Luke 1:57-80

FCF: Preparing the Way for Jesus

Sermon Opening:

Have you ever wondered what is God calling me to do? Do you struggle with knowing how God would have you spend your time and where you might make an impact?

This sermon is about knowing our space in the world.

Text Opening:

This whole section is best understood as a comparison. We are meant to see the stories of John and Jesus next to each other and compare and contrast them. This week, I get to introduce the birth of John and the next week, while I’m away in South Africa, Evan gets to compare and contrast the two stories.

Something to keep in mind as we continue to go through these birth narratives.

Last week, I left us with how Mary and Elizabeth met while both were pregnant. We ended when Mary had spent 3 months with Elizabeth and now we move into the next verses where John is born.

Point 1: Purposely Named

Luke 1:57–63 NIV

When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.” They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.” Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”

Explain:

There are a number of things we could pull out of this text. I want to focus in on the naming sequence.

Elizabeth has a son and In verse 58, the neighbors find out. Perhaps, Elizabeth and Zechariah kept the pregnancy quiet. It’s unclear.

This is a literary feature, we’re meant to contrast the excitement of the neighbors with the joy of the shepherds at Jesus birth.

Then on the eighth day, the neighbors show up again to circumcise the child, but also to name him.

Verse 59 says they (the neighbors) were going to name him Zechariah.

There is this argument between Elizabeth, the mother, and the neighbors over who gets to name the baby.

The neighbors go to Zechariah and they start making sign gestures at him to get him to side with them. Our English translations tend to say that Zechariah was struck mute. Meaning he could hear but not speak. Then we ought to ask why did the neighbors motion or sign to the Zechariah. Well the Greek word κωφός (kophos) means both deaf, mute, or both.

In Matt 9:33, Jesus made kophos man speak. In Matt 11:5, the kophos are healed and hear. It’s used both ways in scripture.

It seems likely based on the neighbors reactions that Zechariah was both deaf and mute.

Check out Zechariah’s answer to what boy should be called.

The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition Chapter 1

Ἰωάννης ἐστὶν ὄνομα αὐτοῦ.

John is His Name.

There’s two things to note here from the Greek. First, there is a forcefulness by putting John as the first word. The emphasis is on John, not on name. Second, then, notice that he doesn’t John will be his name.

Zechariah understands something - God has already named this baby.

Illustrate:

Think about it like this:

Imagine that I was holding a football. I said look at how bad of basketball this is....

Did you know physicists have done an incredible amount of work on predicting the bounce of a football.

When you add any amount of spin, it become nearly impossible to predict.

It’s oblong shape was difficult to map before our super computers of today.

That difficult spin makes shooting like a basketball really difficult

If I judge a football on its ability to be a basketball, I’ll judge it very harshly.

Apply:

You are like this football.

I may call one thing. Your neighbors, your community around you might say you are going to be called this.

There are a lot of things that the community may call you.

We’ve been called awful things: ugly, worthless, a druggie with no hope. You may have been called a

Zechariah recognizes a fundamental and important truth. The name that matters is the name that God gives?

When Zechariah says John is his name. He recognizes that he is not giving a new name, but recognizing what God has already done.

God has given you a name. He has spoken the truth about you. You are loved and intimately desired in the kingdom of God.

People might argue over what to call you.

Find the people who recognize what God has called you.

Jesus, loves you. There is nothing more important than knowing you are beloved by God.

Point 2: Praising the Promise

Explain:

Luke 1:64–66 NIV

Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

Immediately when Zechariah recognized the child’s name from God. His mouth is open and his tongue free and he began praising God.

Back in verse 20 the Angel Gabriel had told Zechariah, Luke 1:20 “But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.””

In a moment we’ll talk about the praise Zechariah gave to God in the Benedictus.

For a moment let’s look at the response of the neighbors.

I find it interesting that the neighbors are amazed before Zechariah’s mouth is opened.

They are amazed at the name. They know this isn’t a family name, so they are amazed. Here’s a minor point - people might be amazed when we call people what they are.

At John’s birth everyone is amazed, the barren Elizabeth has had a baby named John.

They wonder what this could mean.

This idea of Wondered - Greek Tithimi Kardia (wondered in their heart). They wonder in their hearts what God is doing.

They see that the hand of the Lord was with him. This will be important for comparing with Jesus birth.

Zechariah is an ideal believer. When God gives him a gift, the ability to speak he uses it to praise God.

Illustrate:

We hold these tensions in our heart. How is God working and what is becoming?

We see or don’t see how God is moving in our world and we wonder in our heart what is happening.

