St. Luke 1:57–80
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The beginning of Luke’s Gospel has an interesting structure of Annunciations and Nativities. This structure introduces both the new prophet like Elijah and the Christ. It introduces us to the Preparer and the One we are being prepared for. First, comes an annunciation from the angel Gabriel to Zechariah, when the priest Zechariah was serving in the Temple—it was an announcement about the birth of his son, John, the Forerunner of the Christ. Second, comes another annunciation from the same angel to the Virgin Mary—an announcement about the birth of Jesus the Christ. Then comes the Visitation—between Mary and Elizabeth, but also a visitation between Jesus the Lord in Mary’s womb and John the Lord’s prophet in Elizabeth’s womb. Then the Visitation is followed by two Nativities. First, the Nativity or birth of St. John the Baptist, who will go before the Lord to prepare His way. Followed finally by the second and greater Nativity, the birth of Christ the Lord.
Today we heard the Nativity of Zechariah’s and Elizabeth’s son. But the day that gets more attention during John’s infancy is not his birthday, but his circumcision day. Eight days after the child was born, the neighbors and relatives came to see him circumcised. Circumcision always happened on the eighth day of an Israelite boy’s life as the Lord God had commanded Abraham. It served as a sign of God’s covenant, His testament, His promise to Abraham and to all the fathers of Israel that the Lord would be their God and they would be His people and that the Lord would send a Savior from Abraham’s seed. Naturally, this meant genealogies and family names were very important to the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They tracked the tribes and family lines because they were waiting for the Messiah to be born—specifically from the tribe of Judah, and the line of David.
So, the friends and relatives are surprised when Elizabeth says her son’s name is John. “John” was not a family name. But Elizabeth knew that the name “John” came from God—given by the angel to Zechariah—he surely had told his wife all about it by writing it down for her. Because remember, Zechariah can’t speak. He had doubted Gabriel’s word, and so as a sign that he would have a son, Zechariah was left mute. So, the relatives go to the father of the child, and Zechariah writes down: His name is John.
All names have meaning, but names given by the Lord have highly significant meanings. The name “John” means “the Lord has shown favor” or “the Lord has been gracious.” The Lord was certainly gracious to Elizabeth and Zechariah by giving them a son in their old age, but the Lord’s grace goes further than that. John’s birth is the beginning of the final preparations for the favor of the Lord to be revealed—the gracious arrival of the Savior. The ancient promise is being kept and John’s prophetic task is to proclaim the Good News that the Lord has indeed been gracious in keeping His promise: He is coming to redeem and save from sin and death. You see, John’s name is not only significant to his parents, but also to you, his brothers and sisters in the kingdom of God. The Lord has been gracious not only to Zechariah and Elizabeth, not only to Mary, not only to Israel, but He has been and is and will be gracious to you and to the world.
As Zechariah writes out the name “John,” immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. He blessed God—that is, he sang praise to God.Surely, this song was the Benedictus itself, for Zechariah’s song even begins with the words, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel.” After nine silent months, Zechariah finally speaks, filled with the Holy Spirit. Gabriel’s sign has ended because his words are fulfilled. Nine months earlier, after Gabriel’s appearance, Zechariah had gone out from the Holy Place in the Temple, but he wasn’t able to give the final Benediction, the final blessing upon the people who had assembled there for sacrifice and prayer.But now he finally does—more than the liturgical Temple blessing,Zechariah blesses God, thanking and praising Him for His gracious deeds. And Zechariah proclaims the blessing to come for all people.
Benedictus—Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He has visited and redeemed His people. The Lord God of Israel has come in the flesh.He has come to dwell with us and redeem us, not with gold or silver, but He pays the price for our sin with His very own precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David. Like the strong horns of a bull, the Christ is God’s power and might for His people. And He came from the house and line of David, so He is that Son of David whose kingdom will have no end.
And all of this God had spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began: the oath, the promise, the testament that God swore to our father Abraham. The Lord said that we would be delivered from the hand of our enemies—delivered from sin, from death, and from the power of the devil—that we might serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life, that we might be His own and live under Him in His kingdom forever.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for all of that—He does it in Jesus the Christ. Zechariah sings this song because his son John, the Forerunner of the Christ, has come, and so the New Testament has begun.
Zechariah sings the rest of his song directly to his son who will take up the task of the Forerunner: And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways. John will prepare the way of the Lord—not by the circumcision of the Old Testament, but by the Baptism of the New Testament. John will be the voice in the wilderness preaching the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke 3:3).
In the Old Testament, circumcision was done on the eighth day of a boy’s life. But in the New Testament there is a new eighth day: the day of Jesus’ resurrection. He died and finished His redeeming work on Friday, the sixth day of the week. He kept the Sabbath by His rest in the tomb on Saturday, the seventh day of the week. And then He rose from the dead, on the eighth day, Sunday. Yeah, it’s the first day of the week, but the Resurrection doesn’t start another week all over, as if it’s just back to the usual. The Resurrection is the eighth day, the final day, the day of eternity. The Lord’s eighth day of resurrection is the dawning of a new day, after which no days need to be numbered. We are now living only in the endless Day of the Lord.
Yet, for now, we do not fully see the light of that Day. It has dawned and it is now here, but we only know it by faith. So, we still listen to St. John the Baptist, the Forerunner, the one who pointed at Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). That Lamb was a little baby lying in a manger, born so that He could die for you. He is your God in the flesh. He was sacrificed on the cross so that you might receive the Lord’s forgiveness and blessing. And He rose from the dead, He comes to you now in His Word and in the Holy Supper of His body and blood. And He is coming again.
Our Lord’s Day has dawned, so let us still listen to John, Zechariah’s child, the prophet of the Most High. He went before the Lord to prepare His ways. By his preaching, John still gives knowledge of salvation to us, God’s people. In the Word and in Holy Baptism, the work of the Forerunner continues, so that we receive the forgiveness of our sins, through the tender mercy of our God—the mercy shown to us in the first coming of Jesus. The Day of the Lord first dawned bright with the nativity, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. It shines even now. And soon the Last Day will come. The Day of the Lord will dawn upon us from on high to give light to us, who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Come quickly + Lord Jesus. Amen.
