Luke 1:13-25; Judges 13; 1 Kings/3 Kingdoms 17-18; 2 Kings/4 Kingdoms 2:81-15; Malachi 4:5-6/LXX 3:22-23
You may be wondering why, in a series dedicated to the Nativity of Christ, we begin with the Forerunner John. In doing so, we are following the lead of the evangelist Luke, who intertwines stories of their birth in such a way as to honor John the Baptist, but exalt Jesus as LORD. He does this through the intricate shape of his narrative, whereas the other gospels also introduce John early in their gospels, but without this artistry. Only Luke treats John’s announcement and birth as a kind of necessary pre-quel to the gospel. But all four evangelists agree that the ministries of John and Jesus are linked in a significant way. And so the gospel of John begins with a majestic prologue that illumines the LORD who is the Word, and then inserts John’s name abruptly, saying, “There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He was not that Light, but sent to bear witness to that Light.” Working in a different mode, the gospel of Matthew, in concert with Mark, has nothing to say about John until Jesus is just about to begin his public ministry. Yet John remains utterly important to them, without ever overshadowing Jesus.
The Syrian lyricist, St. Ephrem, composes a beautiful passage in his commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron—that is, the gospel harmony that linked all four gospels in a continuous narrative, and which was prized in many places before the separate reading of the gospels became the rule in liturgy. Listen to how he beautifully shows the conjunction of the Forerunner and the Messiah, both by parallel and by contrast:
The elderly Elizabeth gave birth to the last of the prophets, and Mary, a young girl, to the Lord of the angels. The daughter of Aaron gave birth to “the voice in the desert”and the daughter of King David to the Word of the heavenly king. The wife of the priest gave birth to “the angel of his face” but the daughter of David to the strong God of the earth. The barren one gave birth to him who remits sins, but the Virgin gave birth to him who takes them away. Elizabeth gave birth to him who reconciled people through repentance, but Mary gave birth to him who purified the lands of uncleanness. The elder one lit a lamp in the house of Jacob, his father, for his [lamp] itself was John, while the younger one [lit] “the Sun of justice” for all the nations. The angel announced to Zechariah, so that the slain one would proclaim the crucified one and that the hated one [would proclaim] the envied one. He who was to baptize with water [would proclaim] him who would baptize “with fire and with the Holy Spirit,” and the light which was not obscure [would proclaim] “the Sun of justice.” [The one] filled with the Spirit [would proclaim] concerning him who gives the Spirit. The priest calling with the trumpet [would proclaim] concerning the one who is to come at the [sound of] the trumpet at the end. The voice [would proclaim] concerning the Word, and the one who saw the dove [would proclaim] concerning him upon whom the dove rested, like the lightning before the thunder.
John, then, will emerge in all the gospels as the voice who prepares the way before the Word incarnate, as the water-baptizer before the One who gives the Spirit, and as the lightning before the thunder. In his birth narrative, we will see how Luke indicates John’s importance as the forerunner by alluding to other OT figures, thus again showing the continuity of the gospel with what has come before.
Here are our verses for this week, where Luke relates the conversation between Gabriel and Zechariah, and then Elizabeth’s response:
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must notdrink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay inthe temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.” (Luke 1:13-25)
In the last episode we considered Zechariah’s reaction of fear before Gabriel, and how this would be natural for any human being before an angel, but especially understandable given the compromised situation of Judea at the time. Zechariah was surely relieved at the angel’s words, that did not rebuke, but promised a son, John, whose name means “God is gracious.” Of course, he did not know or understand the full meaning of this message and name, which Gabriel calls, “good news”—evangelion. Eventually he and his wife do come to understand why the news is for everyone, and not just for them.
As we read on in the narrative, we see that, by using words that remind us of various stories in the OT, Gabriel hints at the role that the baby John will play, when grown, in the life of Israel. First, he speaks of the baby in the same way that the angel of the LORD annouced the coming baby Samson, first to his barren mother, and then to Manoah, his father (Judges 13). He speaks of Samson as sanctified from the womb, and says that he will become a Nazarite, taking a vow to God, not cutting his hair, or drinking from the fruit of the vine. Samson began the liberation of Israel from the Philistines, and so John, too, calls Israel to true liberation, through the waters of repentance. On top of this, the angel Gabriel makes it clear that John is much greater than even Samson: he will be filled with the Spirit from the womb, whereas Samson was moved by the Spirit only as he reached manhood (Judges 13:25).