I think there is something important about learning to recognize that of God inside of the people around us.

The neighbors here in the story saw God working and they begin to wonder what’s happening.

Apply:

When you witness a colleague achieve something remarkable, take a moment to reflect on how God's guidance may have helped them. Ask yourself, what did God do in their life that helped them get here? Do they know it?

Maybe they received an unexpected opportunity or overcame significant obstacles. Instead of just congratulating them, consider asking them how they navigated those challenges, and share a word of encouragement about how God might be working in their life.

Let that conversation be about them. This could not only be an uplifting conversation but also open the door for deeper discussions about faith.

When the neighbors saw God at work in Zechariah and Elizabeth, then they wondered in their own hearts what God might be doing.

Help the people around you to identify how God is at work in their lives and let them wonder about it.

Let’s read on and see how God worked in Zechariah.

Point 3: Preparing the Path

Luke 1:67–80 NIV

His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us— to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

Explain:

Benedictus - This section of scripture has traditionally been called the Benedictus because the first word Blessed be in Latin is Benedictus

This section has been studied intensely by Bible Scholars since the early days of the Church.

Overall the emphasis is quite clear. Luke wants his readers, including us, to understand this as Zechariahs divinely inspired hymn praising God for fulfilling his promises to his people and describing the roles of John the Baptist and the Messiah.

It helps us set the stage for the rest of the book of Luke.

It’s broken down into five parts:

1:67 - narrative introduction

1:68a - the opening statement of praise

1:68b-75 - a long single sentence in Greek. It details how Jesus is the mighty savior promised form long ago. Through Jesus there will be victory through God’s mercy.

1:75-79 - It’s a statement from Zechariah to John, his baby boy, about how John will serve God and prepare the way for Jesus.

1:80 - narrative closing

I want to highlight a few of the ways Zechariah describes John.

Here is what John will do:

give knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins

And because of God’s tender mercy the light will dawn to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death as a guide to peace.

Are these things that our world needs today? Absolutely!

Here is a paradox of faith:

John gives knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins.

This is a paradox here:

God alone saves. Right? God alone saves. Salvation is the total and full work of God of which we have nothing to do with.

Here’s the paradox: God alone saves and John helps. Not just John though, the Church today.

At every salvation, When Jesus gives life to a dead sinner. They are dead, dead things can’t choose life. God gives them life anew. That is something that only God can do.

And, every time God does this, the church is right there.

The role of the church is not in getting people saved but in being present and preparing the way.

You can’t bring anybody back to life. I can’t either. None of us can. God alone saves. We are present when God does so.

John was here to prepare the way for Jesus. Church we do the same. We prepare the way for Jesus.

It is not only in salvation that we are present.

We are preparing to shine light in the darkness. What’s true in the dark will be made known.

The church is not called to only focus on salvation. The study of salvation is soteriology. It is my contention that many believers today have ceased to be Christians and have become soteriosts - they no longer focus on Christ but on salvation.

They’ve made salvation an idol over Christ.

Salvation is only the first part. It’s the first part of John’s ministry but it goes much farther.

John is not only here to proclaim salvation, he is proclaiming a whole new way of living in the light as a result of that salvation.

Our church and most of the Church in America has struggled to teach people well how to live in the light. We are too focused on salvation that we’ve forgotten sanctification - becoming like Jesus.

Verse 80 says John grew up and became strong in the spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

Any explanation would be speculative. We don’t know what this verse means. Perhaps John’s parents in their old age died when John was a small child. Or, perhaps he lived in the Qumran community who wrote the dead sea scrolls. It’s all speculative.

Luke though, whatever he means, also uses this as a parallel with Jesus who also went to the wilderness.

Illustrate:

I want you to imagine a guy who trains a lot. Imagine a football player except he never puts on pads - he never gets on the field. All he does is lift weights.

He gets really good at the bench press for pushing people away. He gets really good at squats so that he can explode out of his stance.

But, when he puts on the pads, he squirms because he’s not used to them. He tries to get down in his stance, but he can’t - he doesn’t know how.

His opponent who trains on the field, pushes him over easily.

Even though he’s really strong. He’s strong in the wrong ways.

Apply:

As Christians we need to understand why we’re strong in our faith.

The encouragement for us today is that we’re not strong so that we can save people. We can’t save them.

Here is why we train. We train so that we can be strong enough to prepare the way for Jesus.

Be like John as we prepare the way for Jesus to come to the people around us.

That’s where God calls us to be strong.

Closing:

Closing Application: