Monday in the Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 19, 2022

Luke 1, 5-25

In the days of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah; his wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both were righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years. Once when he was serving as priest in his division’s turn before God, according to the practice of the priestly service, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense. Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense offering, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense. Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord.”  Then Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel said to him in reply, “I am Gabriel, who stand before God. I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news. But now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.” Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and were amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary. But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He was gesturing to them but remained mute. Then, when his days of ministry were completed, he went home. After this time his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she went into seclusion for five months, saying, “So has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit to take away my disgrace before others.”

In his Gospel, St. Luke relates the events in the life of the Lord Jesus in a way that appeals to his Greek readership.  He is exact in his details, he is clear in his presentation, he sets the events in their proper chronological order, and he emphasizes the Lord’s wisdom and the way of life he teaches.  Alongside this he describes the prodigies attendant upon the Lord’s Birth.  His approach to the Nativity of the Lord differs from St. Matthew’s in that Matthew is interested in establishing that his Birth fulfills the prophecies, while Luke’s purpose is to show signs from the very beginning of Christ’s wisdom and power.  While Luke writes with an eye to the Greek Christians, he never turns Jesus or any of the Jews whom he includes in his Gospel into Greeks.  This is a real danger in biography, ancient and modern: to make the subject think and act the way the reader might.  We can see this in many of the films made about Jesus: they make him into a twentieth century American or European dressed in strange clothing.

A sign of Luke’s honesty as a historian comes in his treatment of the announcement to Zechariah that he will be the father of John the Baptist.  Zechariah is shown to act very much as a Jewish priest, and his wife Elizabeth as a Jewish woman.  Luke tells us, for instance, that Zechariah and Elizabeth were “righteous”, a uniquely Jewish concept.  Luke also understand and clearly describes the workings of the priesthood.  He gives details that could have come only from testimony, details such as that incense was burnt at a particular hour and that the priest was chosen by lot to offer it.  These details are not necessary to the story and could have had only marginal interest for the Greeks, but Luke includes them to remind his readers that they are not reading about a Greek priest but a thoroughly Jewish one.  Likewise, Gabriel’s instructions for the care of the child Zechariah and his wife will have ring with particularly Jewish concerns: “He will drink neither wine nor strong drink.”  This indicated, for the Jews, a complete setting aside of the child for God, going even beyond circumcision. Gabriel’s description of John’s mission also rings with Jewish concerns: “He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord.”  

Luke’s choice of including this event and the sensitivity to his sources in the way he presents it, satisfy both the Greek interest in wonders that occur before and at the birth of a hero as well as in their appreciation of the accurate history that is brought before them and so makes a strong case for belief in the Son of God who came down from heaven to save us from our sins.  You and I can also bear faithful witness to the Lord Jesus and his merciful love in the words and deeds we speak and perform every day.  And while Luke originally wrote for an audience already well-disposed to the Lord Jesus, we live our lives around people who do not know him or who think they do and reject him.  Through the grace of God, we can bring him to them.  Every Christian is a Gospel.