We’re continuing on with the stories that lead up to the birth of Jesus. Two weeks ago, we read about Zechariah’s encounter with the angel, Gabriel, in the temple. Both Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, were faithful to God. But they had no children, which was to them a source of great sadness. For many years, they had prayed that God would bless their marriage with children, but now they were old, and had long since given up the hope of having a child. The angel, Gabriel, appeared to Zechariah in the temple, and told him his wife, Elizabeth, would have a child—even though she had been barren, and now was old. Because Zechariah questioned this message from Gabriel, the angel closed Zechariah’s mouth, telling him he would be unable to speak until this prophecy was fulfilled. Elizabeth did become pregnant. Six months later, the angel, Gabriel, appeared to a young woman named Mary, and gave her the startling news that God had chosen her to be the mother of his son. Last Sunday, we read about Mary’s visit to her cousin, Elizabeth. Mary spent three months with Elizabeth, and after that she returned home. That’s where our story picks up today. It’s another wonderful episode from Luke 1. 57When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 58Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. Elizabeth, who had been barren for so many years, gave birth, and the whole community rejoiced with her. And although the child had been born, his father, Zechariah was still unable to speak. Notice as I read the next few verses how the community tries to take over. They seem to assume that because Zechariah can’t speak, they need to take charge of the situation. Sometimes we do the same thing with people who have some sort of handicap. Without taking time to think, we automatically assume they need for us to take over and make decisions for them. It’s a natural tendency, and we do it without thinking, and certainly with no intention of insulting the person. But it’s good for us to remind ourselves that when we find ourselves in such a situation, we need to quickly stop and think before we just move in and take over. Then, we need to give the person the opportunity to do what they can for themselves, and we need to have patience with their way of doing things. Over ten years ago, my sister-in-law had a major stroke. The right side of her entire body, from the neck down, was paralyzed. She has come a long ways back from it by working very, very hard at therapy and relearning how to do the things she had done so easily before. But I remember the first time she was staying at our house after the stroke, watching her put her socks and shoes on one morning. She had a leg brace that went on as well. It was painful watching her do everything using just her left hand. Her limp right leg and foot couldn’t cooperate like yours does, bending itself first into the sock and then into the shoe. A paralyzed limb just hangs there. So it took a long time, and my first inclination was to try to help her. But I realized that she knew exactly what she was doing, and although it took quite a while and lots of effort, she wanted to put on her own shoes and socks. My job in that situation was just to be there with her and to be patient, without trying to rush her. Zechariah’s friends weren’t quite so patient—they were just ready to slap a name on this child and be done with it. Notice, too, that the attitude, “We’ve never done it that way before,” was alive and well way back then. The people knew how everybody else did things, and they were pretty sure that what had been good for others in the past would be best for Zechariah and Elizabeth as well. 59On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60but his mother spoke up and said, "No! He is to be called John." 61They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name." 62Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name is John." 64Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. 65The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. 66Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, "What then is this child going to be?" For the Lord's hand was with him. Then Zechariah, who had been unable to speak for nine months, opened his mouth and poured out this beautiful speech that is both praise and prophecy. Maybe if the rest of us were forced to be silent for a long time, we, too, would have something wonderful to say. Just imagine how much smarter we might be if we spent more time thinking and praying, and less time speaking! It’s clear that Zechariah has been thinking and praying about what God is up to—first with this child that was promised to him, and also with the Son of God, who would be born to Mary. So this beautiful word of praise and prophecy pours out of Zecharaiah as his newborn child is circumcised, and he prophesies concerning the role his son, John, will play in God’s plan for the salvation of humankind. Here is what Zechariah, the father of the newborn child named John said, after nine months of silence. 67His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: 68"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. 69He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 70(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), 71salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us— 72to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, 73the oath he swore to our father Abraham: 74to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear 75in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76And 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, 77to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, 78because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." 