Advent Midweek 3 - the Road to Life

“It’s too good to be true.”  A phrase that is often followed by, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”  Perhaps those phrases might have been spoken by Zechariah had he known them.  For there he was, alone in the temple, when an angel, Gabriel, the Archangel, stood before him with news that we indeed too good to be true. I would suspect Zecharaih and Elizabeth had given up any hope of having a child of their own.  They were old, advanced in years, beyond the days of child bearing.  They had resigned themselves to barrenness.  But then an angel came and spoke a message of hope.  You will have a son.  He will be great.  A prophet like Elijah, and He will prepare the way for the Lord.   Could it be?  The thing all Israel had been praying for these last three thousand yeas was finally coming to pass.  The Lord would come!  He would send his Messiah!  Salvation would come for the people!  Could there be any better news? And for Zechariah this news contained a personal element – the Salvation of Israel would touch his own house!  His barren wife would have a child in her old age.  Can you blame him for his question?  How will this be? So the Lord gave a sign.  These days when we think we might be dreaming, when things are too good to be true, we pinch ourselves.  We figure if it hurts we must be awake.  God gave a sign to Zechariah – try to speak, open your mouth and try to talk and you will be reminded, God has heard your prayer.  He is sending salvation.  It will touch your house.  You will have a son who will be a prophet. Our Gospel text tonight come from the loosed tongue of Zechariah.  After the child was born, after there was no doubting it anymore, the Lord gave him his speech.  The first words he spoke? “His name is John.”  The name provided by the Angel, a name that means, “the Lord has shown favor”.  Indeed he had.  Favor for Israel.  Favor for Zechariah.  Favor for you. Our Old Testament text says this:  The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.  (Isaiah 9:2 ESV) Robert Frost penned the famous poem, The Road not Taken.  A poem narrated by a traveler met with two paths that lay before him.  One that was well worn and one that was less travelled.   TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,​ And sorry I could not travel both​ And be one traveler, long I stood​ And looked down one as far as I could…​   He concludes his poem:   I shall be telling this with a sigh​ Somewhere ages and ages hence:​ Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—​ I took the one less traveled by,​ And that has made all the difference.   Frost narrates  two choices, two pathways, both attractive, both inviting, one less travelled and with greater experience and wisdom. Our Lord was presented also with two pathways. Two choices.  Two directions.  Yet for him the contrast from one to the other could not be further apart.  To say one was less travelled would be to grossly under-estimate.  More like never travelled.  No foot had ever taken this path.  This path was the way of righteousness.  This  path was the way that leads to life.  This path was the way that leads to heaven. Every other footfall of every other person had taken the other path.  The way of sin.  The way of darkness.  The way of suffering and the way of death.  We might ask ourselves the appeal of such a path.  Given its destination we might assume that the other path would be chosen.  But this is the way of sin with us.  It so enslaves us that we can do no other.  We are so bent on ourselves that we walk this path no matter the destination.  Trudging and tromping along.  One foot before the other.  All marching in step with the same evil drum.   So God sent John to preach repentance and open the eyes of the blind.  To shine a great light on those people walking in darkness.  “Repent.” Said John. “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”  “John came to bear witness about the light.” Said the Apostle.  “And you, child,” said Zecharaih, the father of the prophet, “Will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”  (Luke 1:76-79 ESV) The Lord came to teach our feet to walk a new path.  No longer the path of self interest.  No longer the path of death.  No longer the path of sin.  Instead he sent his light to shine upon the way to the path of life.  He came to set our feet on the way of salvation.  The way to peace and the way to joy. Two divergent path ways cannot converge unless so how a bridge is cut between them.  There must be a connection.  A passage to lead from the way of death to the way of life.  There must be some means to approach the new road, the high road, the good road.  John came to direct traffic, to point the way.  Jesus came to be the bridge.  The connection from death to life.  The road that carries us to God’s salvation. O Come thou Key of David come And open wide our heavenly home Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery. Rejoice Rejoice Emanuel.  Shall come to thee O Israel. Amen. And now may the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.   Amen