A Promise of Light

Thursday, December 3, 2015                                                      Luke 1:68-79

Jennifer Larson

I think we can all imagine the great joy that Zechariah must have experienced after the birth of his son, whom we know as John the Baptist.

Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were, as we might tactfully call them today, “older parents.”  At open house night at school, Zechariah would be the portly guy in baggy pleated pants while his son’s best friend’s dad is wearing stovepipe jeans and Converse All-Stars.

But it didn’t matter to Zechariah. He was so happy that, like all excited new fathers, he had to brag a little bit about his son. You know, the son who would prepare the Messiah’s way.  

So this passage from Luke is sometimes referred to as the Benedictus—Zechariah’s song, full of joy over the birth of his son, full of joy after months of silence. It’s a song and a prayer heralding the coming of Jesus. It’s full of promises and the fulfillment of promises.

For me, the promise in the last couple of lines of the song are the best: 

“By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

At this point in time, we’re experiencing a lot of darkness, a lot of shadows of death.  We pray for peace, and yet, it sometimes feels like our prayers just evaporate in the dark. The dark is so heavy that it compresses and weighs down our wispy hopes for peace until they’re just…gone.

But this song promises light. It promises light that will not only pierce the darkness, but overtake it completely. It’s the dawn after a long black night. It promises how to guide us to real, lasting peace. That’s what we can look forward to from Jesus. And if you ask me, that definitely warrants a song!