God in which the rising Sun has come from on high to visit us, to give light to those who live in darkness and the shadow dark as death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Lk 1:78-79).
The season of advent invites us to join Zachariah in contemplating the action of God in our own lives and the history of redemption. It is a time to keep our hearts open to recognise the visit of our God from on high. The longing that Prophet Isaiah expresses in the first reading of today are indeed fulfilled in our own times.