Advent 2: The Promise of Compassion
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The Gospel text for today is often called the Song of Zechariah. But, before there is a song, there is usually a story.
Here is the story:
Zechariah is the father of John the Baptist – and just like Mary (mother of Jesus), he is visited by an angel.
At the beginning of the Gospel of Luke we read about Zechariah who is a priest in the Temple. He and his wife Elizabeth are “well along in years,” and they are childless. One day, Zechariah is in the Temple doing his priestly duties –tending to the holy spaces – when an angel appears and says, “Zechariah, fear not, your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth is going to have a son. This son will not only be your joy and delight, but he will bring the people back to God – he will go before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah. He will make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:11-17
Zechariah takes a step back, in the quiet of the place, and he says, “How can this be? We are old.”
And the angel replies, “Oh, Zechariah, it can be, and it will be. I am Gabriel, I stand in God’s presence, and I’ve been sent to tell you this good news. But because you have not believed my words, you will not be able to speak until this comes to pass.” And Zechariah is unable to speak. For 9 months.
Elizabeth does conceive, and then for nine months we hear nothing from Zechariah. At the same time the angel comes to Mary (Elizabeth’s cousin), and announces that Mary will bear the Christ. Mary runs to her cousin Elizabeth’s. Elizabeth’s baby leaps in her womb, and she calls out to Mary: “Mother of my Lord!” And Mary sings the Magnificat – “My soul glorifies God. God is bringing down the powerful, and lifting up the lowly.” (We’ll talk about that song in 2 weeks.)
And then, nine months later, we circle back to Zechariah and Elizabeth. Elizabeth gives birth. A crowd gathers, and they are ready to name the baby after his father. That’s how it’s done. But Elizabeth steps in and says, “His name is John.” And, since she’s a women and this is not the way babies are named -the crowd looks to Zechariah. He looks to Elizabeth. And he motions for a tablet. And he writes out: “His. Name. Is. John.” And in that moment, Zechariah can speak. After 9 months of silence, Zechariah can speak and Zechariah has something to say. And what he says – or sings – is today’s Scripture:
“Blessed be the God of Israel, for God has looked favorably on the people and redeemed them.
God has raised up a mighty savior for us…..
By the tender mercy of our God, 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.”
In this song of salvation, Zechariah sings that God is doing this, God is saving us – through God’s tender mercy : Salvation is coming, not in the power of mighty armies, but in the power of God’s tender mercy. It is a tender mercy that will bring down and lift up. It is tender mercy that will save us from everything.
Isn’t that the promise of compassion---God’s compassion revealing itself through Emmanuel, God with us. What an opportunity we have during this season of Advent to sit in wonder and delight at what God has done and is still doing. According to Kate Bowler—in our Advent devotional this season, Jesus is the picture of God’s love on display:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Jesus is God-with-us so he could be God’s compassion for us, in a word and deed. Compassion, in Latin, means to suffer. When Jesus saw someone suffering, he wept with them and came to their aid. He talked with the excluded and marginalized and ate with the outcasts. There was no one whose illness or status rendered them unapproachable or untouchable. This is the kind of radical compassion that says, I am not just helping you, I am with you. (Kate Bowler, A Weary World Rejoices Advent Devotional).
As we experience God’s compassion, we are also called to that work. Zechariah’s song invites us into the saving work of tender mercy - to embody good news to the poor – to bind up the broken-hearted – to work for the release of every captive, for the full freedom of all who are oppressed. What does God require of us? To do justice, love kindness – to love tender mercy, and walk humbly with God and with each other.
I don’t know exactly what you bring with you this day…and I don’t know what you need. But I do know this. This promise of God’s saving love, this promise of tender mercy, this promise of compassion-- it is a promise for you. God has loved you from the beginning. For all time, God has loved God’s people and accompanied them through every minute of every day. And when things were at their worst, God came to us in Jesus Christ, God comes to us in Jesus Christ, and walks with us-gives us life -gives us a song to sing -inviting us and empowering us to live the lives of tender mercy-of compassion. This is our story. This is our song. May it be so. Amen
Benediction:
The song that Zechariah sings – it is a song for you, and for me, and for all people and all time (let us know it and live it):
“God is raising up for us a savior...
By the tender mercy of our God,
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.”