The Judean Hill Country
The hill country of Judea doesn’t look all that different from some of the hilly areas here in southern California. Short, scrubby trees covering dry, rocky soil; streams that flow when it rains, but dry up when it doesn’t… warm sunshine, and lots of blue sky. Pictures of Judea’s hill country remind me of the Santa Monica mountains: places like Laurel Canyon, Coldwater Canyon, or Topanga Canyon. The hill country of Judea also looks a lot like the lower parts of Ortega Highway heading up out of San Juan Capistrano.
The home of Zechariah and Elizabeth was in a small village in one of these hilly areas of Judea.
Zechariah was the priest in his village; but the people of the village could not financially support a full-time priest. Any income they earned was taxed heavily - oppressively - by the Roman government, so much so that many of them were in debt, and some even had their land taken from them to pay the taxes they owed.
So Zechariah needed a second job; he worked as a farmer, to supplement his income, working hard on a few acres of land that had been terraced over the years in order to support agriculture on the sloping terrain.
It was hard work, especially for an old man like Zechariah; but since he and Elizabeth were childless, there was no one to help him.
Zechariah did his best to not complain. He knew of the burdens his neighbors bore. He knew how they struggled, he knew that they were always on the brink of losing everything they owned. He knew that any coin he received from them, no matter how small its value, represented a great sacrifice on their part.
Zechariah Goes to the Temple
On this particular morning, Zechariah was not farming; he was kissing Elizabeth goodbye, and then walking down the road away from his home, away from his village, because this was the one week of the year when he was required to give a week of service at the temple.
When Zechariah arrived at the temple, he greeted the high priests. As he did so, he couldn’t help but notice how nice their clothes were, and how well they ate. The high priests at the temple were oblivious to the suffering of the people in Zechariah’s village, or the suffering of the people in any of the villages and towns in Judea, or anywhere in Herod’s kingdom for that matter.
They, the high priests, were at the top of the religious hierarchy, and because they collaborated with the Roman government - because they worked with Herod and helped Herod maintain his control over the people - they were wealthy and powerful.
The economic inequality was unjust. It was obscene. But if Zechariah held any resentment toward the temple high priests, the scripture doesn’t say.
3. Keeping Faith
I imagine that Zechariah, being a good and righteous man - and knowing that there was little he could do to change things - focused most of his energy on helping the people of his village deal with the difficulties and the struggles they faced.
He loved the people of his village, and was willing to keep working hard for them, if not for himself, doing everything he could to keep their hopes up, to help them do what they needed to do to live another day.
Sometimes, that’s the most we can hope for. Right? Just enough hope to keep getting up in the morning, to keep doing what we need to do: to get up, and go to work another day, or go to school, or do another load of laundry, another load of dishes… all while listening to news headlines that constantly suck the hope and optimism out of us. Sometimes it’s hard to stay positive when everything around us just keeps pulling us down.
What kept Zechariah going was the call he felt to be the one to help lift his neighbors up, to provide them the reassurance that, despite everything, God was still present in the world and in their lives.
And some days, when he told the people this, Zechariah actually believed it himself. On all the other days? Well, he did his best.
So, on this day, during his week of service, it was Zechariah’s turn to enter the temple and offer incense.
As he entered the temple, the people outside were praying: “Holy God, we’re crying out to you. Hear our cries! And send us a sign - anything - to show that you are, indeed, still with us, still present among us - that you haven't forgotten us - a sign that you are coming to save us from these dark and difficult days!”
And while the people outside were praying, Zechariah, inside, was also praying as he lit the incense: “Holy God, I’m crying out to you. Hear my cry! And send a sign - anything - to show that you are, indeed, still with us, still present among us - that you haven’t forgotten us - a sign that you are coming to save us from these dark and difficult days!”
Little did Zechariah and all the people know that the sign they prayed for was about to appear.
4. Confronted by an Angel
While Zechariah was offering incense and praying to God, there appeared to him an angel of the Lord.
The angel’s appearance isn’t described here, but elsewhere in scripture angels are described, and, well, let’s just say that they look nothing like those cute little “Precious Moments” angels that many of us have decorating our homes.
Angels (in scripture) are physical representations of the mighty power of God!
Let your imagination help you make sense of that; if you need help, just look at Zechariah’s reaction: “he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him.” Whatever that angel looked like, it was truly intimidating.
And maybe Zechariah was also frightened by the fact that his prayer actually worked, that he had somehow got hold of God’s attention, and now, God was responding!
Despite all his faithful prayers, he didn’t really think that that was going to happen!
As we all recited together earlier, “Zechariah was all shook up! His hands were shaky and his knees were weak! He couldn’t even stand on his own two feet!”
Friends, the coming birth of Jesus is an event that shakes us up. It shakes us to the core! It tears down foundations that we thought were secure. It completely reorders society. It radically alters our lives.
We think of Christmas and Christmas traditions, and words that come to mind are: Cozy. Comforting. Calm. Reassuring.
Words and ideas that we can wrap around ourselves like a warm blanket on a cold night; words and ideas that warm our insides, like a delicious cup of hot cocoa.
But, actually, Christmas is more like a polar bear plunge into an icy lake on a winter morning. Christmas is more like a strong drink that wakes you up, clears your sinus, and makes you go “woooo!” I’m talking about sarsaparilla.
5. Zechariah on Mute
Zechariah’s life was about to change. He and Elizabeth were going to have a baby! That’s a huge change for anyone, but especially so for someone their age.
But what was about to happen wasn’t just going to change their lives; the whole world was about to change! God, who had seemed to be silent and absent for far too long, was now about to take a much more active role in the world.
But - Wait just a second…
Suddenly, Zechariah spotted a flaw in this plan. “I am an old man!” he said. “And my wife Elizabeth, she’s… well, she’s getting on in years as well… How - how can I be sure that all this is really going to happen?”
And at that moment, the angel decided - or maybe this was part of the plan all along - that Zechariah should just be quiet for awhile. Zechariah asked how this was going to happen, how he could be sure it was going to happen… but in the Bible, how is never as important as why. (Some of you may have heard that before.) Zechariah was asking the wrong question… and he needed to just be quiet for awhile.
So the angel decided to take away Zechariah’s voice.
Strangely, this taking away of Zechariah’s voice was an appropriate and symbolic first of many changes that were coming. Since the arrival of God in the world would completely change society, completely reorder the power structures of the world, and turn everything upside down, why not start by silencing the male voice here, so that, at least for the next part of the story, only the females would be heard?
I mean, throughout history, it’s the male voices that we hear. In Zechariah’s time, emperors and kings and even priests were all men. It was men who spoke for God. The women were silent.
But now, God is shaking things up. God is reordering the power structures of the world. The first would become last, and the last, first; the lowly would be exalted, and the mighty brought low.
So why not start things off by silencing the male, and allowing the women to be heard? Let the women speak. Let the women speak for God. Let the women proclaim the good news.
And the world waits and listens.
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