Jerusalem: A Place of Waiting

Romans 12:9-18, NRSVUE

9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Luke 1:5-17, NRSVUE

5 In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. 7 But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.

8 Once when he was serving as priest before God during his section’s turn of duty, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to offer incense. 10 Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. 11 Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified, and fear overwhelmed him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. 14 You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. 16 He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

INTRO

This week, we continue our worship series based on the book On the Way to Bethlehem. Last week, we framed the story of Jesus’ birth under the realities of Roman rule. We explored our call to hope actively as we work to show the world that things can be different by actively ushering in the Kingdom of God. This week, we continue our journey to Bethlehem with a stop in Jerusalem: A Place of Waiting.

This week, as we stop in Jerusalem, we find a priest named Zechariah. Zechariah has been in the priesthood for many years. There was a familiarity with the work of the priesthood, which comes with a long-standing vocation in any field. He usually traveled from his hometown to Jerusalem to work in the temple a few times a year. Upon arriving at the temple, he would participate in a longstanding tradition whereby the gathered priests would draw lots to decide who would enter the holy of holies and offer incense before God. On this day, Zechariah was chosen for this once in a career opportunity. Yet, while entering the holy of holies, Zechariah goes about his work like any other day. He is a seasoned veteran in the field. While this particular task might be new, he’s heard the stories, practiced the rituals, and knew what to do.

This veteran priest knew the honor that had been bestowed upon him. They believed that the drawing of lots was a holy process. God gave the lot to the one God called to the task. So, in this moment, Zechariah enters the holy of holies, focused on the task ahead. Yet this time was different than any time he had ever heard about. Rather than being in this part of the temple alone, an angel of the Lord appeared beside the altar. So, focused on the task at hand, Zechariah was startled and even scared when he saw the angel and the angel spoke.

When the angel spoke to Zechariah, he spoke of the longing of Zechariah’s heart. Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth had longed for a son. For many years, they had hoped and prayed that God might bless them with a child. Despite their unanswered prayers, Zechariah and Elizabeth continued to deeply long and pray that they might be blessed with a child. Yet, as the years dragged on, Zechariah and Elizabeth grew older. As Zechariah continued his work as a priest, his heart began to long for something else. His heart began to long for his people.

As a priest, Zechariah was aware of the suffering of his people under Roman occupation. Zechariah knew the oppression his people lived with. So, as he prayed and worked in the temple, his heart joined with his people as they longed for a savior. They longed for the Messiah who would come to save Israel. They longed for the Messiah who would crush the Romans. They longed for the Messiah who would lead them. It is in this place where Zechariah unknowingly had his personal longing line up with God’s longing. Just as Zechariah longed to be delivered, God longed to save God’s people. So, the angel appears to Zechariah and says both longings will be fulfilled in the birth of his son. John would be born to Zechariah and Elizabeth, and John would grow up to point his people towards the Savior.

Yet, until this encounter with the angel, Zechariah had no reason to anticipate that anything unusual would happen. He was simply performing the privilege but the familiar duty of lighting an incense offering to God. This angelic being begins to unfold the good news to him. God shows up in the ordinary and interrupts the traditions of the temple with an announcement of divine intervention not just into Zechariah’s life but the life of an entire nation. In the ordinary, in the mundane, God shows up. God interrupts the status quo and does something new. God does something new that speaks hope into the awaited longings, pleadings, and discouraged souls.

We know this feeling. That hopelessness…that longing whereby we know we’re supposed to do something…that nagging feeling, that what do you want from me kind of feeling. Many of us know what it means to hope for something new to take place. We know what it feels like to be overlooked by the world. After all, the principalities and powers of this world are not concerned with older couples, teenage mothers, those who live in poverty, or even us so long as we pay our taxes and keep our heads down. Yet, God speaks; God calls forth and tells us just as he did Zechariah that God wants to use us to bring about glimpses of God’s kingdom. It's one thing to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and participate in acts of mercy. It's a whole other thing to be told that God will transform the world through you!

