Luke's Gospel 1:57-80

You know that feeling when you step up to bat after hitting a home run last time? I don’t, because when I played baseball in the seventh and eighth grade, I don’t think I ever even got a hit. But if last Sunday was baseball—well, the sermon seemed to have connected. The point is, I hope I don’t strike out this morning because I’m swinging for the fences—just looking for a nice base hit. Lynn Bradley can tell you my sermon batting average later.

Christmas is about celebrating the arrival of the Savior of the world. Does the world know it needs a savior? Does anyone even know what we’re being saved from? What salvation is? I think most people would agree that it’s pretty messed up but in what way is Jesus supposed to make it better?

We’ll be finishing up chapter one of Luke this morning—it’s the longest chapter in the New Testament. Today we’ll cover verses 57 - 80, talking about the birth of John the Baptist. The entire Gospel is encapsulated in the songs of Mary and Zechariah: The first chapter of Luke retells God’s story of salvation and foreshadows the themes of John’s life and Jesus’ life.

Two weeks ago we talked about how the angel Gabriel showed up at the Temple and told a really old priest named Zechariah that his wife Elizabeth was going to have a baby and he was to name him John. He thought that was really hard to believe so Gabriel told him he wouldn’t be able to speak until it came to pass. Last week Mary and the one-week-old fetus who was also the Lord and Savior of the world came to visit the pregnant Elizabeth and both she and the unborn John the Baptizer were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Here we are in verse 57:

When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.” They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.” Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. Luke 1:57-64

Apparently, Elizabeth hadn’t talked to anyone other than Mary about her miracle pregnancy. Zechariah didn’t talk to anyone at all—about anything. Everyone was happy for her when the baby was born.

They wouldn’t have named the child until the circumcision, until then they just called him “baby.” They had a very different way of thinking about naming their kids than we do. The most important thing to them was for the family name to live on—especially for an old man like Zechariah who was pretty sure his name would die with him. So, it was assumed that he would name his son “Zechariah”—nothing else made any sense.

People these days try to come up with the most original names they can think of. We’re all sure our kids are the most precious, special, one-of-a-kind human being who has ever lived, right? 

When I was born, there was a mix-up and my mom was told she had a baby girl. I was officially named Angela—birth certificate and everything. A little while later, the nurse came back and was like, “I’m so sorry, you actually had a son.” So, then she named me after her boyfriend that she wanted to trick into marrying her and raising me as if I was his son—which many years later we found out that I was not. I was named “Henry Franklin” but I always went by my middle name.

That’s why I named my son “Angel.” I always thought it would have been cool if my mom would have just gone with the male version of “Angela” when she found out she had a boy—”Angel.” So he’s named after me—sort of.

My wife’s original maiden name, before her family changed it, was “Von Behren”—Von’s named after her mother. We’re so traditional. Ha

Anyway, the naming of a child was a big deal in the Biblical culture. The eighth day was the official day of circumcision—that’s when they would be named and enter the covenant of the people of God in the Old Testament.

The eighth day is significant in the New Testament, too. Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday, which the church has always called “the eighth day.” A new day. That’s the day Christians gather for worship—it’s not just the first day of the week—it’s also the eighth day. And the way we enter the covenant of the church as the people of God isn’t circumcision anymore, we enter through baptism. This is why traditional baptismal fonts have eight sides. Baptism replaced circumcision. Colossians 2:11-12 says,

“In him (Christ) you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.”

Since children were circumcised on the eighth day, now they are baptized on the eighth day—or as soon as possible. 

So, they bring Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son to be circumcised and named, they’re all ready to name him Zech Jr—and Elizabeth speaks up and says, “No! We’re going to name him John.” They’re like, “you crazy old woman, no one in your family is named John.” They look to the father to see what he thinks about this.

It’s interesting to point out that Zechariah didn’t get his speech back when the baby was born. That had to be a little disappointing. Gabriel had said, “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John—you will not be able to speak until the day this happens.” 

