12/16/2022
𝐀𝐃𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝟏𝟔
𝐙𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐡'𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 (𝐋𝐮𝐤𝐞 𝟏: 𝟔𝟗-𝟕𝟓)
When John the Baptist is barely a week old, his father Zechariah is filled with the hope that accompanies new life. It is the hope of salvation for all people: Jews and Gentiles, insiders and outsiders, rich and poor, blind and lame, tax collectors and sinners, women and men, old and young, fishermen and farmers, Samaritans and soldiers, lepers and lawyers, and many others.
At this time of Advent, Zechariah’s song is very much ours. We see the faint light on the horizon, and we await the full, dazzling light of God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ. We find ourselves now in-between, standing in that moment of the already and the not-yet. The light has dawned but doesn’t seem yet to have reached the deepest darknesses inside and around us.
We may, with Zechariah, doubt that such a thing is possible. But also with Zechariah, we praise God for the dawn, seeing in it just the first shimmering of the peace in whose light we already bask, even as we wait for its full radiance.
During this season of Advent, as we await the birth of the Savior of the world, we can pray together with Zechariah, “𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗱, 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹.”
