Daring to Hope

Luke 1:1-23

When Tom, Susan and Sam agreed to light the Advent Candle of Hope this morning, I looked up the sign for “hope” and found that there are 3 signs for hope. There is the sign for hope that is “I really hope this works out” “Good luck” (fingers crossed), there is the sign for hope when you are looking forward to something “I have a lot of hope for that/I’m looking forward to it/I’m excited about it” (double victory), and then the third hope is the hope that we have in God, “I have hope” (open “b” wave). The more I thought about these three ways to sign “hope” the more I realized they really are describing different attitudes.

The Scripture that Ann read this morning was written as the Israelites returned to Jerusalem from exile – many of them had been born during the captivity in Babylon and had never even seen the Promised Land. But they had heard a lot about it – how wonderful life was before they were forced from their homeland, and they were so eager to get back. Hopes were high (v’s). They hoped that they would find a good place to settle and raise a family (crossed fingers). In 537 BC, the first group of exiles returned. But when they arrived, and everything was destroyed and in ruins; it would take years to rebuild, if they ever could. They cried out in hope to God, “Oh, that you would tear open the dividing veil between heaven and earth and come down, even the mountains would tremble before you! Oh, we know you come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But we have not lived according to your will. We have continued to sin against them, and we know it’s mad you angry. How then can we be saved? We are a filthy mess. All of us have become unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. We are yours. Do not be angry beyond measure, LORD; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people.” This is hope (b’s).

And a year later, they began rebuilding the Temple. It took 20 years, but they completed it. About 508 years later, Zechariah was a priest, serving in that Temple. He was a descendent of Moses’s brother, Aaron. Aaron was the first priest. God entrusted Aaron and then his 24 sons, and their sons, to be in charge of the symbol of God’s presence on earth – the Arc of the Covenant that held the stone tables with the law (the Ten Commandments) on them, and at first there was a tabernacle that they set up around it as they traveled from place to place and then when they settled, about 350 years later Solomon began building the Temple in Jerusalem and dedicated it in 957 BC to house the Arc and for worship. That temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC, the Israelites returned in 537 BC, and rebuilt finishing in 516 BC, and now 508 years later, the tradition continues as the priests in the Temple are from the lineage of Aaron.

By then, there were quite a lot of them. So, they lived in the region around Jerusalem and were leaders and teachers of the synagogue. The descendants of Aaron’s 24 sons took turns taking a week of serving in the Temple. They came into Jerusalem, stayed in the Temple compound, and served for the week, which involved accepting and offering sacrifices in the courtyard. And once a day the priests drew lots to see who would go in and light the incense in the Most Holy Place. The incense was all the way to the back (like up to our chancel) right before the veil that covered the holy of holies, where the arc of the covenant was kept. Only the high priest went in there, and only once a year on Passover.

So this was a big deal. Lots were a way that they believed God chose one of them to go in. And Zechariah was chosen. He went in and while he was lighting the incense an angel appeared and told him that his prayer would be answered. He and Elizabeth, even though they were beyond child-bearing years, she was 88 and he was 90, would have a son. Zechariah, wasn’t completely disbelieving, but he knew he would need some good solid confirmation that what he was hearing what really what was going to happen. Did he dare to hope? (fingers crossed)

Without a doubt, when he told Elizabeth, she was going to ask if he was sure. And before she got excited, he needed to be sure. Did he dare to hope? (v’s of looking forward)

And before he told the people that the promise of the prophet Elijah returning and preparing a way for the Messiah, the anointed one who would reestablish the Davidic line of kings, the line that was broken when the Babylonians crushed their nation, before he said “We’re having a baby, and he’s going to prepare the way for the Messiah, who will overthrow the oppressing Roman occupation…” he needed to be sure.

The crowd outside was becoming anxious. Where was Zechariah, anyway? He should be been in, lit the incense, and been back out by now. Finally he emerges, unable to speak. Trying to charade his way to sharing the message.

How many of you have played charades? How many of you think you can get across the message, “An angel appeared and told me that my 88 year old wife is going to have a baby, and he will be the fulfillment of the promise of the prophet Elijah turning the hearts of our nation back to God, preparing the way for God’s anointed one to reestablish the line of Davidic Kings of Israel, and overthrowing the oppression of the Romans.”

He tried. They got as far as that he had experienced some kind of vision from God in there. He and Elizabeth went home after his week’s service was finished, and she conceived. For five months, she kept to herself. Five months of gaining the courage to dare to hope. (“b”’s)

We start out on a journey today, with hope that may be a lot like Zechariah and Elizabeth’s. We may be weary of hoping. The sparkle, jingle, Christmas ringle may just be too much. I can imagine how hard it was for Elizabeth every time another family member married and soon was expecting a baby. She had long ago given up hope (fingers crossed). And the future may seem bleak and there may not be a lot you are looking forward to. As the Roman occupation steadily became more oppressive, it was hard to look to the future with hope (v’s). And yet, as Isaiah assured the people when they looked around at the ruin as they returned after the Babylonian exile, God is the potter and we are the clay, and on Christmas we celebrate that the prophecy has been fulfilled. God has not been angry with us beyond measure, no matter what we have done individually or collectively as humanity. God has not remembered our sins forever. God has sent us a Savior. Therefore, we have hope (“B”’s).