August 16th, 2007

Wrong Lyrics, Right Melody

Read Luke 1:67-80

"...that we would be saved from our enemies and

from the hand of all who hate us." vs. 71

Note: Emman, here! I have yet to break my streak...it might be a little later in the day, but it is still today. By the way, didn't I read something about patience and the fruit of the Spirit? OK, OK, on to the devotional...

Over the course of the next two days, I intend to spend some time working through the Prophecy/Song of Zechariah. There is so much in here that I would hate to leave something out by covering it in one day.

I can't imagine what this prophecy might have sounded like in AD 71. To hear the gospel of Luke being read aloud as the community gathers to worship, what might the response be when this portion of the Scripture is reached?

Its AD 71 and the world has drastically changed since the moment when those words were first uttered nearly 40 years earlier. 40 years earlier the air of Jerusalem was filled with expectancy and hope as many within the Jewish community were praying for God's deliverance and redemption from the hands of their oppressors. They longed for the Advent of the Messiah, the coming of God's chosen One. They yearned for the moment when God would topple the regime of the Roman Empire, like he had done with Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and the Greeks before them and set his people free. Within a small family of nobodies, that dream was becoming a reality. Mary, the virgin, was pregnant. Elizabeth, the barren woman, had bore a child. Angels had come announcing God' faithfulness. There was an excitement, a hoped for possibility...Could it be that God had come through, faithfully bringing into his world the promised redeemer?

As the drama unfolds, Zechariah the father of John is caught up in the fervor of the moment, carried away by God's Spirit and he begins to sing. He sings a song of delieverence. Much like Mary his is a song of hope and praise of God's faithfulness. God's purpose had been unchanging. Just as God had remembered Noah (Gen. 8:1) in the days of the flood, He had remembered them in the days of their oppression. An easy song to hear when the hope of liberation lay before the people.

But now it is AD 71. The world had changed. The people of Israel had raised up in revolt in AD 66 against the Roman army. Rome responsed with unreserved ruthlessness. Jerusalem is sacked. The Temple is destroyed. The Jews experience yet another historic diaspora (dispersion). They become refugees without a home. But what about the lyrics of Zechariah's song?

The lyrics of this priest's song are the articulation of the common hope of the Jewish people throughout much of the 1st Century. They are lyrics of liberation. The Jewish people will once again rise to prominence. The glory of the temple will be restored and Jerusalem will be city of splendor and power. But in AD 71 those lyrics fall short...

However, there is melody heard in the song of Zechariah that seems to stick in the mind. It is melody that seems to have been written in ages past. This particular melody awakens the heart and directs the gaze. It is a melody of hope, a song of redemption. It is the song of creation, the song of the Patriarchs, the song of the exodus, the song of the prophets, the song of exile. This melody shatters hopelessness and strips despair of its power.

This is the melody of Zechariah's song. Although the political victory will not be won by the Jewish people, God's politics will still triumph. In the face of oppression, God has sent forth the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, to proclaim liberty for the captives. They have been set free within a world of chains. In the face of exclusion, God has remembered his promise to Abraham and has sent forth his Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, to bless all nations, to create for Himself a new people that will represent him faithfully in this world. In the face of an enemy that threatens to vanquish and hate, God has sent forth his Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, and fear has been nullified and death has lost its sting...

So continue to sing Zechariah, sing...although your lyrics are off your melody is the song of God.