Last week, we said that we are called to hope actively. We are not called to sit around, but we are called to do something. In our missional activities, we actively work to alleviate the symptoms of larger societal issues. (SLD - Backpacks; SM - Homeless ministry) The reality is that while these are good missional projects, they certainly offer glimpses of God’s kingdom and are able to transform lives, yet they are just what I said: symptom relief. Feeding someone does not remove societal food insecurity. Providing a shower or feeding the unhoused does not remove homelessness. As Christians, we are called to these ministries, but we are also called to dream bigger. We are called to ask the big questions. We are called to step up and work for systematic societal change. This news is just as terrifying for us as it was for Zechariah. The Israelites did not long for a hot meal or a different leader to be elected. Instead, the Israelites were longing for major changes to a society where those who were discriminated against were elevated and treated the same as all others.

The good news is that God sees us; God wants even us to play a part in the biblical drama. Interestingly, after Zechariah enters into the holy of holies and hears the angelic message, he is speechless. He is unable to bless those waiting outside the Holy of Holiness; he is unable to explain or rationalize his thoughts; he is unable to fill the empty spaces with words; instead, he is silent. One commentary notes, “Human speechlessness helps God to be heard, especially when God’s word falls so far beyond the scope of our experiences or expectations. In other words, is the problem that God is not speaking or that we are?”

Part of the struggle that many churches have is that we spend so much time speaking judgment upon someone or offering false platitudes to those who feel hopeless. We spend so much time looking for the answers when what's really needed is a space of solitude, of silence, of waiting, where room is made to really question God and journey towards God’s calling on our lives. It is in this space where we realize that God’s call is beyond our scope of imagination.

Imagine that God comes to you and says, “In Collinsville, you will end homelessness.” “In Danville, you will end childhood illiteracy.” Take a moment and think about that. This is a huge thing. It would leave you speechless. [3 minutes of silence]

This is what happens to Zechariah. God says, “Zechariah, you are going to have a child. Oh, and by the way, this is the one who will point to God in the flesh, Jesus Christ.” Zechariah is met with silence. Nothing that he could say would come close to answering God rightly. We have become a people who do not believe that something like this is possible. Yet, if we do not approach God with expectancy, will we ever hear God say something like that? How often do we approach worship like it’s the same thing we do each week? How often do we come to this time and not truly believe that the living God will show up?

We know what it is like to lose hope. We still have faith, but…We lose the expectation that God is going to show up, change things, work a miracle, or transform some painful mess within our lives. For example, I know what it is like to keep doing religious duty but lose a sense of anticipation that a revelation will occur…we all do!

So often in my ministry, I’m told that if we have communion each week, it will feel less special. Yet, in the United Methodist Church, we believe that when we dine at the table, God shows up. God meets us in the bread and the juice that it might be the body and blood of Christ. If we approach communion with expectancy, if we approach communion truly believing that God will meet us here, why wouldn’t we have communion every week? If we approach our relationship with God expecting God to show up and move, how will that transform the way we think about God? It doesn’t mean that every time we commune with God, there will be profound silencing revelations. Yet, if we do not think God will speak or that revelations will happen, then they never will.

Because when we expectantly show up to the table, when expectantly show up to worship, we will find the peace we truly seek. In the invitation to the table, we proclaim, “Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another.” When we name that invitation to live in peace, we believe that Christ will show up and reconcile us into a peaceful people. Perhaps the peace we seek is in the silence. Perhaps the peace we seek is in showing up expectantly, looking for God to show us the way to something bigger than us, to a place where our longings line up with God’s longings.

Or maybe, like Zechariah, we need to wait in silence for a while so that we stop focusing on our own activity. After entering into the Holy of Holies, Zechariah was expected to come out into the courtyards to offer a blessing to those who waited. A priest who says prayers and blesses people “for a living” depends on their voice to do so. This work God is about to do is not reliant on Zechariah, and the priest is given the space to reflect on that throughout the pregnancy of his wife. It begs the question, how do we incorporate silence and greater amounts of listening to God into our daily routines? Maybe it's morning prayer, maybe it's a devotional time in the car, maybe it’s putting a memory verse on the mirror that you read while brushing your teeth.

Beloved, Advent invites us into this space where waiting upon God reminds us that God’s dreams and calling are bigger than we can imagine. Waiting on God reminds us that we are incapable of doing the work of ministry without God. There are things we need that only God can supply. This waiting we are called to - is to continually show up expecting God to do something new!

May our waiting remind us that God is not reliant upon us! But God does long to be in relationship with us and to use us to bring about God’s kingdom!

In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirt. Amen.