So, the baby was born and he still couldn’t speak. I think there’s a lesson here.

The miracle happened. His barren wife got pregnant and a healthy baby boy was born. But he wasn’t going to get his speech back until he followed through with faithfulness. Until he named the boy “John,” until he let go of his pride and legacy—until he was obedient—until he not only believed in his heart but also confessed with his mouth (or at least his writing tablet)—that’s when he’d be able to talk again.”

Romans 10:9-10 drives this point home for all of us:

“if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Faith has to be followed by faithfulness. Has to. Faith without faithfulness is dead. God doesn’t steer parked cars. You know how you put an address into the GPS but you don’t really know which way to go until you start moving? That’s what faith is like. God will continue to redirect your path every time you make a wrong turn but you have to keep going. God gives you faith but you have to walk in that faith. 

So Zechariah obeys the Lord and names his only son “John.” Immediately, he can talk again and he starts praising God. And totally freaks all the people out.

Verse 65:

All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him. Luke 1:65-66

The people had been praying for the Messiah—they had to be thinking “maybe this is the One.” Zechariah’s going to answer their questions. Verse 67, this is called “The Benedictus”:

His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: “Bless the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us— to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. Luke 1:67-75

There hadn’t really been a prophet for 400 years. All that stuff Gabriel had told Daniel about “horns and kings and kingdoms,” all that stuff had happened. Persia, Greece, four leaders, war, Rome. God’s people had been beat down, massacred, and living under tyrants for centuries. Now Zechariah says God has raised up a “horn of salvation in the house of King David.” He’s not talking about his son John, but he hasn’t made that clear yet. 

John is the last of the Old Testament prophets. John is the last of the Old Testament. All the promises God has spoken to His people are about to be fulfilled in the person that John the Baptizer is going to prepare the way for—the one he’s going to point to and say “Behold! Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He must increase and I must decrease!” Talking about His cousin from Nazareth.

God is going to remember His covenant. His promises. His oaths. In the Bible, when God remembers, it doesn’t mean he forgot. It means He’s going to do something. He’s going to act. 

A perfect example is when Joseph was in prison and it says “God remembered Joseph” and that’s when He got him out. 

Zechariah says God is going to remember His promise and redeem His people. To redeem is to buy back—to purchase someone’s freedom. Israel hadn’t been free for a long time. God is going to remember His people and redeem them.

In Communion, when Jesus says to “do this in remembrance of me”—the literal rendering of the text is “do this in my remembrance.” His remembrance. He’s the one doing the remembering—we’re supposed to remember that God remembers us. He’s going to act in the bread and the wine to give us His body and blood and forgive our sins. God acts in Communion.

Also, when it says that we’ll be able to “serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days,” we know that doesn’t have anything to do with conquering Rome and keeping Christians safe from persecution and trouble. It’s not talking about a political solution. It means that we can serve God without fear of death, without fear of judgment—because Jesus makes us holy. Jesus makes us righteous before God.

Now Zechariah’s going to make it clear what his son, John, is actually going to do. Verse 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, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” Luke 1:76-79

John is the last Old Testament prophet. It can help us to understand the entire Old Testament by thinking about the ministry of John the Baptizer. He goes before the Lord to prepare the way for Him. John prepares the way, Jesus is The Way. Christianity was called “The Way” for centuries. Moses had talked about the two paths, the two ways—one that leads to life and the other to death. All the wisdom literature in the Bible talks about the two paths: one that leads to hope and peace, the other that leads to despair and destruction. One that leads to light and love, the other that leads to darkness and hopelessness. Life and death, heaven and hell. Like the great theologian, Robert Plant said, “yes there are two paths you can go by but in the long run there’s still time to change the road you’re on. I hope so.” It’s the message of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and all the wisdom Psalms. It’s the message of Jesus.

So, John will prepare the way for Jesus. He’ll give people the knowledge of what salvation is going to be. “Behold, the Lamb of God—that guy’s going to bring salvation.” And what is salvation? It’s the forgiveness of sins.