Nor does Gabriel stop here. John is not simply like Samson, bringing joy to his parent’s lives and helping Israel. He is also like the prophet Elijah, who, as the later prophet Malachi foretold, would return to do God’s will among His people. This we discern easily in the lengthy promise: “And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” Gabriel goes even beyond the prophecies of Malachi (chapter 4 in the Hebrew, and 3 in the Greek), which speak of the prophet “turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers” in the Hebrew text, or, a little more expansively, “turning the hearts of the father to his son, and the heart of each man to his neighbor” in the LXX. But the angel describes John as doing even more than this. John will turn the hearts of the disobedient to those who are wise, and even prepare the way of the LORD, as another prophet, Isaiah, foretold of the one who would come in the desert (Isaiah 40:1-11). This baby, John, has a huge task ahead of him, and will do as a new Elijah.
Concerning the actual ministry of John, and its similarity to Elijah, an ancient Anglo-Saxon theologian, the Venerable Bede, has this to say:
Both Elijah and John were celibate. Both wore rough dress. Both spent their lives in the wilderness. Both were heralds of the truth. Both underwent persecution for justice’s sake at the hands of a king and queen—the former at the hands of Ahab and Jezebel, the latter at the hands of Herod and Herodias.The former, lest he be killed by the wicked, was carried up to heaven in a fiery chariot. The latter, lest he be overcome by the wicked, sought the heavenly kingdom by his martyrdom, which was accomplished in spiritual combat. (Homilies on the Gospels 2.23)
Similarly, St. Ambose compares the two: “Elijah divided the Jordan, John made it the font of salvation. John walks with the Lord on earth, Elijah appears with the Lord in glory. Elijah is a herald of the first coming of the Lord, and John of the second. Elijah after three years watered the earth with rain, John after three years sprinkled the arid soil of our body with the stream of faith.” (Exposition of the Gospel of Luke 1.36).
In the end, both father and mother are humbled by their reception of this proto-gospel, this first glimmering of the good news. Zechariah, we know from the story, had difficulty believing the angel’s words, just as Gideon had trouble accepting the promise of deliverance from the angel, and asked for a sign, and both Abraham and Sarah laughed at the promise given to them regarding Isaac. The Old Testament figures are not disciplined, however, for their disbelief, but Zechariah is—perhaps because the news that Gabriel has brought to him is so very important. Zechariah, like the visionaries Daniel and Ezekiel, is struck dumb by the vision—and indeed, this scar lasts until the very time that the baby is born.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth, acknowledging the wonder of the conception, secludes herself for months, marking off this time as special. Together, the parents of John show in their responses that something marvelous is taking place. Soon she will come to understand more of what this means, when Mary visits her. But at first, for Elizabeth, she understands that God has taken away the scandal of her childlessness – something that she calls a reproach, probably because in Deuteronomy 25:18, childlessness is a curse that comes from disobedience. This may seem odd to us since the elderly couple has already been commended for their righteousness, in that they have kept the statues and ordinances: this is how the evangelist Luke introduces them to us. Even given Zechariah’s question to the angel, he and Elizabeth have been already “prepared” for what God will do. As the prophet Malachi adds to his promise of a returned Elijah who will change hearts, it is important to “Remember the law of …. Moses, the statutes and rules that [God] commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.” (Malachi 4:4/LXX Malachi 3:24). This is exactly what the righteous parents of John the Baptist did, and so they became part of the turning point which God always intended for Israel, and indeed for the whole world.
The Torah’s statues and commandments that God had made for Israel would give way to the very presence of God among them, and among all people. God is taking steps to take away the reproach or curse from the entire fallen world, not just the sorrow of childlessness for Elizabeth. That is the “good news” of Gabriel.
Edith M. Humphrey 