With nine days left in Advent, I recall a
word that I spoke earlier this season. That word is busy. If you have not
completed your shopping, shipping, card-sending, cookie-baking and caroling
activities, get busy because the balance of time remaining gets shorter by the
minute. That said, I reserve the word busy for my third point, which is
balance. I summarize today’s sermon in three B’s: Benedictus, Bible and
Balance. Zechariah’s Benedictus, the Hebrew Bible and the balance of time we
have left.
We derive the word Benedictus from two Latin
words. The Romans combined the words bene,
meaning well, and dicere, meaning to
say or speak, and formed the word benedicere,
which means to bless, praise or speak well of.
Zechariah’s Benedictus is a short song that
begins, “Benedictus qui venit in nomine
Domini.” The English translation is, “Blessed is he that comes in the name
of the Lord.”
There is a second benedictus in Matthew. As
Jesus entered Jerusalem, “The crowds that went before him and that
followed him were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’”[i] We sing or speak that
benedictus during the Sanctus when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
The Benedictus is one of the three canticles
in the opening chapters of Luke. The other two are the “Magnificat” and the
“Nunc dimittis.” We also sing or speak Zechariah’s Benedictus during Matins or
Morning Prayer. The other two, we sing or speak during Evening Prayer, Night
Prayer and Divine Service.
Zechariah’s words were the first he uttered
since Gabriel silenced him for doubting God’s message that Elizabeth would bear
a son. At the son’s birth, joyful neighbors and relatives were prepared to name
the boy after his father. At that point, Elizabeth insisted that they name the
baby, John. Perplexed, they asked Zechariah, who wrote, “His name is John.”
So, while the Benedictus belongs to
Zechariah, Luke drew the content from the Hebrew Bible, that is, the Old
Testament. Hence, my second point, the Bible.
The Benedictus falls into two parts: vv.
68-75, which ends with “holiness and righteousness before him all our days,”
and vv. 76-79, which begins with, “and you, child, will be called the prophet
of the Most High.” Some think the first part was a hymn circulated among the
followers of John, and that the second part was a Christian addition that
clarified and summarized what John and Jesus did.[ii] Whatever the case, the
first part praises God not for sending John but for sending Jesus, the horn of
salvation raised up for us in the house of his servant David.
Luke referenced David’s hymns of praise[iii] and recalled God’s
covenant with Abraham, which is superseded by the cup of blood offered by our
Lord, whose way John prepared.[iv]
Way is
a recurring theme in Luke. We know the Emmaus disciples were on their way when
they encountered the Risen Lord;[v] and it is the name of the
first followers of Jesus. We read in Acts, “Saul, still breathing threats and murder
against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for
letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the
Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”[vi]
Luke also recorded that when Paul spoke in
the synagogue in Ephesus, he encountered resistance. “When some became stubborn and
continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he
withdrew from them and took the disciples with him.”[vii]
Another Old Testament idea Luke employed in
the canticles was the visit. To grasp what Luke attempted to convey, imagine a
child announcing excitedly to the family the arrival of a special guest. (“Heee’s
heeerrrreee!!!”) That is the tone of these canticles.
The rich biblical idea of visitation best
described what God was about to do through the ministry of John and Jesus.[viii] The word visit is from
the Latin visitare meaning to go to
see or come to inspect. We use visit when we go and stay with a person or at a
place for a short time for sociability, business, or curiosity. We visit
friends, clients and famous places. It also means to come upon or afflict with
sickness or punishment. So, depending on
who your visitor was, you either welcomed or rejected him. Here, through the
ministry of John and Jesus, God visited his people and redeemed them or set
them free.
Luke recorded visitation reactions. After
Jesus raised the son of the widow of Nain, fear seized the crowd, “and
they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’ and ‘God has
visited his people!’”[ix]
When Jesus wept over Jerusalem, he said, “The
days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you
and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground,
you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon
another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”[x]
As Moses visited his people to bring them
salvation[xi],
so God visited the people of Israel offering salvation through Jesus. However,
in contrast to the salvation and redemption of old, which was a freeing from
slavery and an inheritance of a land, this salvation was redemption from sins.[xii] That is why the
Benedictus described how God visited his people in the past and will visit them
again.[xiii]
The key question becomes: How is the visit
received? Who will be hospitable to this visit and find salvation? Who will
not?[xiv]
God visits me with the offer of salvation. Am
I hospitable to God’s visit? Am I as excited as a little child announcing the
arrival of a special guest or do I turn Him away at the door?