80And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel. God had shown Zechariah that his son, John, would be the one who would prepare the way for the coming Messiah, Jesus. Long before the births of John and of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah had written these words: “A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. When John became an adult, he lived out in the wilderness, and he proclaimed the coming of Jesus. When Matthew told the story of John, who came to be known as John the Baptist, he quoted this same prophecy from the book of Isaiah. Matthew in particular was the Gospel writer who searched the scriptures for the prophecies that pointed to the coming of Jesus. When Matthew wrote about John the Baptist, he told us that John lived in the desert and preached, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Then he quoted the line we just read from Isaiah’s writings and said, “This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: ‘A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’’” After Jesus had died on the cross and been resurrected, his followers had the huge task of making sense out of all that had happened. Who, really, was Jesus? Was he really the Son of God? Why did he come, and what difference does it make to us now? Can we really believe this incredible event? Just like today, there were many reliable witnesses, but others you could not trust. There were true accounts being circulated, and some that were not trustworthy. In some ways, nothing changes. We still need to have discernment when we decide what we will believe. Last weekend, a new movie was released called “The Golden Compass.” This movie is based on the first book of a book trilogy written by a man named Philip Pullman, and if the movie does well, there will certainly be sequels. I have not read the books or seen the movie. But I am aware that many Christians are very concerned about this movie. The movie is somewhat similar to C.S. Lewis’ wonderful books in the trilogy, “The Chronicles of Narnia,” which have very strong Christian values. The problem with “The Golden Compass” is that it portrays the church as the evil enemy. Not only does it not have Christian values, but it has a decidedly anti-Christian position. So of course, Christians are not very happy about this. Some are urging us not to go to this movie, because a poor box office showing might put an end to the remaining episodes. Banning the movie is not a bad idea, but I will leave that decision to you. I would certainly caution you if you have children or grandchildren that if they do see it, you need to see it with them so you can have an intelligent discussion with them. I really like what Jeffrey Overstreet of Christianity Today said in answer to the question, “Should Christians be afraid of The Golden Compass?” His answer is this: “Mercy, no. Let's not be afraid. Discerning, yes. But not afraid. God is not threatened by Philip Pullman. And people who stop to think through Pullman's story, and how he "refutes" Christianity, will see what a feeble "attack" against Christian belief it really is. If you would like to read Overstreet’s entire article and perhaps others on this subject, just let me know and I will get them for you. Now, it may seem to you that I have strayed quite a ways from our scripture passage. Actually, I haven’t. Because one of the things Zechariah talks about in his prophecy is how we handle the enemies of our faith. And certainly there are those who are enemies of God. Zechariah spoke praise to God because he has come and redeemed us, bringing “salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us” and coming “to rescue us from the hand of our enemies and to enable us to serve him without fear.” To serve him without fear. I don’t think it is entirely accidental that a blatantly anti-Christian movie was released just before Christmas. Certainly there are those who would like to destroy faith, and Christian faith in particular. I don’t quite understand why, but I know it is true. Whether we like it or not, evil exists in our world. In addition, I think there are well-meaning people who truly believe that religion is a thing of the past and it is harmful to our modern society. I don’t think they are evil, but I do think they are sadly mistaken. Zechariah lived in a time when his peoples’ belief in God was threatened both from within and without—in other words, it was not a lot different from our world today. Their faith was threatened from within by corruption among the religious leaders and a weakening of those who were faithful. It was threatened from without by the secular Roman Empire, who held political power over them. It’s easy for us to become discouraged by some of the seemingly silly arguments that spring up this time of year over whether or not we can put up a Christmas tree in a public place. It feels to us like an attack on our Christian faith. Zechariah reminds us that Jesus came “to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear.” Jesus did not do this by wiping out our enemies—not then, and not now. And if Jesus chose not to fight back by wiping out the opposition, we need to follow his example. Instead, he rescues us by enabling us from within our hearts, through the presence of the Holy Spirit. When we know in our hearts, beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus has saved us from our sins and has given us new life both now and forever more, we have no need to be afraid of anyone or anything. We are able to serve him without fear because we know that Jesus has won the battle over sin and darkness for all eternity. He has rescued us from the hand of our enemies, and he continues to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. Prayer: Eternal God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, you are King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and we praise your holy name. Lord, may we serve you without fear all of our days, because we know that you alone are God. Lord, may we know in our hearts that you have already won the battle over sin and death, and we need not fear anyone who tries to tell us otherwise. Lord, may we know, without a shadow of a doubt, the love, joy, peace and hope that you have placed in our hearts. Amen