I’ll Be Home for Christmas: The Story for You Who Love God

In 66 AD, around 30 years after the Temple authorities convinced the Roman authorities to crucify Jesus because he might lead a revolution, the Jewish people did revolt. In 70, Jerusalem was destroyed. Much of the surrounding area – Galilee, along the river Jordan, places Jesus travelled and taught and healed – were decimated by Roman troops. People fled.

At the same time, the older generation who had known Jesus, who had witnessed him healing people they knew who had been blind from birth or lame for years, who had eaten their fill when there had only been a few loaves and a couple of fish spread over thousands of people, who had understood the Scriptures that they had heard their whole lives in a transformative new way when he taught, this older generation was passing on.

And the Gospel was now far-flung. The apostles, those people who saw the risen Christ and witnessed and taught about the life, death, and resurrection, had spread out in all directions from Jerusalem. Mark had written the story down, like a one room cabin with the stove at the center, warming all who enter, Mark’s Gospel was simple and short with the death and resurrection of Jesus as the warm stove around which the family gathers. There were other stories, bits and pieces written down and passed around.

Luke welcomes us onto his farmhouse porch to sit a spell, to hear the whole story. “It seemed good to me, since I’ve been following all these things closely for a good while, to write out an orderly account for you so you can be sure you know the truth about all these tales you’ve been hearing.”

Luke is writing the whole story for the most excellent, Theophilus. It is critical that we understand who Theophilus is. Philus means in Greek, “one with a strong love for,” and “Theo” in Greek means “God.” Luke is writing the whole story about the things that have been accomplished to all with a strong love for God.

And he’s going to take us room by room through the whole house, every room decorated beautifully, story after story, pointing out the real treasures and giving the backstory on the furnishings.

It is Luke who will take us to Bethlehem, for a decree went out from Ceasar Augustus that all the Roman world should go to their own city to be enrolled, and Joseph was of the line of David, from the city of Bethlehem. It is Luke who will record the night sky filled with angels praising God, and the bewilderment of the shepherds who were out in the fields…the same fields where David grazed his sheep…beside the fields where Ruth met Boaz…and their inquisitiveness ”Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”

But before the trip to Bethlehem and the song of the angels, it is Luke who contrasts the stories of Zechariah and Mary as they learn they will be parents, like entering the men’s parlor and the women’s parlor on either side of the farmhouse entrance. We are invited to consider where we will sit by the fire, will we respond to the invitation of God to participate in the coming of Christ as Zechariah did or as Mary did?

Zechariah, remember, was Elizabeth’s husband. Elizabeth was Mary’s cousin. Zechariah and Elizabeth were both from the priestly line of Aaron. Zechariah served faithfully as a priest. In fact, when the story takes place, his division was in Jerusalem from the hill country where they lived near Jerusalem because it was their turn to serve in the Temple. And Zechariah had been chosen by the division to enter the Holy of Holies with the Ark of the Covenant and burn incense. It was while he was there – really a once in a lifetime experience – that the angel Gabriel appeared, standing just to the right of the altar. Zechariah was terrified.

Gabriel, like all heavenly messengers, said, “Do not be afraid.” And then told him that his prayer had been answered. He and Elizabeth would have a child, a son to be named John, who will restore many wanderers to lives of faith and prepare God’s people for the Lord.

Zechariah asked for proof. “How am I to know this?” And he couldn’t believe it, “I am an old man, and Elizabeth is beyond her childbearing years.”

Across the entry hall, we see a similar story unfolding. The differences are what Luke wants us to notice. Here, we are invited to look in on Mary. Mary, remember, was an innocent girl, betrothed to be married to a man by the name of Joseph, but not yet married.

Notice the differences – Zechariah and Mary, mature and young, priest and property, long married and not yet married, shamed for being long barren and shamed for being with child.

When the angel Gabriel comes to Mary, like Zechariah, she is assured there is no reason to fear. “You will conceive in your womb and near a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Mary asks Gabriel a very different question than Zechariah did. Zechariah asks, “How am I to know this?” Mary asks, “How is this going to take place?” She believes and is ready to do as the angel instructs. Gabriel sends her to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who is six months along in expectation of John, who will come to be known as John the Baptist. Mary stays with Elizabeth for about 3 months, until just before time for John to be born.

There are songs sung in the parlors at Luke’s house. These songs carry the melody of the Good News as Luke will tell us.

When she arrives at Elizabeth’s, Mary sings a song of the child she is carrying. “My soul celebrates God! For though I am God’s humble servant, God has noticed me. Now and forever, I will be considered blessed by all generations. For the Mighty One has done great things; holy is God’s name! Generation after generation experience God’s hesed, God’s steadfast love that is kind and “for” us. The proud in mind and heart, God has sent away in disarray. High powered rulers, God has brought low. The humble and lowly, God has elevated with dignity. The hungry – God has filled with fine food. The rich, God has dismissed from God’s presence with nothing, empty handed. God has given help, God has remembered and kept God’s promises. God is merciful.”

Zechariah sings at John’s circumcision and naming, 8 days old; John hasn’t been able to speak since the angel Gabriel came to him. And now he is filled with the Holy Spirit and with song. May the Lord God of Israel be blessed indeed! God’s intervention has begun, to rescue us, the people of God. God will liberate us from our enemies. God will keep God’s promises so that we may serve Him without fear all our days in holiness and justice, in the presence of the Lord. And you, my son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will be the one to prepare the way for the Lord who is kind and compassionate and merciful.

Come, with me out on the porch, pull up a chair: You see there on the horizon?

A new day is dawning: the Sunrise from the heavens will break through in our darkness, and those who huddle in night, those who sit in the shadow of death, will be able to rise and walk in the light, guided in the pathway of peace. Let’s sit a spell and welcome him home.