John’s Birth

Scripture: Luke 1:5-25 & 39-45 & 57-80

Video Link: https://youtu.be/ezvbkI-Yymk

Structure:

• Introduction
• John’s parents
• John’s purpose
• John’s power
• Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Did you know there are over 500 active undersea cables connecting the continents of the world? 98% of all international internet traffic flows through these undersea cables. Inside the protective casing there are many strands of fibre optic cable all carrying data from one country to the next. Pretty amazing.

Before the new seal was laid on the church carpark we had a trench built and laid a pipe under the carpark so we could run cabling to provide a more reliable internet connection between the church office and auditorium. Similar principle to the undersea cables, just not as far. 

The Bible, as you know, is a book of two halves. The older and bigger half, what we call the Old (or First) Testament, was written before the time of Christ. The second half, what we call the New Testament, was written shortly after Jesus walked the earth.  

Sometimes people think of the Old and New Testaments as separate, which is understandable given there is a 400-year gap between them. But actually they are connected. Both Testaments are concerned with God’s plan of salvation and both testaments point to Jesus, the Messiah of God.

Today we begin a new sermon series on the life of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was like an undersea cable, carrying valuable information, connecting the Old and New Testaments. John’s life and work demonstrate a clear continuity in God’s plan of salvation.

This morning we focus on John’s birth in Luke chapter 1. Listen for the connections with the Old Testament. From verse 5 we read…

⁵ In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. ⁷ But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old. ⁸ Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, ⁹ he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. ¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. ¹⁴ He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. ¹⁶ He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

In thinking about the birth of John the Baptist, this morning, we consider three things: John’s parents, John’s purpose and John’s power. Let’s begin with John’s parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth.

John’s parents:

When we get what we want, we call that satisfaction. But when we get something less than what we want, we call that disappointment. Disappointment is the difference (or the shortfall) between what we get and what we had hoped we would get.

The more disappointment we experience in life the more inclined we are to clip the wings of our hope; to hope less. That may be a necessary survival technique but it makes for a pretty sad life, because joy and hope are intimately related. Joy is the energy of hope. So the less you hope for the less joy you have. Risk and reward. 

The Rolling Stones have a line in one of their songs: “You can’t always get what you want but if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need.” I’m not sure what the Stones meant by that but it sounds to me like a strategy for balancing hope and managing disappointment.

Another famous singer, Bono, has a different take on disappointment. He compares disappointment to manure. Manure smells bad and is messy. No one really likes to handle it. But despite the unpleasantness, manure acts as a fertiliser. It enriches soil to grow beautiful flowers and delicious veges.

I like that image. If we think of disappointment as manure; as something that is unpleasant now but which produces better quality of life in the future, we redeem our suffering and we preserve hope.

Zechariah and Elizabeth understood disappointment better than most. They were faithful people who did everything in their power to obey God’s law.

Verse 6 tells us: Both of them were righteous in the sight of God and yet, despite wanting children, they were childless. It doesn’t seem fair. But notice the echo with Abraham & Sarah, who were also faithful and not able to conceive. What is God about to do?  

Zechariah was quite remarkable really. Despite the disappointment of not becoming a father, he stuck to his calling as a priest. He did not ditch his faith or walk out on God because he didn’t get what he wanted. This reveals a certain purity of heart from Zechariah.

To some degree a husband’s relationship with his wife mirrors his relationship with God. In the cultural context of the time, Zechariah could have written Elizabeth a letter of divorce and sent her away for not giving him children.

But he doesn’t. Zechariah remains loyal to Elizabeth. He shows Elizabeth hesed. Zechariah loves Elizabeth with a faithfulness not dimmed by the years. It was like the manure of disappointment had enriched the soil of their marriage.

Of course, it takes more than manure to grow a good crop. Unrelenting disappointment is not helpful to the human soul. Disappointment does not have the last word though. The fruit of God’s purpose is ultimately satisfying.