Moving to my third point – balance – I turn
to the question posed by the people who heard Zechariah. They wondered, “’What
does the future hold for this child?’ It was clear that the Lord was with him.”[xv] Zechariah addressed their
question within the broader theme of salvation. For with John’s birth, God set
in motion the promised messianic liberation.[xvi]
What does the future hold for this child? What
does the future hold for me? Christ accomplished salvation. His sacrificial
blood poured out for me I drink. So, I know what the future holds for me. The
question for me is not will I be hospitable to God’s visit and find salvation or
not? The question is: How will I spend the balance of time I have left?
The French gave us the word balance. They
actually borrowed it from the Romans, whose term bilanx meant a scale having two pans. In Latin bis means twice and lanx
means dish or plate. Hence, a scale of a balance is an apparatus for weighing. Accountants
and politicians picked up its use 400 years ago.[xvii]
Today, businesses encourage employees to seek
balance. Time Management Ninja posted, “5 Secrets of Keeping Your Daily Life in
Balance.”[xviii]
Forbes posted, “30 Time Management Tips For Work-Life Balance.”[xix] Ladies, WebMD offers, “5
Tips for Better Work-Life Balance: Beat burnout by making more time for the
activities and people that matter most to you.”[xx]
My dog, Travis, taught me a lesson in
balance. When I place a tennis ball on his head, he balances it. A second
later, he whips his head to his right and snatches the ball in his jaws.
Balance.
Our time flies as swiftly as that moment I
place the ball on Travis’ head and the second he snatches it in his jaws. That
is how much time we have between December 16 and December 25. Of course, you
must complete your shopping, shipping, card-sending, cookie-baking and caroling
activities because your balance of time gets shorter by the second. On the
grander scale, what will you do with the balance of time you have left in
Advent? In December? In your life? Before Christ returns in glory?
I posed the question of how I will spend the
balance of time to several friends and family members. Here are a few
responses.
My pastor friend and father of three, simply
said, “Sleep.” My friend, Wendell said, “Hopefully with the balance of time
left to me I will glorify God more and more - my primary purpose for being
here. May this be true with the help of the Holy Spirit.”
Finally, Michael
Zabrocki, a musician, wrote this. “Your
question came at a very [trying] time. My wife's mom, who has lived with
us for around 30 years, is in hospice dying of ALS. I am sure she will not
make Christmas. During this time, I have been reflecting on my own last
days. Easy to do when you are ‘in the shadow of death.’ …
These days are making me appreciate my family and the gift
of life more than ever. While I pray I have many years left, one never knows.
I have been taking stock of what gifts I’ve been given –
where I should be spending more time and of course eliminating where I waste
time.
My focus is sharper. I find myself seeing God in all –
the good and the bad. Seeing His hand in creation, time and eternity. Peace
is becoming a paramount concern – or rather – goal. I can't give peace but
the Prince of Peace can, and I pray He guides my feet into the way of peace.
I appreciate my family more and want to serve God by serving
Him. Not sure if it's a legacy I want to leave but that is a good word to
use. I am learning to trust God more.”
How
shall we spend the balance of time? Will we learn to trust God more? Will we
glorify God or will we sleep? John the Baptist prepared the way for God to
visit us. In the balance of the time we have left, I ask that we welcome our
Lord who visits us in Word and Sacrament and follow Him on the way. When you
do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[i]
Matthew 21:9
[ii]
Craddock, 33.
[iii]
Psalm 144 and 1 Chronicles 29:10-19. Both begin with blessings in praise of
God. See Just, 96.
[iv] Arthur
A. Just, Jr., Luke 1:1 – 9:50. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House (1996), 99.
[v]
Luke 24:32-35
[vi]
Acts 9:1f.
[vii]
Acts 19:9
[viii]
Brendan Byrne, The Hospitality of God: A Reading of Luke’s Gospel.
Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press (2000), 28.
[ix]
Luke 7:16
[x]
Luke 19:43f.
[xi]
Acts 7:23-25
[xii] Luke
Timothy Johnson, The Writings of the New Testament. Minneapolis: Fortress Press
(2010), 200. See Luke 1:73-77; Acts 2:38-39.
[xiii]
Just, 97.
[xiv]
Byrne, 28.
[xv]
Luke 1:66 - GOD'S WORD® Translation
[xvi]
Byrne, 27.
[xvii]
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=balance
[xviii]
http://timemanagementninja.com/2013/09/5-secrets-of-keeping-your-daily-life-in-balance/
[xix] http://www.forbes.com/sites/francesbooth/2014/08/28/30-time-management-tips/
[xx] http://www.webmd.com/women/features/balance-life
No comments:
Post a Comment