“THE PINNACLE OF LOVE HEALS A CYNICAL SOUL”

LUKE 1:5-25

 

5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, [1] of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.

 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty,

9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.

11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.

13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,

15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.

16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God,

17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”

19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”

21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple.

22 And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute.

23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.

24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying,

25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

 

Have a holly, jolly Christmas. 

It’s the best time of the year. 

Say hello to friends you know and have a cup of cheer.

 

Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy. This year though things are a little different.  A lot of people aren’t all that jolly. That’s because unemployment is up and the stock market is down.   It’s hard to be jolly when you’re listening to Jiggle Bells on the radio but you don’t have a lot of money jingling around in your pocket.

 

Because the economy is in such bad shape more and more companies are also tightening their belts.  Just last week I saw some a sobering prediction in the newspaper.  There aren’t going to be as many office Christmas parties this year and there aren’t going to be nearly as many year end bonuses. Of course a lot of the high flying executives on Wall Street are still raking in the big bucks. It’s enough to make even the most cheerful person a little cynical.

It’s enough to make you feel the same way a little old lady felt when she came home from church one night and found a robber in her living room.  When the little old lady saw him standing there in the dark with an arm full of her Christmas presents she hollered, “Acts 2:38.”  “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.”  The robber immediately stopped dead in his tracks,  He just stood there and didn’t move a muscle while the little old lady calmly called the police. A little while later the robber was led out of the house in handcuffs.  It was then that a policeman asked him why he didn’t run away. “All the little old lady did,” the policeman said, “was holler some Scripture at you.”  The robber was adamant.  “Scripture nothing,” he said.  “she may be a little old lady but she said she had an ax and two 38’s.”

 

Now I don’t know which one of them was more cynical.  Was it the little old lady who disgusted when she found the robber stealing her Christmas presents or was it the robber who just assumed that a little old lady would have all those weapons in her house?

 

Maybe it’s just my imagination but it seems as though there’s a lot of cynicism in the air this Christmas.   How about you?  Do you feel more like Scrooge or more like the shepherds who were out there watching their flocks by night? Is your spirit grumbling or is it ready to rejoice?

 

If you’re feeling a little cynical here’s something that might help. If you go back to the days leading up to the first Christmas and you’ll see that there was a lot of cynicism in the air back then as well.   You can see it in Joseph who wasn’t very happy when he found out that Mary was great with child.  You can see it in Elizabeth who went into hiding after she found out that she was great with child. You can also see the cynicism in her husband Zechariah.  After the angel Gabriel told him that he and Elizabeth were finally going to have a son he basically shrugged his shoulders and said, “No way!  I don’t believe you.” Now it isn’t hard to understand why Zechariah was so cynical when Gabriel gave him the news. For years Zechariah had prayed for a son and his prayers had gone unanswered.  Now after all those years Elizabeth was too old to have a son.

 

Zechariah was like Charlie Brown and that football.  Do you remember the old Peanuts cartoon where Lucy keeps inviting Charlie Brown to kick a football while she hold it for him.  Charlie Brown is never sure he could trust Lucy but in the end she would always convince him to give it one more try.  So, Charlie Brown would run with all of his might to kick the football only to go flying through the air and land on his back when Lucy yanked it away at the last minute.

 

Zechariah wasn’t about to go down that road again. There had already been too many let downs and too many tears.  That’s why Zechariah was a little cynical when the angel Gabriel gave him the news.

 

Zechariah was cynical because his heart was full of disappointment, anger and hurt.

As Zechariah was standing there in the Temple that day he was probably thinking to himself.      Why should I believe you now God?

                        Why didn’t you answer my prayer 20 years ago?

                        What’s wrong with Elizabeth and me? 

                        Don’t you think we would have been good parents?