There were so many Jewish priests 2000 years ago in Palestine that they were on a roster. Your average priest was only required to serve in the Jerusalem temple two weeks a year. And the chance to enter the holy place and burn incense was a once in a lifetime privilege. Some priests were never so lucky.

The smoke of the incense symbolised the prayers of the faithful rising to God. It was while burning the incense that the angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah saying…

“Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John…”  

Now, at first glance, we might assume that Zechariah had been praying for a son. But when we think it through we realise this is unlikely. Remember, Zechariah & Elizabeth are now very old and past that stage in their life. Zechariah has long since given up on that dream. It’s simply too painful to risk more manure.

Besides, if Zechariah had been praying for a son, then we would expect a less doubtful response from him. Given the context, of the temple and the people praying outside, it is more likely that Zechariah was calling on God to redeem Israel.

After all, this is primarily God’s story. The Lord is planning to redeem humanity and indeed all creation. At the same time, God is going to redeem Zechariah and Elizabeth’s suffering by giving them a son (John) who will play a significant role in the divine plan of salvation.

You see, Zechariah and Elizabeth are representative of the faithful remnant of God’s people. They are the best of Israel in miniature, the smaller story within the larger story.

Just as Zechariah and Elizabeth have lived with disappointment and grief for many years, so too the nation of Israel has suffered for centuries. But that is all about to change. God is about to bring new life.

Zechariah questions the angel Gabriel, asking for proof and Gabriel makes Zechariah mute, unable to speak, until John is born. I don’t think this is a punishment as such. After all, Zechariah is a righteous man. Zechariah’s muteness is more of a call to listen. It’s a symbolic way of saying: ‘Just be quiet for a while and watch God work’.  

Sometimes in prayer we feel like we have to tie everything down, like we have to mansplain everything to God, as if he doesn’t know our concerns already. There is a place for words in prayer but there is also a time to be silent and watch God work.

Okay, so John’s parents were representative of the true Israel, those who remain faithful to God in the face of chronic disappointment.

John’s purpose:

What about John’s purpose? What was God wanting John to do?

Before you can paint an old surface you must first sand off the flaky bits, so the paint sticks. If we think of Israel as the old surface, then we might think of John the Baptist as the one who did the sanding to prepare the surface for Jesus to paint.

Or to use another analogy; before you sow seed it pays to plough up the hard ground. That way the seed has a better chance of taking root and growing. If Israel is the hard ground, then John is the ploughman, softening the ground for Jesus to plant the seed of God’s redemption.

Before a big tournament, the coach drills their team with a combination of fitness and skills training. That way the team are prepared when game day comes. John was like a spiritual fitness coach, getting the people ready for the coming of the Messiah and the coming of God’s kingdom.

The angel Gabriel talked about John’s purpose in God’s plan saying:

¹⁶ He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Notice the connections with the Old Testament. John will be a prophet, like Elijah, calling the people to return to God.

That phrase about turning the hearts of the fathers to their children, comes from the prophet Malachi. It’s a variation on one of the last verses in the Old Testament. Does this mean that John’s purpose was to fix broken family relationships? Well, maybe. But it’s probably more than that.

In Hebrew thought, ‘the fathers’ often refers to the Jewish patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob); the founding fathers if you like. From their vantage point in the next world, the fathers looked at their descendants and were not pleased. However, John’s work would bring about such a positive change that the fathers would look with favour on Israel. [1]  

John was to be a catalyst for change. It was John’s job to get the people ready for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus.

We can also glean something of John’s purpose from the name he was given before birth. John means ‘Jehovah’s gift’ or said another way, ‘God is gracious’. John is the spokesman for God’s grace. But, as we will see in the coming weeks, it’s not a soft mushy grace. It is a strong gritty grace, salted with inconvenient truth. It is grace with sharp edges. It is the grace of a surgeon’s scalpel.

