Luke 1:5-25
“Make Ready a People”
November 27, 2022 First Sunday of Advent
They hardly would have considered themselves angels.
In fact, most of them would be laughing their heads off at the idea.
In my life, there have been quite a few people who changed the direction I headed toward, enough that where I thought I was going wasn’t where I ended up.
Those that jump to mind were not named Gabriel.
Instead, they had names like Diane, Stefanie, Larry, Tom, Leslie, Mary, Bob, and Susan.
They didn’t surprise me with their appearance.
No, the surprise was their message.
For some of them the message was the example they set with how they lived their lives, and I had a front row seat that gave me a glimpse into what was possible.
With others, they saw something in me I couldn’t see in myself – or at least not up until that point.
In every case, they caused me to change the course of my journey.
Most of them were a part of my life for only a few years and only two of them am I still in touch with today.
The rest of them had a power at different points in my life when I was steered toward a new field or vocation or cause, that still has me both in awe and gratitude to this day.
Like Zacharias, it wasn’t always easy to cope with the aftermath of what they did or said as an agent of change, but it ended up being worth the struggle.
Zacharias and Elizabeth are about to be parents in their old age.
Imagine after all this time thinking parenthood was never going to happen to them and then all of a sudden an angel – which by definition is a messenger – delivers the news that this impossible thing will happen and this baby will also grow up to be a messenger – preparing a way for the one who comes bearing the Good News.
And then it is Zacharias’ doubt that silences him.
Last week in our book study on The Angels of Christmas, we started imagining what it must have been like for a mute Zacharias to go through the next 9 months unable to express his surprise and joy in words.
What must have Elizabeth thought?
Did she ever know before baby John’s birth how her husband lost his ability to speak?
We learned the sign for hope today and I have to wonder what kind of sign language did Zacharias use for all those months of watching his child grow larger and larger within the most likely awe struck Elizabeth?
Was he still able to carry out his duties in the Temple?
Imagine what the word on the street must have been.
And then there’s the angel Gabriel.
We must remember that contrary to the images we often see in books and movies and even in our Christmas pageants, not all angels throughout scripture were not messengers of good news.
Fear was probably a pretty realistic reaction to an angel appearing suddenly to Zacharias.
But given his position, Zacharias would have been very familiar with the ways that couples without children in scripture had suddenly been surprisingly blessed with a baby.
Abraham and Sarah were another couple that God gave a baby to when they were quite old.
Hannah had been haunted and belittled for her inability to bear a child.
Filled with joy and singing her praise and thanksgiving, Hannah goes so far as to promise that her son would be dedicated to serving God.
Once Gabriel identified himself, this priest who was well versed in Hebrew scripture or what we think of as the Old Testament, would have immediately had that name click for him.
Gabriel was the angel that God sent to Daniel so that he could figure out what his visions meant as well as bring him his prayed for wisdom and understanding.
Gabriel inhabits God’s presence.
The words of Gabriel are God’s words.
And Zacharias was not the only one struck mute.
There was also a time when Daniel lost his ability to speak after Gabriel helped him figure out just what his vision was telling him.
While we may never come to view ourselves as angels, we are messengers.
Selling ourselves short when someone shares with us how much something we said or did made a difference for them, maybe even set them on a new path, is a pretty common reaction.
So often we may feel ill-equipped to serve in that role by someone we care about.
We may play it down.
I know that those messengers or angels that I listed by name would certainly have pooh-poohed their role in the new direction that I found myself taking and yet, all these years later – some more than 40 years ago – I am still grateful for their message.
Fear is so much a part of our world right now.
We pit one against the other.
We fear change.
Fear is used to get elected to office.
When power in any form – in the workplace, on the playground, in the office, in the home – relies on fear to keep it, we know that hope can feel in short supply.
This is the Sunday we have lit the single candle of hope.
Gabriel’s appearance suddenly made all those all but abandoned hopes for a child come to fruition.
And not just any child but the child who would grow into the role of messenger to the world about the one who is coming to bring Good News to the captive and lost and hurting.
Zacharias and Elizabeth will raise their messenger son to be a hope bearer.
What hope will we be messengers of in the lives of those around us?
There are truly angels among us – right here, right now.
Let us then raise this prayer as we step into our Advent journey:
Holy Living God, Blessed Jesus, Guiding Spirit, alight within us your flame of hope this day. Grant us openness to hear your message. Grant us courage to be your messengers in the world, creating more hope in the midst of fear. Amen.