Forgiveness of sins. That’s what salvation is.

You know what’s not salvation? Pretending like there isn’t any such thing as sin—like most people in our culture are trying as hard as they can to do. Psychologists say the only reason people walk around with guilt and shame is because they’ve been programmed by the church and all those terrible religious meanies to feel guilty for sins that don’t really exist. The cure is to realize there isn’t any such thing as sin. Sin against who? God? (They say with their eyes rolled all the way back into their brain.) God’s just an imaginary construct. A way to control people. Manipulate them.

They think freedom is what happens when we let go of those false ideas about God and guilt and sin. That’s what our culture is trying SO HARD to do. And what’s that done for us? How’s that working out? Look around. 

If there’s no standard of right and wrong from outside us—meaning God’s Word. Then we all have to make up our own standard. In other words, there is no standard. Everything becomes meaningless. Fast. So we get together in groups and try to bully our opinions onto everyone else. This tribe against that tribe. Constant war. The opposite of salvation and peace.

And that’s just the here and now, I’m not even talking about heaven and hell and eternal consequences.

Salvation is the forgiveness of sins. Which starts with the recognition that sin exists. Once we can see that, then we can start to see the real beauty of all this. It doesn’t get beautiful until we understand what we’re being saved from.

The knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins because of the tender mercy of our God. And listen to this, Zechariah gets a little poetic:

“by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” Luke 1:78-79

Who do you think is “the rising sun who comes to us from heaven?” Who is “the light that has come into the darkness that the darkness will not be able to overcome?” Who is the “Light of the World?” I think you know. He’s the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He’s the one John the Baptizer is going to point to. Jesus. The Messiah. The Son of God. Your Savior and Lord. 

This is an obvious reference to Psalm 23, from now on we should think of Jesus when we hear these words: 

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Jesus is the Lamb of God, but He’s also the Good Shepherd. He’s the one who makes all those things happen for you. You don’t have to live in darkness and confusion anymore. You don’t have to live your life in the shadow of death—you can live in the radiance of life. You don’t have to be knocked around by all the things this world is going to throw at you every day. Jesus says to follow Him—He’s the only path through all the land mines of this life, He’s the only path of peace.

You’ll be tempted to get mad at all the nonsense the God-haters throw at you all the time. Follow Jesus and learn the way to peace. You’ll be tempted to be discouraged when the devil sends petty little messengers with their petty little criticisms. Follow Jesus, listen to His Words of comfort instead, keep walking, keep following—don’t just sit there thinking about following Him. God doesn’t steer parked cars. Receive it by faith and then walk in faithfulness. When you do, goodness and mercy are going to follow you around—and when you die, which you will—then you’ll dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Goodness and mercy now, dwell with the LORD forever. That sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? This is how Jesus makes the world better. Salvation is here. Your salvation is here. Your sins are forgiven. Walk in that forgiveness.

Last verse:

“And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.” Luke 1:80

Shortest biography ever. I’m sure Luke knew a lot more about the adventures of John the Baptist than he put in the book. I’m sure John and Jesus knew each other as kids. I’m sure they went to Jerusalem together for Passover—got together for Hanukka and other holidays. But those things were none of our business. Some things are private, even for people like John and Jesus.

We don’t know when he started living in the wilderness but we do know what it means. It means he’s like Moses, who lived in the desert preparing the way for Joshua (who Jesus is named after) to enter the Promised Land. Like Moses, John’s not going to stick around to see it happen, either. But I’m getting ahead of the story. We’ll see John again real soon.

The entire Gospel is encapsulated in Mary’s Magnificat and Zechariah’s Benedictus: The first chapter of Luke retells God’s marvelous saving activity and foreshadows the themes of John’s life and Jesus’ life.

The next time we get together and pick up at chapter two will be on Christmas Eve. We’re going to see what Luke has to say about the birth of Jesus. It’s a Christmas miracle—we just happen to be talking about the night Jesus was born on the night before Christmas. You can’t plan these things. Okay, maybe you can.