This is the Unfinished Community Advent Devotional for the First Week of Advent, 2024
Week 1—Luke 1:1-25
Gabriel visits Zechariah and leaves him mute
Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I, too, decided, as one having a grasp of everything from the start,[a] to write a well-ordered account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may have a firm grasp of the words in which you have been instructed.
In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.
Once when he was serving as priest before God during his section’s turn of duty, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to offer incense. Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified, and fear overwhelmed him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I know that this will happen? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.”
Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering at his delay in the sanctuary. When he did come out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept motioning to them and remained unable to speak. When his time of service was ended, he returned to his home.
After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion. She said, “This is what the Lord has done for me in this time, when he looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.”
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I don’t know about you, but this Advent season is finding a lot of us feeling overwhelmed. In that way, I tend to think that Zechariah is a very relatable figure. There he is, minding his own business, going about his day, just lighting some incense and not bothering anyone, when an angel of the Lord just appears, out of nowhere, next to the altar. Of course he is terrified by this; wouldn’t you be? The relentless forward march of the daily mundane is suddenly interrupted by an unexpected something that shatters your very concept of reality. Whether it comes bearing good news or bad, that moment when the day you expect is yanked off course by the day you’re actually going to have is often profoundly disturbing.
Is it any wonder Zechariah was terrified?
The angel gives poor Zechariah the assurances that not only does he not need to be afraid, but that this interruption of his regularly-scheduled reality portends wonderful news for him and his. But nevertheless this assurance does precisely nothing to mitigate his shock, his disbelief at an impossible truth delivered by an agent of the Most High who just happened to pop in while he was quietly minding his own business, lighting the incense before church.
These are days in which good news defies belief, in which the darkness seems so absolute that the proclamation of a light, any light, seems too good to be true. These are days in which we often find ourselves too overwhelmed to believe that there is any good news of great joy to be had, and in which we are tempted to laugh in the face of any who would tell us to believe in the impossible hope of better things to come.
Believe it anyways.
Because to deny the existence of hope is to see ourselves struck mute, denied our chance to participate in the great things that are to come. And these are times when every voice that can carry a message of hope is desperately needed.
Prayer
Impossibly loving God, protect us. Protect our hearts from developing an immunity to hope. Protect our eyes from acclimating so fully to the dark that the light can blind us. Protect our voices, that they might not be silenced by cynicism, but emboldened by the hope you are bringing to us in this season. Help us to always be ready to see that light which even now is shining in the darkness, which the darkness can never overcome.
In Christ’s indefatigable name we pray, in hope, Amen.
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