Luke
3:1-6 & 1:68-79
Historically
Noteworthy
Anyone who had been assigned to
read the lessons on Pentecost Sunday or at an Easter Vigil liturgy had to smile
a little smile this morning when you heard me stumbling over the names for the
regions presided over by Philip, brother of Herod. “Ituraea?”
“Trachonitis?” “Abilene” is
rather easy to pronounce, but what of the guy who was the ruler of this city –
“Lysanias?” Like the readings on
Pentecost, these verses contain difficult names to pronounce, of places and
people we have long since forgotten.
Why are all those names included in
Luke’s text? I had this discussion with another
preacher. I asserted that these names
were there in order to document the year when John begins his ministry. “One reference would have done that,” was the
reply. Besides, this reference only
confuses the time line. While each of
the persons mentioned eventually figures into the unfolding story, their reigns
don’t align as perfectly as Luke 3 would have us believe.
“No.” my conversation partner
insisted. “They are mentioned so Luke
can drive home the point that all these powerful people are passed over when
God has a word to share.” Look right
there at the last phrase of verse 2. The
word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. The word of God does not respect the
structures or preferences of human design.
The word of God goes where it will – and at the time of Messiah’s
arrival - God wills it to go to John, out there, in the wilderness.
Luke will employ such a tactic many
times in his writings. And we had all
better get used to it, because we are in the year of Luke. From now till next Christ the King Sunday, we
will be reading from Luke on Sunday mornings.
And throughout Luke there is a theme of God passing over the rich and
powerful in favor of the lowly and powerless.
Such a message was an added “good news” to Luke’s readers. Remember that they were not members of Rome’s
ruling majority nor were they Pharisees, Sadducees, High Priests, or scribes.
I guess it is yet to be determined whether
we will consider this aspect of Luke’s presentation as good news.
Emperor Tiberius, Governors Pontius
Pilate and Herod and Philip; high priests Annas and Caiaphas – the word of God
is spoken to them, but not by them. The
word of God is spoken by John, the guy living out there along the river bank.
Or I should say, it will be spoken
by John, eventually. Did you notice or
realize that John doesn’t speak in today’s readings. He is spoken about, but he does not
speak. Others speak about him.
The first to speak about him was
his father. Zechariah’s song is in Luke
1. (Luke 1:68-79) These verses are the
appointed Psalm for today. The “Psalm Substitute”
captures much of the same message. The
message is clear and straight forward – God has looked with favor upon His
people and is sending to them one who will save them “from the hands of our
enemies.”
Zechariah’s speech is notable for
other reasons. Do you remember that when
a messenger from God told him that he and Elizabeth would have a child; Zechariah
doubted that such a thing was possible.
Elizabeth was old and considered barren.
When Zechariah doubted it was possible for God to send them a child, he
lost his ability to speak. It is only at
the naming of the child, when Zechariah affirms that he is to be named “John”
that Zechariah regains the ability to talk.
And Luke 1:68-79 is what he says.
Zechariah’s song affirms that God does
see us and God remembers His promise to us.
God comes to us, giving us reason to hope - and then fulfilling our
hopes. Zechariah sings: “The dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide
our feet into the way of peace.”
That is what Zechariah has to say
about John. In Chapter 3, we read what
Luke has to say about him.
These lines are also borrowed from
elsewhere in our bibles. Do you remember
where? Luke quotes from Isaiah 40: The voice of one crying in the
wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord. Again, high hopes and welcomed promises. Luke remembers the words of Isaiah, spoken to
people who had lived through some of their darkest days. Luke repeats Isaiah’s assurance that God will
come and set them free from the hands of those who hate them, the tyranny of
those who oppress them.
In Luke’s day, it was the ruler of
Rome – all those folks mentioned in verse 1.
In the time of Isaiah, it was the Babylonians.
If you turn in your bibles to
Isaiah 40, you might have footnote, similar to the one in my bible. Isaiah 40 begins what is sometimes called
Isaiah II. There are three sections in
Isaiah: the first section which speaks to the time just prior to their being
overrun and carried off into exile; the second section (the one that begins at
Chapter 40) which is offered during the time of transition in their fate; and a
final section which speaks of the rebuilding of their lives and their religious
practices. Isaiah 40 was an assurance
that God had not abandoned His people.
They were sitting in darkness and may have feared that they had lost
their status in God’s eyes. “Not so,”
God assures them.
Same situation, same message, some
six-hundred years later. In Luke’s day
it was Rome who rules over them.
Tiberius and Pilate and Herod and Lysanias and Annas and Caiaphas –
these are not your liberators or redeemers.
The one who can save you is the one whom God is sending.
We are too often enamored with the
power structures of our world. We come
to rely on the alliances we have made and the systems we have put into
place. They usually function very well –
particularly for those who created them, because in the creation process we
tend to make them favor us as much
as possible. But the message of Luke 1
and Luke 3 is to remind us that we cannot find our salvation, or our hope, or
any reason to be encouraged in such structures.
The word of God goes to the wild-eyed guy living in the wilderness. It goes to the one who cares not what happens
to the rulers of the state or to the rulers of the religious structures. It goes to the one who isolates themselves
from all of that and listens for the word of God.
Is Christmas about what God did
back there, in that place and time; or is Christmas the perpetual arrival of
the One who turns the tables in the Temple, angers those in authority, upsets
the social norms, and is eventually executed at the insistence of the crowd who
had once welcomed his word but turned on him when they learned the
ramifications of accepting that word?
I join the majority who like the
way things are. I live rather
comfortably in the configuration as it is.
But all week I have struggled with the question of whether the rest of
the world’s populations would accept my complacency.
That list of difficult to pronounce
names were the who’s who of Luke’s day.
All of them are gone. The only
reason their names are remembered is because they are included in someone
else’s story. The nations and regions
they fought so desperately to control – wiped off the map and given different
names by new rulers who were themselves eventually overthrown.
But the word of God continues.
The word of God comes to those who
listen for it and to it. The word of God
comes to those willing to allow their world to be turned on its head and
re-established with God’s vision of justice enthroned. The word of God is like no other word we will
ever hear.
Amen.
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