After John was born, Zechariah had this to say about John’s purpose…

⁷⁶ And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, ⁷⁷ to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, ⁷⁸ because of the tender mercy of our God…

John’s purpose is to serve as a human data cable, carrying the knowledge of salvation from heaven to earth. Notice though that the salvation in view here is not military or political. It is not won by violence or force.

It is salvation in the form of the forgiveness of our sins. In other words, God intends to save us from ourselves. Because the real enemy is not the Romans or anyone else, it’s not the political left or right; the real danger lies within.   

John’s parents were faithful to God and to each other. John’s purpose was to prepare the people for Jesus’ coming (for redemption). But how was John going to achieve this? Where did his power come from?

John’s power:

Well, the greatest source of John’s power was the Holy Spirit.

In verse 15, of Luke 1, the angel says to Zechariah that John will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before birth.

Later, in verse 41, we read how Elizabeth (who was six months pregnant with John) was filled with the Holy Spirit when Mary (who was pregnant with Jesus) came to visit.

Elizabeth, who is decades older than Mary, puts herself in a lower social position, giving honour and respect to her younger relative, saying:

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! ⁴³ But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

It’s a winsome moment. Elizabeth is genuinely happy for Mary. There is no envy, just pure joy. For love rejoices with the truth. 

You know, those undersea data cables I mentioned at the beginning of this message; they are only as good as the information passing through them. Without data being sent and received the cables are lifeless, powerless, dead. The information transferring inside is like the spirit of the cable. It is the spirit that fulfils the purpose.

It’s similar with the human spirit. Your thoughts and feelings and personality are a manifestation of the human spirit. Without thoughts and feelings and personality your body is an empty shell, with nothing to share and no way of communicating. It is the human spirit that enables us to relate with others and fulfil our purpose.

Given that we human beings are made in the image of God, we could think of the Holy Spirit (capital H, capital S) as a manifestation of God’s thoughts and feelings and personality. God relates to the human spirit through his Holy Spirit. Spirit communicates with spirit.

God’s Spirit cannot be reduced or confined by any neat formula or definition we try to wrap around him. But if you need some handles for God’s Spirit, then love and truth are a good place to start.

To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be filled with God’s love and truth. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit (as John was), your thoughts are informed by truth and not led astray by ignorance. Likewise, feelings of fear give way to the impulse of love. And your personality, that unique finger print of your soul, is set free to be its true self, as God intended.

Sin is when the deep sea cable of the human spirit is severed, so we lose comms with God. Jesus came to repair the cable and restore the connection. The problem is, we don’t always realise the cable is severed because it is buried deep. It was John’s job to make people aware of the disconnect and point to Jesus as the one who had come to fix our relationship with God.

Conclusion:

This morning we have considered the special circumstances surrounding John’s birth. John’s parents were true Israelites; the manure of disappointment had enriched their faithfulness to God and to each other. John’s purpose was to prepare the people’s hearts, minds & spirits for Jesus’ coming. And John’s power to do this came from the Holy Spirit.

Next week we will give some thought to the substance of John’s message.

Let us pray…

Father God, we thank you for Jesus, who repairs the cable of our human spirit so we can commune with your Holy Spirit. As the busy-ness of the new year gains momentum, help us to remain connected to you. Drive out ungodly fear with your love and truth we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

• What connections can you see between John’s birth narrative (in Luke 1) and the Old Testament?

• What noble characteristics do we observe in Zechariah and Elizabeth? Who do Elizabeth and Zechariah represent?

• Can you think of a time in your life when the manure of disappointment enriched the soil of your life and relationships? What happened. How did God redeem the disappointment?

• Why did the angel cause Zechariah to become temporarily mute? When might we include sacred silence in our prayer life? How might we create space for sacred silence?  

• What was John’s purpose? Reflect on / discuss the meaning of the phrase, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous.

• Where did John’s power come from? Where does your power come from?

• How strong is your connection with God at present? Does anything need to change to improve the connection? If so, what needs to change? 

---

[1] Refer Leon Morris’ commentary on Luke, page 70.